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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
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,
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
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