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Lauren Jackson

Kevin Ratliff

ISM 1

23 October 2019

Research Assessment #8

The article that I read in order to complete this assignment is titled "Amygdala reactivity

to masked negative faces is associated with automatic judgmental bias in major depression: a 3 T

fMRI study". The purpose of this research paper is to convert the results of an experiment

conducted in regards to the relationship of the amygdala and depression. Additionally, this study

was conducted due to the results of a previous study that had questions left unanswered. The

conclusion that these scientists and researchers ultimately come to is that "amygdala

hyperactivity is a neural substrate of negatively biased automatic emotion processing that could

be a determinant for a more severe disease" (Dannlowski).

As depression is quickly becoming a large epidemic across the globe, it is important to

understand what aspects of the brain are most vulnerable to detrimental effects. The amygdala is

commonly associated with emotion, fear, and aggression in response to a given circumstance.

Therefore, researchers are beginning to believe that the cause of depression (and what increases

its longevity) is related to abnormal emotion processing. Some have found that the amygdala

processes negative stimuli as it "guide[s] attention resources toward possible sources of danger"

(Dannlowski). Due to my need to understand the reasons as to why mental illness occurs and

best treatment options, these findings are highly relevant to my studies. Once I can isolate and
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identify the parts of the brain that become the most vulnerable with the onset of mental illness, I

will be able to compare how psychotherapy and medication affect the brain with a higher level of

efficiency.

Throughout the article, the entire experimental design is listed out and each aspect is

expanded further upon. The methods of which were elaborated on include: subjects, facial

presentation in the fMRI session, fMRI methods, affective priming task, and detection task. I

found this aspect of information to be especially informative as from this I was able to learn

more about how to go about setting up an effective and ethical experiment. Additionally, for any

assessments that were done, all of the names of these were included. I plan to look more into

Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD), 3 Tesla scanner,

and ROI analysis.

The experiment demonstrated that "stronger amygdala responses to masked angry and

sad faces were associated with more negative bias scores elicited by corresponding negative

prime faces in the affective priming task" (Dannlowski). However, positive stimuli appeared to

be processed differently than negative stimuli (which had shown obvious results). This alludes

that negative stimuli is the primary factor taken into consideration in regards to the amygdala.

The ultimate conclusion that the authors come to is that "automatic amygdala reactivity to

negative facial emotions appears to be a determinant of automatic negative judgmental bias in

depression patients that, in turn, is associated with duration and severity of illness"

(Dannlowski). This is all significant as once I begin writing my book I will be able to utilize this

source as a rich resource of knowledge on the amygdala.