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The human amygdala is involved in general behavioral relevance detection: evidence from an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging Go-NoGo task.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Ousdal, OT; Jensen, J; Server, A; Hariri, AR; Nakstad, PH; Andreassen, OA
Published in: Neuroscience
October 2008

The amygdala is classically regarded as a detector of potential threat and as a critical component of the neural circuitry mediating conditioned fear responses. However, it has been reported that the human amygdala responds to multiple expressions of emotions as well as emotionally neutral stimuli of a novel, uncertain or ambiguous nature. Thus, it has been proposed that the function of the amygdala may be of a more general art, i.e. as a detector of behaviorally relevant stimuli [Sander D, Grafman J, Zalla T (2003) The human amygdala: an evolved system for relevance detection. Rev Neurosci 14:303-316]. To investigate this putative function of the amygdala, we used event related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a modified Go-NoGo task composed of behaviorally relevant and irrelevant letter and number stimuli. Analyses revealed bilateral amygdala activation in response to letter stimuli that were behaviorally relevant as compared with letters with less behavioral relevance. Similar results were obtained for relatively infrequent NoGo relevant stimuli as compared with more frequent Go stimuli. Our findings support a role for the human amygdala in general detection of behaviorally relevant stimuli.

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Published In

Neuroscience

DOI

EISSN

1873-7544

ISSN

0306-4522

Publication Date

October 2008

Volume

156

Issue

3

Start / End Page

450 / 455

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Signal Detection, Psychological
  • Reaction Time
  • Photic Stimulation
  • Pattern Recognition, Visual
  • Oxygen
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Neurology & Neurosurgery
  • Male
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
 

Citation

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Ousdal, O. T., Jensen, J., Server, A., Hariri, A. R., Nakstad, P. H., & Andreassen, O. A. (2008). The human amygdala is involved in general behavioral relevance detection: evidence from an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging Go-NoGo task. Neuroscience, 156(3), 450–455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2008.07.066
Ousdal, O. T., J. Jensen, A. Server, A. R. Hariri, P. H. Nakstad, and O. A. Andreassen. “The human amygdala is involved in general behavioral relevance detection: evidence from an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging Go-NoGo task.Neuroscience 156, no. 3 (October 2008): 450–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2008.07.066.
Ousdal OT, Jensen J, Server A, Hariri AR, Nakstad PH, Andreassen OA. The human amygdala is involved in general behavioral relevance detection: evidence from an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging Go-NoGo task. Neuroscience. 2008 Oct;156(3):450–5.
Ousdal, O. T., et al. “The human amygdala is involved in general behavioral relevance detection: evidence from an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging Go-NoGo task.Neuroscience, vol. 156, no. 3, Oct. 2008, pp. 450–55. Epmc, doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2008.07.066.
Ousdal OT, Jensen J, Server A, Hariri AR, Nakstad PH, Andreassen OA. The human amygdala is involved in general behavioral relevance detection: evidence from an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging Go-NoGo task. Neuroscience. 2008 Oct;156(3):450–455.
Journal cover image

Published In

Neuroscience

DOI

EISSN

1873-7544

ISSN

0306-4522

Publication Date

October 2008

Volume

156

Issue

3

Start / End Page

450 / 455

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Signal Detection, Psychological
  • Reaction Time
  • Photic Stimulation
  • Pattern Recognition, Visual
  • Oxygen
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Neurology & Neurosurgery
  • Male
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging