Cureus | Early gamma-band activity as a function of threat processing in the extrastriate visual cortex
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Research Article

Early gamma-band activity as a function of threat processing in the extrastriate visual cortex

Frances A. Maratos, Carl Senior, Karin Mogg, Brendan P. Bradley, Gina Rippon

Published: August 30, 2011

DOI: 10.1080/17588928.2011.613989

License: © 2012 Psychology Press, an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business2012This is an open access article distributed under the Supplemental Terms and Conditions for iOpenAccess articles published in Taylor & Francis journals, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Various neuroimaging investigations have revealed that perception of emotional pictures is associated with greater visual cortex activity than their neutral counterparts. It has further been proposed that threat-related information is rapidly processed, suggesting that the modulation of visual cortex activity should occur at an early stage. Additional studies have demonstrated that oscillatory activity in the gamma band range (40–100 Hz) is associated with threat processing. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) was used to investigate such activity during perception of task-irrelevant, threat-related versus neutral facial expressions. Our results demonstrated a bilateral reduction in gamma band activity for expressions of threat, specifically anger, compared with neutral faces in extrastriate visual cortex (BA 18) within 50–250 ms of stimulus onset. These results suggest that gamma activity in visual cortex may play a role in affective modulation of visual processing, in particular with the perception of threat cues.


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Scholarly Impact Quotient™ (SIQ™)

Scholarly Impact Quotient™ (SIQ™) is our unique post-publication peer review rating process. SIQ™ assesses article importance and quality by embracing the collective intelligence of the Cureus community-at-large. All registered users are invited to contribute to the SIQ™ of any published article. (Authors cannot rate their own articles.)

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