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Functional MRI study of specific animal phobia using an event‐related emotional counting stroop paradigm
Author(s) -
Britton Jennifer C.,
Gold Andrea L.,
Deckersbach Thilo,
Rauch Scott L.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
depression and anxiety
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.634
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1520-6394
pISSN - 1091-4269
DOI - 10.1002/da.20569
Subject(s) - stroop effect , anterior cingulate cortex , psychology , amygdala , insula , neuroscience , error related negativity , specific phobia , insular cortex , phobias , prefrontal cortex , audiology , anxiety disorder , anxiety , cognition , psychiatry , medicine
Abstract Background: Emotional interference tasks may be useful in probing anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) function to understand abnormal attentional study in individuals with specific phobia. Methods: In a 3 T functional MRI study, individuals with specific phobias of the animal subtype (SAP, n=12) and healthy comparison (HC) adults (n=12) completed an event‐related emotional counting Stroop task. Individuals were presented phobia‐related, negative, and neutral words and were instructed to report via button press the number of words displayed on each trial. Results: Compared to the HC group, the SAP group exhibited greater rostral ACC activation (i.e., greater response to phobia‐related words than neutral words). In this same contrast, HCs exhibited greater right amygdala and posterior insula activations as well as greater thalamic deactivation than the SAP group. Both groups exhibited anterior cingulate, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus/insula, and amygdala activations as well as thalamic deactivation. Psychophysiological interaction analysis highlighted a network of activation in these regions in response to phobia‐related words in the SAP group. Conclusions: Taken together, these findings implicate a circuit of dysfunction, which is linked to attention abnormalities in individuals with SAP. Depression and Anxiety, 2009. Published 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.