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Cerebral Cortex Advance Access originally published online on April 29, 2008
Cerebral Cortex 2009 19(1):127-133; doi:10.1093/cercor/bhn062
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© 2008 The Authors
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Enhanced Processing of Threat Stimuli under Limited Attentional Resources

Benedetto De Martino1, Raffael Kalisch2, Geraint Rees3 and Raymond J. Dolan1

1 Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging UCL, WC1N3BG London, UK, 2 Institut für Systemische Neurowissenschaften, Universitätsklinikum 20246 Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany, 3 Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience UCL, WC1 3AR London, UK

Address correspondence to Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, 12 Queen Square, WaC 1N 3BG London, UK. Email: b.martino{at}fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk.

The ability to process stimuli that convey potential threat, under conditions of limited attentional resources, confers adaptive advantages. This study examined the neurobiology underpinnings of this capacity. Employing an attentional blink paradigm, in conjunction with functional magnetic resonance imaging, we manipulated the salience of the second of 2 face target stimuli (T2), by varying emotionality. Behaviorally, fearful T2 faces were identified significantly more than neutral faces. Activity in fusiform face area increased with correct identification of T2 faces. Enhanced activity in rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) accounted for the benefit in detection of fearful stimuli reflected in a significant interaction between target valence and correct identification. Thus, under conditions of limited attention resources activation in rACC correlated with enhanced processing of emotional stimuli. We suggest that these data support a model in which a prefrontal "gate" mechanism controls conscious access of emotional information under conditions of limited attentional resources.

Key Words: attention • attentional blink • emotion • fMRI • fusiform face area • rACC


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