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Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Advance Access published online on October 1, 2008
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, doi:10.1093/scan/nsn033
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© The Author (2008). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

The role of the amygdala in implicit evaluation of emotionally neutral faces

Alexander Todorov and Andrew D. Engell

Department of Psychology and Center for the Study of Brain, Mind, and Behavior, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

The amygdala is involved in the evaluation of novel stimuli, including faces. We examined whether the amygdala is engaged during the evaluation of emotionally neutral faces along trait-specific dimensions such as trustworthiness and attractiveness or along a general valence dimension. Using behavioral data from evaluation of faces on 14 trait dimensions and fMRI data from an implicit evaluation paradigm, we show that the extent to which the amygdala responds to variations of faces on specific dimensions is a function of the valence content of these dimensions. Variations on dimensions with clear valence connotations (e.g. trustworthiness) engaged the amygdala more strongly than variations on dimensions with less clear valence connotations (e.g. dominance). In addition to the amygdala, several other regions—right superior occipital gyrus, right middle temporal/occipital gyrus and bilateral fusiform gyri—were involved in valence evaluation of faces. However, the relation between these regions and face valence was accounted for by the amygdala's response to faces. The findings suggest that the amygdala (i) automatically evaluates novel faces along a general valence dimension; and (ii) modulates a face responsive network of regions in occipital and temporal cortices.

Keywords: face perception; amygdala; valence evaluation; social cognition

Correspondence should be addressed to Alexander Todorov, Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA. E-mail: atodorov{at}princeton.edu

Received June 20, 2008. Accepted August 8, 2008.


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