Rapid Fear Detection Relies on High Spatial Frequencies
Rapid Fear Detection Relies on High Spatial Frequencies
复制标题
DOI：
10.1177/0956797613512509
复制
发表时间：
2014-02-01
影响因子：
8.2
通讯作者：
Sterzer, Philipp
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Stein, Timo;Seymour, Kiley;Sterzer, Philipp
威胁的信号，如恐惧的面孔，被优先处理，并有特权获得意识。这种恐惧优势通常被认为是通过一条专门的皮层下通路到达杏仁核的，该通路绕过视觉皮层，主要处理低空间频率的信息，但对高空间频率基本不敏感。我们测试了在连续闪光抑制和三明治掩蔽下，低通和高通过滤的恐惧和中性面孔的视觉检测，我们一致发现恐惧优势是特定于高空间频率的。这表明，快速的恐惧检测不依赖于低，但在高空间频率的信息指示参与皮层视觉区。这些发现挑战了传统的观点，即杏仁核的皮层下通路对于恐惧信号的初始处理至关重要，并支持了新出现的观点，即大脑皮层对于处理生态相关信号至关重要。
Signals of threatsuch as fearful facesare processed with priority and have privileged access to awareness. This fear advantage is commonly believed to engage a specialized subcortical pathway to the amygdala that bypasses visual cortex and processes predominantly low-spatial-frequency information but is largely insensitive to high spatial frequencies. We tested visual detection of low- and high-pass-filtered fearful and neutral faces under continuous flash suppression and sandwich masking, and we found consistently that the fear advantage was specific to high spatial frequencies. This demonstrates that rapid fear detection relies not on low- but on high-spatial-frequency informationindicative of an involvement of cortical visual areas. These findings challenge the traditional notion that a subcortical pathway to the amygdala is essential for the initial processing of fear signals and support the emerging view that the cerebral cortex is crucial for the processing of ecologically relevant signals.