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Beyond the amygdala: Linguistic threat modulates peri-sylvian semantic access cortices
Brain Lang (2015)
  • Nancy B Isenberg, Providence St. Joseph Health
  • All Authors Daniel S Weisholtz 1, James C Root 2, Tracy Butler 3, Oliver Tüscher 4, Jane Epstein 5, Hong Pan 6, Xenia Protopopescu 7, Martin Goldstein 8, Nancy Isenberg 9, Gary Brendel 10, Joseph LeDoux 11, David A Silbersweig 6, Emily Stern 12
Abstract
In this study, healthy volunteers were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural systems involved in processing the threatening content conveyed via visually presented "threat words." The neural responses elicited by these words were compared to those elicited by matched neutral control words. The results demonstrate that linguistic threat, when presented in written form, can selectively engage areas of lateral temporal and inferior frontal cortex, distinct from the core language areas implicated in aphasia. Additionally, linguistic threat modulates neural activity in visceral/emotional systems (amygdala, parahippocampal gyrus and periaqueductal gray), and at earlier stages of the visual-linguistic processing stream involved in visual word form representations (ventral occipitotemporal cortex). We propose a model whereby limbic activation modulates activity at multiple nodes along the visual-linguistic-semantic processing stream, including a perisylvian "semantic access network" involved in decoding word meaning, suggesting a dynamic interplay between feedforward and feedback processes.

Disciplines
Publication Date
2015
Citation Information
Nancy B Isenberg and All Authors Daniel S Weisholtz 1, James C Root 2, Tracy Butler 3, Oliver Tüscher 4, Jane Epstein 5, Hong Pan 6, Xenia Protopopescu 7, Martin Goldstein 8, Nancy Isenberg 9, Gary Brendel 10, Joseph LeDoux 11, David A Silbersweig 6, Emily Stern 12. "Beyond the amygdala: Linguistic threat modulates peri-sylvian semantic access cortices" Brain Lang (2015)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/nancy-isenberg/6/