Bilateral amygdala damage linked to impaired ability to predict others' fear but preserved moral judgements about causing others fear.

MedStar author(s):
Citation: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London - Series B: Biological Sciences. 288(1943):20202651, 2021 Jan 27.PMID: 33499792Institution: MedStar National Rehabilitation NetworkForm of publication: Journal ArticleMedline article type(s): Journal ArticleSubject headings: IN PROCESS -- NOT YET INDEXEDYear: 2021Local holdings: Available online from MWHC library: 1997 - presentISSN:
  • 0962-8452
Name of journal: Proceedings. Biological sciencesAbstract: The amygdala is a subcortical structure implicated in both the expression of conditioned fear and social fear recognition. Social fear recognition deficits following amygdala lesions are often interpreted as reflecting perceptual deficits, or the amygdala's role in coordinating responses to threats. But these explanations fail to capture why amygdala lesions impair both physiological and behavioural responses to multimodal fear cues and the ability to identify them. We hypothesized that social fear recognition deficits following amygdala damage reflect impaired conceptual understanding of fear. Supporting this prediction, we found specific impairments in the ability to predict others' fear (but not other emotions) from written scenarios following bilateral amygdala lesions. This finding is consistent with the suggestion that social fear recognition, much like social recognition of states like pain, relies on shared internal representations. Preserved judgements about the permissibility of causing others fear confirms suggestions that social emotion recognition and morality are dissociable.All authors: Buchanan TW, Cardinale EM, Marsh AA, O'Connell K, Reber J, Tranel D, Turkeltaub PEFiscal year: FY2021Digital Object Identifier: Date added to catalog: 2021-02-17
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Journal Article MedStar Authors Catalog Article 33499792 Available 33499792

Available online from MWHC library: 1997 - present

The amygdala is a subcortical structure implicated in both the expression of conditioned fear and social fear recognition. Social fear recognition deficits following amygdala lesions are often interpreted as reflecting perceptual deficits, or the amygdala's role in coordinating responses to threats. But these explanations fail to capture why amygdala lesions impair both physiological and behavioural responses to multimodal fear cues and the ability to identify them. We hypothesized that social fear recognition deficits following amygdala damage reflect impaired conceptual understanding of fear. Supporting this prediction, we found specific impairments in the ability to predict others' fear (but not other emotions) from written scenarios following bilateral amygdala lesions. This finding is consistent with the suggestion that social fear recognition, much like social recognition of states like pain, relies on shared internal representations. Preserved judgements about the permissibility of causing others fear confirms suggestions that social emotion recognition and morality are dissociable.

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