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Abstract:
We examined the neural systems involved in positive and
negative emotion and in emotional episodic memory encoding in 10
healthy men. Subjects were scanned using positron emission
tomography (PET) as they viewed pictures in 4 conditions: positive
(e.g. erotica), negative (e.g. mutilation), or neutral emotion
(e.g. chess) and a high-interest control condition (e.g., bizarre
images). High-interest pictures elicited interest and attention as
a control for these factors in the emotion conditions, yet were
emotionally neutral. Emotional responses were assessed during
viewing. Picture memory was assessed immediately and again after a
month and was related to the PET data. Negative emotion differed
from neutral in greater occipito-temporal, left amygdalar,
thalamic, and left hippocampal/ parahippocampal activation.
Positive emotion differed from neutral in greater
occipito-temporal, insular, hypothalamic, cingulate, prefrontal,
and left amygdalar activations. Bilateral amygdalar and hippocampal
activity during memory encoding was highly correlated with enhanced
recognition memory for both positive and negative pictures. In
contrast, amygdala activity was not correlated with enhanced memory
for high-interest but nonemotional pictures, suggesting that the
mnemonic role of the amygdala is specific to emotional stimuli.
Results outline the functional neuroanatomy of positive and
negative emotional experience and emotional memory.
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