RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 An afferent white matter pathway from the pulvinar to the amygdala facilitates fear recognition
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 277368
DO 10.1101/277368
A1 Jessica McFadyen
A1 Jason B Mattingley
A1 Marta I Garrido
YR 2019
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/01/09/277368.abstract
AB Our ability to rapidly detect threats is thought to be subserved by a subcortical pathway that quickly conveys visual information to the amygdala. This neural shortcut has been demonstrated in animals but has rarely been shown in the human brain. Importantly, it remains unclear whether such a pathway might influence neural activity and behaviour. We conducted a multimodal neuroimaging study of 622 participants from the Human Connectome Project. We applied probabilistic tractography to diffusion-weighted images, reconstructing a subcortical pathway to the amygdala from the superior colliculus via the pulvinar. We then computationally modelled the flow of neural activity during a face-viewing task and found evidence for a functionally-afferent pulvinar-amygdala pathway. Critically, individuals with greater fibre density in this pathway also had stronger dynamic coupling and enhanced fearful face recognition. Our findings provide converging evidence for the recruitment of an afferent subcortical pulvinar connection to the amygdala that facilitates fear recognition.