Neural Encoding of Emotion in the Primate Amygdala

描述（由申请人提供）：情绪的神经基质包括一个大的大脑回路，其中杏仁核起着关键作用。这项研究的长期目标是确定杏仁核的特定功能如何在神经水平上进行。杏仁核的功能之一是从环境刺激中选择具有内在情感价值的刺激，并对它们做出适当的反应，例如，在受到威胁时退缩或战斗。这一过程可能依赖于先天编程和相对不灵活的途径，以确保对具有生存价值的物体和事件做出持久和可靠的反应。与此同时，杏仁核需要更新许多刺激的强化值，这些刺激通过学习和经验获得或失去情感意义。这两种功能都用于社会行为。灵长类社会的复杂性要求人类和猴子对面部表情和其他具有情感意义的信号做出可靠的反应，但也要根据社会背景或个体之间的互动历史来调整反应。这些复杂而多样的功能的神经基础在很大程度上是未知的。这一假说的核心假设是，外侧核、基底核和中央杏仁核执行一系列可分离但互补的功能。这些研究的目的是在杏仁核中识别刺激分化、评价和情绪反应启动的神经信号。这将通过将自主神经、行为和神经系综反应与面部和非面部刺激的强化值的操纵相关联来实现。这种方法将确定：（1）杏仁核优先处理消极或积极刺激，还是进行差异处理;（2）带有内在积极或消极效价的面部表情是否与带有奖励或惩罚的中性对象参与相同的神经元过程;（3）杏仁核中的神经活动是否预测了情绪的自主和躯体表达。这些研究将确定杏仁核评估重要刺激的神经机制，并将这一过程的结果传递给控制情绪和社会行为的复杂大脑回路。了解在这个回路的每一个层面上进行的神经过程，有望对情绪障碍进行更有效的干预。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The neural substrate of emotion encompasses a large brain circuit in which the amygdala plays a key role. The long-term goal of the proposed research is to determine how specific functions attributed to the amygdala are carried out at the neural level. One of the functions of the amygdala is to select from the environment stimuli with inherent emotional value and respond to them adequately, e.g., withdraw or fight when threatened. This process might rely on innately programmed and relatively inflexible pathways to ensure enduring and reliable reactions in response to objects and events of survival value. In parallel, the amygdala is required to update the reinforcing value of many stimuli that gain or lose emotional significance through learning and experience. Both functions are used for social behavior. The intricacy of primate societies requires that humans and monkeys respond reliably to facial expressions and other signals with emotional significance but also to adjust responses to social context or to the history of interactions between individuals. The neural basis of these complex and diverse functions are largely unknown. The central hypothesis of this proposal is that the lateral, basal, and central amygdaloid nuclei carry out a sequence of dissociable but complementary functions. The objective of the proposed studies is to identify in the amygdala the neural signature of stimulus differentiation, evaluation, and the initiation of emotional responses. This will be achieved by relating autonomic, behavioral, and neural ensemble responses to manipulations of the reinforcing value of face and non-face stimuli. This approach will determine (1) whether negative or positive stimuli are processed preferentially or differentially in the amygdala, (2) whether facial expressions that carry inherent positive or negative valence engage the same neuronal processes as neutral objects paired with reward or punishment, (3) whether neural activity in the amygdale predicts the autonomic and somatic expressions of emotion. These studies will determine the neural mechanism by which the amygdala evaluates stimuli of significance and relays the results of this process to a complex brain circuits that control emotional and social behavior. Understanding the neural processes carried out at each level of this circuit holds promise for more effective interventions in emotional disorders.