Temporal Stability of Individual Differences in Amygdala Reactivity

To The Editor: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is used extensively to assess relative activation of the amygdala to emotionally provocative stimuli. Heightened amygdala reactivity is associated with trait negative affect (1), symptom severity in depression (2), and polymorphisms of disease liability genes (3) . The magnitude of these associations is constrained by the reliability of study measurements, and, for dimensions of individual differences, by their reproducibility over time. However, little research has addressed the temporal stability of individual differences in amygdala reactivity. Although moderate reliability of interindividual variability in amygdala activation has been demonstrated on short-term retesting (4), we are unaware of evidence of trait-like stability over lengthier intervals. We recently evaluated the stability of amygdala reactivity in 13 volunteers who completed similar (albeit nonidentical) fMRI protocols separated by at least 1 year.

In summary, we found significant long-term reproducibility of individual differences in fMRI-assessed right amygdala reactivity, suggesting that such reactivity comprises an enduring dimension of individual differences (4) . We speculate that our observed right laterality bias reflects the visuospatial processing demands of our paradigm, which preferentially engages right hemisphere circuits, and not underlying differences in the inherent biological properties of the right and left amygdala. This is underscored by the finding of left but not right temporal stability in an earlier study (4), in which paradigm characteristics may have contributed to the observed opposite laterality bias. It is also possible that our data underestimate the stability of amygdala reactivity, given the many methodological factors that might compromise reliability of measurements (e.g., variation in protocol or stimulus attributes, as well as between-session shifts in scanner characteristics, such as signal-to-noise ratio and tissue inhomogeneity-related artifacts). Our current observation confirms an important property (i.e., temporal stability) of a neural phenotype that figures increasingly in research on personality and temperament, psychopathology, and genetically driven variability in behavior. Further longitudinal investigation will be useful in evaluating the dispositional nature of amygdala reactivity and its role in liability to mood and anxiety disorders.