Boys do it the right way: sex-dependent amygdala lateralization during face processing in adolescents.
NeuroImage. 2011-06-01; 56(3): 1847-1853
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.02.019
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Schneider S(1), Peters J, Bromberg U, Brassen S, Menz MM, Miedl SF, Loth E,
Banaschewski T, Barbot A, Barker G, Conrod PJ, Dalley JW, Flor H, Gallinat J,
Garavan H, Heinz A, Itterman B, Mallik C, Mann K, Artiges E, Paus T, Poline JB,
Rietschel M, Reed L, Smolka MN, Spanagel R, Speiser C, Ströhle A, Struve M,
Schumann G, Büchel C; IMAGEN consortium.
Collaborators: Schumann G, Conrod P, Reed L, Barker G, Williams S, Loth E, Struve
M, Lourdusamy A, Costafreda S, Cattrell A, Nymberg C, Topper L, Smith L,
Havatzias S, Stueber K, Mallik C, Clarke TK, Stacey D, Peng Wong C, Werts H,
Williams S, Andrew C, Desrivieres S, Zewdie S, Heinz A, Gallinat J, Häke I,
Ivanov N, Klär A, Reuter J, Palafox C, Hohmann C, Schilling C, Lüdemann K,
Romanowski A, Ströhle A, Wolff E, Rapp M, Ittermann B, Brühl R, Ihlenfeld A,
Walaszek B, Schubert F, Garavan H, Connolly C, Jones J, Lalor E, McCabe E, Ní
Shiothcháin A, Whelan R, Spanagel R, Leonardi-Essmann F, Sommer W, Flor H,
Vollstaedt-Klein S, Nees F, Banaschewski T, Poustka L, Steiner S, Mann K, Buehler
M, Vollstedt-Klein S, Rietschel M, Stolzenburg E, Schmal C, Schirmbeck F, Paus T,
Gowland P, Heym N, Lawrence C, Newman C, Pausova Z, Smolka M, Huebner T, Ripke S,
Mennigen E, Muller K, Ziesch V, Büchel C, Bromberg U, Fadai T, Lueken L, Yacubian
J, Finsterbusch J, Martinot JL, Artiges E, Bordas N, de Bournonville S, Bricaud
Z, Gollier Briand F, Lemaitre H, Massicotte J, Miranda R, Paillère Martinot ML,
Penttilä J, Poline JB, Barbot A, Schwartz Y, Lalanne C, Frouin V, Thyreau B,
Dalley J, Mar A, Robbins T, Subramaniam N, Theobald D, Richmond N, de Rover M,
Molander A, Jordan E, Robinson E, Hipolata L, Moreno M, Arroyo M, Stephens D,
Ripley T, Crombag H, Pena Y, Lathrop M, Zelenika D, Heath S, Lanzerath D,
Heinrichs B, Spranger T, Fuchs B, Speiser C, Resch F, Haffner J, Parzer P,
Brunner R, Klaassen A, Klaassen I, Constant P, Mignon X, Thomsen T, Zysset S,
Vestboe A, Ireland J, Rogers J, Pausova Z, Lawrence C, Barbot A, Schwartz Y.
Author information:
(1)NeuroimageNord, Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical-Center
Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Previous studies have observed a sex-dependent lateralization of amygdala
activation related to emotional memory. Specifically, it was shown that the
activity of the right amygdala correlates significantly stronger with memory for
images judged as arousing in men than in women, and that there is a significantly
stronger relationship in women than in men between activity of the left amygdala
and memory for arousing images. Using a large sample of 235 male adolescents and
235 females matched for age and handedness, we investigated the sex-specific
lateralization of amygdala activation during an emotional face perception fMRI
task. Performing a formal sex by hemisphere analysis, we observed in males a
significantly stronger right amygdala activation as compared to females. Our
results indicate that adolescents display a sex-dependent lateralization of
amygdala activation that is also present in basic processes of emotional
perception. This finding suggests a sex-dependent development of human emotion
processing and may further implicate possible etiological pathways for mental
disorders most frequent in adolescent males (i.e., conduct disorder).