Author:
Cahill Larry,Uncapher Melina,Kilpatrick Lisa,Alkire Mike T.,Turner Jessica
Abstract
The amygdala appears necessary for enhanced long-term memory associated
with emotionally arousing events. Recent brain imaging investigations support
this view and indicate a sex-related hemispheric lateralization exists in the
amygdala relationship to memory for emotional material. This study confirms
and further explores this finding. Healthy men and women underwent functional
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) while viewing a series of standardized
slides that were rated by the subjects as ranging from emotionally neutral to
highly arousing. Two weeks later, memory for the slides was assessed in an
incidental recognition test. The results demonstrate a significantly stronger
relationship in men than in women between activity of the right hemisphere
amygdala and memory for those slides judged as arousing, and a significantly
stronger relationship in women than in men between activity of the left
hemisphere amygdala and memory for arousing slides. An ANOVA confirmed a
significant interaction between sex and hemisphere regarding amygdala function
in memory. These results provide the strongest evidence to date of a
sex-related hemispheric lateralization of amygdala function in memory for
emotional material. Furthermore, they underscore the view that investigations
of neural mechanisms underlying emotionally influenced memory must anticipate,
and begin to account for, the apparently substantial influence of sex.
Publisher
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Subject
Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience,Cognitive Neuroscience,Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
Cited by
283 articles.
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