FUNCTIONAL MRI REVEALS LEFT AMYGDALA ACTIVATION DURING EMOTION

The potential of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for expe rimental studies of the brain and behavior is considerable given its s uperior time and spatial resolution, but few studies have attempted to validate them against established methods for measuring cerebral acti vation. In a previous study absolute regional cerebral blood flow was measured in 16 healthy individuals using quantitative H-2 O-15-PET dur ing standardized happy and sad mood induction and during two non-emoti onal control conditions. During sad mood, blood flow increased in the left amygdala and these changes correlated with shifts towards a negat ive affect. In the present study blood oxygenation level dependent (BO LD) changes were measured with fMRI during the same experimentally con trolled mood states and control tasks. Twelve right-handed normal subj ects were examined with a T2-weighted FLASH sequence. A significant i ncrease in signal intensity was found during sad as well as happy mood induction in the left amygdala. This converging evidence supports the potential of fMRI for advancing the understanding of neural substrate s for emotional experience in humans. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Irelan d Ltd.