Association of trait anxiety and sex with amygdala responses to fearful faces during attention and memory tasks.

摘要

Individual differences in sex and trait anxiety (TA) have been suggested as important mediators of behavioural and neural responses to threat-related stimuli. In this study, the relationship between sex, TA and the processing of threat-related stimuli (fearful faces) was explored in healthy individuals. During fMRI scanning, 32 participants completed tasks probing two facets of emotional function: responses to unattended fearful faces and emotional memory. Interactions between TA and sex were observed in both behaviour and brain activity. In women, higher TA was associated with a stronger amygdala response to unattended fearful faces, whereas no such relationship was present in males. Also, in women only, high TA was associated with stronger anterior cingulate and left amygdala activity when fearful faces were successfully encoded. These findings may contribute to an understanding of the higher incidence of anxiety disorders in women than men.