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The neural circuitry of emotion and affective style: prefrontal cortex and amygdala contributions

Richard J. Davidson

This article reviews the modern literature on two key aspects of the central circuitry of emotion - the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the amygdala. There are several different functional divisions of the PFC including the dorsolateral, ventromedial and orbitofrontal sectors. Each of these regions plays some role in affective processing that shares the feature of representing affect in the absence of immediate rewards and punishments as well as in different aspects of emotional regulation. The amygdala appears to be crucial for the learning of new stimulus-threat contingencies and also appears to be important in the expression of cue-specific fear. Individual differences in both tonic activation and phasic reactivity in this circuit play an important role in governing affective style. Emphasis is placed upon affective chronometry, or the time course of emotional responding, as a key attribute of emotion that varies across individuals and is regulated by this circuitry.

Key Words: Affective neuroscience • Affective style • Amygdala • Emotion regulation • Prefrontal cortex

Social Science Information, Vol. 40, No. 1, 11-37 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/053901801040001002
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