Amygdala and Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex Activation to Masked Angry Faces in Children and Adolescents With Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Abstract

Youth with GAD have hyperactivation of the amygdala to briefly presented masked threats. The presence of threat-related negative connectivity between the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and the amygdala suggests that the prefrontal cortex modulates the amygdala response to threat. In pediatric GAD, amygdala hyperresponse occurs in the absence of a compensatory increase in modulation by the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex.