Psilocybin modulates functional connectivity of the amygdala during emotional face discrimination
This randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study (n=18) analyzed the acute effects of psilocybin (11.2mg/70kg) on brain activity and connectivity during the perceptual discrimination of emotional faces in healthy participants. Psilocybin decreased connectivity between the right amygdala and the right frontal pole while processing happy faces and decreased connectivity between the left striatum and the right amygdala while processing angry faces, thereby acting as a key modulator of the amygdala and emotional processing.
Authors
- Erich Seifritz
- Franz Vollenweider
- Katrin Preller
Published
Abstract
Introduction
Recent studies suggest that the antidepressant effects of the psychedelic 5-HT2A receptor agonist psilocybin are mediated through its modulatory properties on prefrontal and limbic brain regions including the amygdala.
Methods
To further investigate the effects of psilocybin on emotion processing networks, we studied for the first-time psilocybin's acute effects on amygdala seed-to-voxel connectivity in an event-related face discrimination task in 18 healthy volunteers who received psilocybin and placebo in a double-blind balanced cross-over design. The amygdala has been implicated as a salience detector especially involved in the immediate response to emotional face content. We used beta-series amygdala seed-to-voxel connectivity during an emotional face discrimination task to elucidate the connectivity pattern of the amygdala over the entire brain.
Results
When we compared psilocybin to placebo, an increase in reaction time for all three categories of affective stimuli was found. Psilocybin decreased the connectivity between amygdala and the striatum during angry face discrimination. During happy face discrimination, the connectivity between the amygdala and the frontal pole was decreased. No effect was seen during discrimination of fearful faces.
Discussion
Thus, we show psilocybin's effect as a modulator of major connectivity hubs of the amygdala. Psilocybin decreases the connectivity between important nodes linked to emotion processing like the frontal pole or the striatum. Future studies are needed to clarify whether connectivity changes predict therapeutic effects in psychiatric patients.
Research Summary of 'Psilocybin modulates functional connectivity of the amygdala during emotional face discrimination'
Introduction
Psilocybin is a serotonergic modulator that acts strongly in limbic structures and prefrontal hubs. The emotional content of faces engages an evolutionarily conserved network—including fusiform gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex—that functions in salience detection and is implicated in affective and anxiety disorders. Previous work has shown that psilocybin alters electrophysiological measures and can attenuate amygdala reactivity in block-design fMRI, but effects on event-related amygdala connectivity during rapid emotional face discrimination had not been investigated. Grimm and colleagues designed the present study to test whether acute psilocybin alters the amygdala's seed-to-voxel connectivity during an event-related emotional face discrimination task. They hypothesised that psilocybin would selectively change the amygdala's connectivity with other limbic and prefrontal regions while participants discriminated angry, happy or fearful faces from neutral faces. The authors emphasised the use of an event-related design because rapid amygdala habituation may obscure subtle, time-locked connectivity effects in block paradigms.
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Study Details
- Study Typeindividual
- Journal
- Compound
- Topics
- Authors
- APA Citation
Grimm, O., Kraehenmann, R., Preller, K., Seifritz, E., & Vollenweider, F. (2018). Psilocybin modulates functional connectivity of the amygdala during emotional face discrimination. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 28(6), 691-700. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2018.03.016
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