Abstract Objective: The anterior cingulate cortex has been implicated in depression. Results are best interpreted by considering anatomic and cytoarchitectonic subdivisions. Evidence suggests depression is characterized by hypoactivity in the dorsal anterior cingulate, whereas hyperactivity in the rostral anterior cingulate is associated with good response to treatment. The authors tested the hypothesis that activity in […]
Author Archives: Christine L. Larson
Frontal brain asymmetry in restrained eaters.
Abstract It is well known that the eating patterns that restrain chronic dieters (restrained eaters) can be disinhibited by anxiety, which in turn has been associated with relative right frontal brain activity in independent electroencephalographic (EEG) studies. Combining these two lines of evidence, the authors tested the hypothesis that chronic restrained eating is associated with […]
Brain electrical tomography in depression: The importance of symptom severity, anxiety, and melancholic features.
Abstract Background: The frontal lobe has been crucially involved in the neurobiology of major depression, but inconsistencies among studies exist, in part due to a failure of considering modulatory variables such as symptom severity, comorbidity with anxiety, and distinct subtypes, as codeterminants for patterns of brain activation in depression. Methods: Resting electroencephalogram was recorded in […]
Startle potentiation in aversive anticipation: Evidence for state but not trait effects.
Abstract The present study was undertaken to determine whether aversiveness contributes to startle potentiation in anticipation of affective pictures above and beyond the effects of emotional arousal. Further, participants high in trait anxious apprehension, which is characterized by worry about the future, were expected to show especially pronounced anticipatory startle responses. Startle blink reflex was […]
Functional but not structural subgenual prefrotntal cortex abnromalities in melancholia.
Abstract Major depression is a heterogeneous condition, and the search for neural correlates specific to clinically defined subtypes has been inconclusive. Theoretical considerations implicate frontostriatal, particularly subgenual prefrontal cortex (PFC), dysfunction in the pathophysiology of melancholia—a subtype of depression characterized by anhedonia but no empirical evidence has been found yet for such a link. To […]
Functional coupling of simultaneous electrical and metabolic activity in the human brain.
Abstract The relationships between brain electrical and metabolic activity are being uncovered currently in animal models using invasive methods; however, in the human brain this relationship remains not well understood. In particular, the relationship between noninvasive measurements of electrical activity and metabolism remains largely undefined. To understand better these relations, cerebral activity was measured simultaneously […]
Stability of emotion-modulated startle during short and long picture presentation.
Abstract Following reports on improved test–retest reliability of emotion-modulated startle during a 6-s picture presentation when different pictures are presented at each assessment (Larson et al., 2000) and data suggesting that brief picture presentations also elicit affective blink modulation (Codispoti, Bradley, & Lang, 2001), we assessed test–retest reliability of blink modulation during brief picture presentations. […]
Fear is fast in phobic individuals: Amygdala activation in response to fear-relevant stimuli.
Abstract Background: Two core characteristics of pathologic fear are its rapid onset and resistance to cognitive regulation. We hypothesized that activation of the amygdala early in the presentation of fear-relevant visual stimuli would distinguish phobics from nonphobics. Methods: Chronometry of amygdala activation to phobia-relevant pictures was assessed in 13 spider phobics and 14 nonphobics using […]
Common and distinct patterns of affective response in dimensions of anxiety and depression.
Abstract The authors examined the time course of affective responding associated with different affective dimensions—anxious apprehension, anxious arousal, and anhedonic depression— using an emotionmodulated startle paradigm. Participants high on 1 of these 3 dimensions and nonsymptomatic control participants viewed a series of affective pictures with acoustic startle probes presented before, during, and after the stimuli. […]
The shape of threat: Simple geometric forms evoke rapid and sustained capture of attention.
Abstract Previous work has indicated that simple geometric shapes underlying facial expressions are capable of conveying emotional meaning. Specifically, a series of studies found that a simple shape, a downwardpointing “V,” which is similar to the geometric configuration of the face in angry expressions, is perceived as threatening. A parallel line of research has determined […]
