Elsevier

Neuroscience Letters

Volume 386, Issue 2, 30 September 2005, Pages 99-104
Neuroscience Letters

Age-differential patterns of brain activation during perception of angry faces

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2005.06.002Get rights and content

Abstract

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to study age-related differences in the neural circuitry involved in perception of negative facial affect. During scanning, 24 younger and 22 older adults viewed blocks of angry and neutral faces. The fMRI data analysis of the angry versus neutral faces contrast demonstrated greater activation in younger versus older individuals in the right amygdala/hippocampus region, whereas older adults demonstrated greater activation in the right anterior-ventral insula cortex. Hence, normal aging seems to affect specific nodes in the neural network involved in processing negative emotional face information. This age-related change from more subcortical to more cortical involvement could reflect functional compensation within the neural system involved in perception of facial affect, or the fact that older adults process emotional information in a different manner than do young adults.

Section snippets

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the staff at the Karolinska Hospital MR center for providing excellent data collection conditions. This research was supported by grants from the Swedish Research Council (H.F. and L.B.).

References (32)

  • R. Cabeza

    Functional neuroimaging of cognitive aging

  • M. Davis et al.

    The amygdala: vigilance and emotion

    Mol. Psychiatry

    (2001)
  • P. Ekman et al.

    Pictures of Facial Affect

    (1976)
  • K.J. Friston et al.

    Analysis of functional MRI time-series

    Hum. Brain Mapp.

    (1994)
  • C.I. Grady et al.

    Age-related changes in cortical blood flow activity during visual processing of faces and locations

    J. Neurosci.

    (1994)
  • J.J. Gross et al.

    Emotion and aging: experience, expression, and control

    Psychol. Aging

    (1997)
  • Cited by (0)

    View full text