| Objective: To assess the function of amygdala and other brain regions in the discrimination of facial expression emotions (e.g., angry, fear, and neutral) in subjects exposed to childhood maltreatment. Method: Two hundred and one subjects were imaged using functional magnetic resonance imaging during the task of facial expression recognition. Results: In Block analysis, female (maltreated or control) was showing higher BOLD activation of amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex, and fusiform gyrus than male (maltreated or control). The maltreated group minus control group (mal-con), were showing significant BOLD responses in anterior cingulate cortex and posterior cingulate cortex, which are the center points of depression. In SPLIT analysis, right superior parietal and medial parietal were activated many times in female and male in different ages in emotional faces minus shapes. In addition, there were well defined activation in posterior cingulate cortex and visual cortex in males and females in different ages in neutral faces minus shapes. In MACE SUM analysis, the result was the same as SPLIT female plus male (F+M). Conclusion: amygdala is a very important brain region for discrimination of facial expressions between groups and many important brain regions were activated based on history of maltreatment. |
