Alexithymia-like Disorder in Right Anterior Cingulate Infarction

The frontal midline structures have been demonstrated by functional neuroimaging to be involved in the affective control of human behavior. However, due to the rareness of diseases affecting this part of the brain little is known about behavioral abnormalities following damage to these brain areas. We present a patient with a right anterior cingulate infarct who presented with an alexithymia-like disorder. Event-related potentials revealed an abnormality of emotional face perception in the right cerebral hemisphere. We suggest that the anterior cingulate lesion induced a deficit of emotion processing including emotional face perception probably due to an interference in a critical node of a large-scale network subserving affective control of behavior.     

Alexithymia-like disorder in right anterior cingulate infarction

The frontal midline structures have been demonstrated by functional neuroimaging to be involved in the affective control of human behavior. However, due to the rareness of diseases affecting this part of the brain little is known about behavioral abnormalities following damage to these brain areas. We present a patient with a right anterior cingulate infarct who presented with an alexithymia-like disorder. Event-related potentials revealed an abnormality of emotional face perception in the right cerebral hemisphere. We suggest that the anterior cingulate lesion induced a deficit of emotion processing including emotional face perception probably due to an interference in a critical node of a large-scale network subserving affective control of behavior.     

The differential association between local neurotransmitter levels and whole‐brain resting‐state functional connectivity in two distinct cingulate cortex subregions

We examined the association between rsFC and local neurotransmitter levels in the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC) and the anterior mid‐cingulate cortex (aMCC) by varying rsFC‐strengths at the whole‐brain level. Our results showed region‐dependent directionality of associations in the investigated ACC subdivisions.     

Interaction among childhood trauma and functional polymorphisms in the serotonin pathway moderate the risk of depressive disorders

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is associated with disturbed emotion processing, typically encompassing intense and fast emotional reactions toward affective stimuli. In this study, we were interested in whether emotional dysregulation in BPD occurs not only during the perception of emotional stimuli, but also during the anticipation of upcoming emotional pictures in the absence of concrete stimuli. Eighteen female patients with a diagnosis of BPD and 18 healthy control subjects anticipated cued visual stimuli with prior known emotional valence or prior unknown emotional content during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Brain activity during the anticipation of emotional stimuli was compared between both groups. When anticipating negative pictures, BPD patients demonstrated less signal change in the left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and left middle cingulate cortex (MCC), and enhanced activations in the left pregenual ACC, left posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) as well as in left visual cortical areas including the lingual gyrus. During the anticipation of ambiguously announced stimuli, brain activity in BPD was also reduced in the left MCC extending into the medial and bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Results point out that deficient recruitment of brain areas related to cognitive–emotional interaction already during the anticipation phase may add to emotional dysregulation in BPD. Stronger activation of the PCC could correspond to an increased autobiographical reference in BPD. Moreover, increased preparatory visual activity during negative anticipation may contribute to hypersensitivity toward emotional cues in this disorder.     

Two systems of resting state connectivity between the insula and cingulate cortex

The insula and cingulate cortices are implicated in emotional, homeostatic/allostatic, sensorimotor, and cognitive functions. Non‐human primates have specific anatomical connections between sub‐divisions of the insula and cingulate. Specifically, the anterior insula projects to the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pACC) and the anterior and posterior mid‐cingulate cortex (aMCC and pMCC); the mid‐posterior insula only projects to the posterior MCC (pMCC). In humans, functional neuroimaging studies implicate the anterior insula and pre/subgenual ACC in emotional processes, the mid‐posterior insula with awareness and interoception, and the MCC with environmental monitoring, response selection, and skeletomotor body orientation. Here, we tested the hypothesis that distinct resting state functional connectivity could be identified between (1) the anterior insula and pACC/aMCC; and (2) the entire insula (anterior, middle, and posterior insula) and the pMCC. Functional connectivity was assessed from resting state fMRI scans in 19 healthy volunteers using seed regions of interest in the anterior, middle, and posterior insula. Highly correlated, low‐frequency oscillations (< 0.05 Hz) were identified between specific insula and cingulate subdivisions. The anterior insula was shown to be functionally connected with the pACC/aMCC and the pMCC, while the mid/posterior insula was only connected with the pMCC. These data provide evidence for a resting state anterior insula–pACC/aMCC cingulate system that may integrate interoceptive information with emotional salience to form a subjective representation of the body; and another system that includes the entire insula and MCC, likely involved in environmental monitoring, response selection, and skeletomotor body orientation. Human Brain Mapp 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Involvement of glutamate in rest-stimulus interaction between perigenual and supragenual anterior cingulate cortex: a combined fMRI-MRS study

The brain shows a high degree of activity at rest. The significance of this activity has come increasingly into focus. At present, however, the interaction between this activity and stimulus-induced activity is not well defined. The interaction between a task-negative (perigenual anterior cingulate cortex, pgACC) and task-positive (supragenual anterior cingulate cortex, sgACC) region during a simple task was thus investigated using a combination of fMRI and MRS. Negative BOLD responses in the pgACC were found to show a unidirectional effective connectivity with task-induced positive BOLD responses in the sgACC. This connectivity was shown to be related specifically with glutamate levels in the pgACC. These results demonstrate an interaction between deactivation from resting-state and resting-state glutamate levels in a task-negative region (pgACC), and task-induced activity in a task-positive region (sgACC). This provides insight into the neuronal and biochemical mechanisms by means of which the resting state activity of the brain potentially impacts upon subsequent stimulus-induced activity.     

Nonlinear relationship between emotional valence and brain activity: Evidence of separate negative and positive valence dimensions

Emotion plays a significant role in goal‐directed behavior, yet its neural basis is yet poorly understood. In several psychological models the cardinal dimensions that characterize the emotion space are considered to be valence and arousal. Here 3T functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to reveal brain areas that show valence‐ and arousal‐dependent blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal responses. Seventeen healthy adults viewed pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) for brief 100 ms periods in a block design paradigm. In many brain regions BOLD signals correlated significantly positively with valence ratings of unpleasant pictures. Interestingly, partly in the same regions but also in several other regions BOLD signals correlated negatively with valence ratings of pleasant pictures. Therefore, there were several areas where the correlation across all pictures was of inverted U‐shape. Such correlations were found bilaterally in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) extending to anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and insula. Self‐rated arousal of those pictures which were evaluated to be unpleasant correlated with BOLD signal in the ACC, whereas for pleasant pictures arousal correlated positively with the BOLD signal strength in the right substantia innominata. We interpret our results to suggest a major division of brain mechanisms underlying affective behavior to those evaluating stimuli to be pleasant or unpleasant. This is consistent with the basic division of behavior to approach and withdrawal, where differentiation of hostile and hospitable stimuli is crucial. Hum Brain Mapp, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Modulation of amygdala reactivity following rapidly acting interventions for major depression

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and ketamine treatment both induce rapidly acting antidepressant effects in patients with major depressive disorder unresponsive to standard treatments, yet their specific impact on emotion processing is unknown. Here, we examined the neural underpinnings of emotion processing within and across patients (N = 44) receiving either ECT (N = 17, mean age: 36.8, 11.0 SD) or repeated subanesthetic (0.5 mg/kg) intravenous ketamine therapy (N = 27, mean age: 37.3, 10.8 SD) using a naturalistic study design. MRI and clinical data were collected before (TP1) and after treatment (TP2); healthy controls (N = 31, mean age: 34.5, 13.5 SD) completed one MRI session (TP1). An fMRI face‐matching task probed negative‐ and positive‐valence systems. Whole‐brain analysis, comparing neurofunctional changes within and across treatment groups, targeted brain regions involved in emotional facial processing, and included regions‐of‐interest analysis of amygdala responsivity. Main findings revealed a decrease in amygdalar reactivity after both ECT and ketamine for positive and negative emotional face processing (p < .05 family wise‐error (FWE) corrected). Subthreshold changes were observed between treatments within the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and insula (p < .005, uncorrected). BOLD change for positive faces in the inferior parietal cortex significantly correlated with overall symptom improvement, and BOLD change in frontal regions correlated with anxiety for negative faces, and anhedonia for positive faces (p < .05 FWE corrected). Both serial ketamine and ECT treatment modulate amygdala response, while more subtle treatment‐specific changes occur in the larger functional network. Findings point to both common and differential mechanistic upstream systems‐level effects relating to fast‐acting antidepressant response, and symptoms of anxiety and anhedonia, for the processing of emotionally valenced stimuli.     

Inflammatory bowel disease: perspectives from cingulate cortex in the first brain

The article by Agostini et al. (2013) in this issue of Neurogastroenterology and Motility evaluated patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) for volumetric changes throughout the brain. They observed decreased gray matter volumes in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior midcingulate cortex (aMCC) and disease duration was negatively correlated with volumes in subgenual anterior cingulate (sACC), posterior MCC (pMCC), ventral posterior cingulate (vPCC), and parahippocampal cortices. As all patients were in remission and suffered from ongoing abdominal pain, this study provides a critical link between forebrain changes and abdominal pain experience independent of active disease and drug treatment. The aMCC has a role in feedback‐mediated decision making and there are specific cognitive tasks that differentiate aMCC and pMCC that can be used to evaluate defects in CD. The sACC is an important area as it has impaired functions in major depression. As depressive symptoms are a feature in a subset of patients with active inflammatory diseases including IBD, treatment targeting this subregion should prove efficacious. Finally, vPCC has a role in ongoing self‐monitoring of the personal relevance of sensory stimuli including visceral signals via sACC. This pathway may be interrupted by vPCC atrophy in CD. Cingulate atrophy in CD leads to targeting chronic pain and psychiatric symptoms via cingulate‐mediated therapies. These include psychotherapy, guided imagery and relaxation training, analgesic dosages of morphine or antidepressants, and hypnosis. Thus, a new generation of novel treatments may emerge from drug and non‐traditional therapies for CD in this formative area of research.     

Ketamine alters neural processing of facial emotion recognition in healthy men: an fMRI study

Disruption of facial emotion perception occurs in neuropsychiatric disorders where the expression of emotion is dulled or blunted, for example depersonalization disorder and schizophrenia. It has been suggested that, in the clinical context of emotional blunting, there is a shift in the relative contribution of brain regions subserving cognitive and emotional processing. The non-competitive glutamate receptor antagonist ketamine produces such emotional blunting in healthy subjects. Therefore, we hypothesised that in healthy subjects ketamine would elicit neural responses to emotional stimuli which mimicked those reported in depersonalization disorder and schizophrenia. Thus, we predicted that ketamine would produce reduced activity in limbic and visual brain regions involved in emotion processing, and increased activity in dorsal regions of the prefrontal cortex and cingulate gyrus, both associated with cognitive processing and, putatively, with emotion regulation. Measuring BOLD signal change in fMRI, we examined the neural correlates of ketamine-induced emotional blunting in eight young right-handed healthy men receiving an infusion of ketamine or saline placebo while viewing alternating 30 s blocks of faces displaying fear versus neutral expressions. The normal pattern of neural response occurred in limbic and visual cortex to fearful faces during the placebo infusion. Ketamine abolished this: significant BOLD signal change was demonstrated only in left visual cortex. However, with ketamine, neural responses were demonstrated to neutral expressions in visual cortex, cerebellum and left posterior cingulate gyrus. Emotional blunting may be associated with reduced limbic responses to emotional stimuli and a relative increase in the visual cortical response to neutral stimuli.     

Structural brain differences in emotional processing and regulation areas between male batterers and other criminals: A preliminary study

Poor emotion processing is thought to influence violent behaviors among male batterers in abusive relationships. Nevertheless, little is known about the neural mechanisms of emotion processing in this population. With the objective of better understanding brain structure and its relation to emotion processing in male batterers, the present study compares the cortical grey matter thickness of male batterers to that of other criminals in brain areas related to emotion. Differences among these brain areas were also compared to an emotional perception task. An MRI study and an emotional perception assessment was conducted with 21 male batterers and 20 men convicted of crimes other than Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Results demonstrated that batterers’ had significantly thinner cortices in prefrontal (orbitofrontal), midline (anterior and posterior cingulate) and limbic (insula, parahipocampal) brain regions. The thickness of the dorsal posterior cingulate cortex in the batterer group correlated with scores on the emotional perception task. These findings shed light on a neuroscientific approach to analyzing violent behavior perpetrated by male batterers, leading to a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms involved in IPV.     

Distributed and interactive brain mechanisms during emotion face perception: evidence from functional neuroimaging

Brain imaging studies in humans have shown that face processing in several areas is modulated by the affective significance of faces, particularly with fearful expressions, but also with other social signals such gaze direction. Here we review haemodynamic and electrical neuroimaging results indicating that activity in the face-selective fusiform cortex may be enhanced by emotional (fearful) expressions, without explicit voluntary control, and presumably through direct feedback connections from the amygdala. fMRI studies show that these increased responses in fusiform cortex to fearful faces are abolished by amygdala damage in the ipsilateral hemisphere, despite preserved effects of voluntary attention on fusiform; whereas emotional increases can still arise despite deficits in attention or awareness following parietal damage, and appear relatively unaffected by pharmacological increases in cholinergic stimulation. Fear-related modulations of face processing driven by amygdala signals may implicate not only fusiform cortex, but also earlier visual areas in occipital cortex (e.g., V1) and other distant regions involved in social, cognitive, or somatic responses (e.g., superior temporal sulcus, cingulate, or parietal areas). In the temporal domain, evoked-potentials show a widespread time-course of emotional face perception, with some increases in the amplitude of responses recorded over both occipital and frontal regions for fearful relative to neutral faces (as well as in the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex, when using intracranial recordings), but with different latencies post-stimulus onset. Early emotional responses may arise around 120ms, prior to a full visual categorization stage indexed by the face-selective N170 component, possibly reflecting rapid emotion processing based on crude visual cues in faces. Other electrical components arise at later latencies and involve more sustained activities, probably generated in associative or supramodal brain areas, and resulting in part from the modulatory signals received from amygdala. Altogether, these fMRI and ERP results demonstrate that emotion face perception is a complex process that cannot be related to a single neural event taking place in a single brain regions, but rather implicates an interactive network with distributed activity in time and space. Moreover, although traditional models in cognitive neuropsychology have often considered that facial expression and facial identity are processed along two separate pathways, evidence from fMRI and ERPs suggests instead that emotional processing can strongly affect brain systems responsible for face recognition and memory. The functional implications of these interactions remain to be fully explored, but might play an important role in the normal development of face processing skills and in some neuropsychiatric disorders.     

The neurophysiological bases of emotion: An fMRI study of the affective circumplex using emotion-denoting words

Objective: We aimed to study the neural processing of emotion‐denoting words based on a circumplex model of affect, which posits that all emotions can be described as a linear combination of two neurophysiological dimensions, valence and arousal. Based on the circumplex model, we predicted a linear relationship between neural activity and incremental changes in these two affective dimensions. Methods: Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we assessed in 10 subjects the correlations of BOLD (blood oxygen level dependent) signal with ratings of valence and arousal during the presentation of emotion‐denoting words. Results: Valence ratings correlated positively with neural activity in the left insular cortex and inversely with neural activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal and precuneus cortices. The absolute value of valence ratings (reflecting the positive and negative extremes of valence) correlated positively with neural activity in the left dorsolateral and medial prefrontal cortex (PFC), dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and right dorsal PFC, and inversely with neural activity in the left medial temporal cortex and right amygdala. Arousal ratings and neural activity correlated positively in the left parahippocampus and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and inversely in the left dorsolateral PFC and dorsal cerebellum. Conclusion: We found evidence for two neural networks subserving the affective dimensions of valence and arousal. These findings clarify inconsistencies from prior imaging studies of affect by suggesting that two underlying neurophysiological systems, valence and arousal, may subserve the processing of affective stimuli, consistent with the circumplex model of affect. Hum Brain Mapp, 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Dissociable meta‐analytic brain networks contribute to coordinated emotional processing

Meta‐analytic techniques for mining the neuroimaging literature continue to exert an impact on our conceptualization of functional brain networks contributing to human emotion and cognition. Traditional theories regarding the neurobiological substrates contributing to affective processing are shifting from regional‐ towards more network‐based heuristic frameworks. To elucidate differential brain network involvement linked to distinct aspects of emotion processing, we applied an emergent meta‐analytic clustering approach to the extensive body of affective neuroimaging results archived in the BrainMap database. Specifically, we performed hierarchical clustering on the modeled activation maps from 1,747 experiments in the affective processing domain, resulting in five meta‐analytic groupings of experiments demonstrating whole‐brain recruitment. Behavioral inference analyses conducted for each of these groupings suggested dissociable networks supporting: (1) visual perception within primary and associative visual cortices, (2) auditory perception within primary auditory cortices, (3) attention to emotionally salient information within insular, anterior cingulate, and subcortical regions, (4) appraisal and prediction of emotional events within medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices, and (5) induction of emotional responses within amygdala and fusiform gyri. These meta‐analytic outcomes are consistent with a contemporary psychological model of affective processing in which emotionally salient information from perceived stimuli are integrated with previous experiences to engender a subjective affective response. This study highlights the utility of using emergent meta‐analytic methods to inform and extend psychological theories and suggests that emotions are manifest as the eventual consequence of interactions between large‐scale brain networks.     

Frontoparietal attentional network activation differs between smokers and nonsmokers during affective cognition

Smoking withdrawal-induced disruption of affect and cognition is associated with dysregulated prefrontal brain function, although little is known regarding the neural foci of smoker–nonsmoker differences during affective cognition. Thus, the current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify smoker–nonsmoker differences in affective cognition. Thirty-four healthy volunteers (17 smokers, 17 nonsmokers) underwent fMRI during an affective Stroop task (aST). The aST includes emotional cue-reactivity trials, and response selection trials that contain either neutral or negative emotional distractors. Smokers had less activation during negative cue-reactivity trials in regions subserving emotional awareness (i.e., posterior cingulate), inhibitory control (i.e., inferior frontal gyrus) and conflict resolution (i.e., anterior cingulate); during response-selection trials with negative emotional distractors, smokers had greater activation in a frontoparietal attentional network (i.e., middle frontal and supramarginal gyri). Exploratory analyses revealed that task accuracy was positively correlated with anterior cingulate cortex and inferior frontal gyrus response on fMRI. These findings suggests that chronic nicotine use may reduce inhibitory control and conflict resolution of emotional distraction, and result in recruiting additional attentional resources during emotional interference on cognition.     

Amygdala–prefrontal cortex connectivity increased during face discrimination but not time perception

Time sensitivity is affected by emotional stimuli such as fearful faces. The effect of threatening stimuli on time perception depends on numerous factors, including task type and duration range. We applied a two‐interval forced‐choice task using face stimuli to healthy volunteers to evaluate time perception and emotion interaction using functional magnetic resonance imaging. We conducted finite impulse response analysis to examine time series for the significantly activated brain areas and psycho‐physical interaction to investigate the connectivity between selected regions. Time perception engaged a right‐lateralised frontoparietal network, while a face discrimination task activated the amygdala and fusiform face area (FFA). No voxels were active with regard to the effect of expression (fearful versus neutral). In parallel with this, our behavioural results showed that attending to the fearful faces did not cause duration overestimation. Finally, connectivity of the amygdala and FFA to the middle frontal gyrus increased during the face processing condition compared to the timing task. Overall, our results suggest that the prefrontal–amygdala connectivity might be required for the emotional processing of facial stimuli. On the other hand, attentional load, task type and task difficulty are discussed as possible factors that influence the effects of emotion on time perception.     

Imitating expressions: emotion-specific neural substrates in facial mimicry

Intentionally adopting a discrete emotional facial expressioncan modulate the subjective feelings corresponding to that emotion;however, the underlying neural mechanism is poorly understood.We therefore used functional brain imaging (functional magneticresonance imaging) to examine brain activity during intentionalmimicry of emotional and non-emotional facial expressions andrelate regional responses to the magnitude of expression-inducedfacial movement. Eighteen healthy subjects were scanned whileimitating video clips depicting three emotional (sad, angry,happy), and two ‘ingestive’ (chewing and licking)facial expressions. Simultaneously, facial movement was monitoredfrom displacement of fiducial markers (highly reflective dots)on each subject's face. Imitating emotional expressions enhancedactivity within right inferior prefrontal cortex. This patternwas absent during passive viewing conditions. Moreover, themagnitude of facial movement during emotion-imitation predictedresponses within right insula and motor/premotor cortices. Enhancedactivity in ventromedial prefrontal cortex and frontal polewas observed during imitation of anger, in ventromedial prefrontaland rostral anterior cingulate during imitation of sadness andin striatal, amygdala and occipitotemporal during imitationof happiness. Our findings suggest a central role for rightinferior frontal gyrus in the intentional imitation of emotionalexpressions. Further, by entering metrics for facial muscularchange into analysis of brain imaging data, we highlight sharedand discrete neural substrates supporting affective, actionand social consequences of somatomotor emotional expression.     

Decreased anticipated pleasure correlates with increased salience network resting state functional connectivity in adolescents with depressive symptomatology

Previous studies have found dysfunctional resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) in depressed patients. Examining RSFC might aid biomarker discovery for depression. However RSFC in young people at risk of depression has yet to be examined.35 healthy adolescents (13–18 yrs old.) were recruited. 17 scoring high on the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ > 27 (High Risk: HR), and 18 scoring low on the MFQ < 15 (Low Risk: LR) matched on age and gender. We selected seed regions in the salience network (SN: amygdala and pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC)) and the central executive network (CEN: dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC)). Mood and anhedonia measures were correlated with brain connectivity.We found decreased RSFC in the HR group between the amygdala and the pgACC and hippocampus and precuneus. We also found decreased RSFC in the HR group between the pgACC and the putamen and between the dmPFC and the precuneus. The pgACC RSFC with the insula/orbitofrontal cortex correlated inversely with the anticipation of pleasure in all subjects. Increased RSFC was observed between the pgACC and the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala and the temporal pole in the HR group compared to the LR group.Our findings are the first to show that adolescents with depression symptoms have dysfunctional RSFC between seeds in the SN and CEN with nodes in the Default Mode Network. As increased connectivity between the pgACC and the insula correlated with decreased ability to anticipate pleasure, we suggest this might be mechanism underlying the risk of experiencing anhedonia, a suggested biomarker for depression.     

Neurocognitive mechanisms underlying identification of environmental risks

Environmental risks threaten a large population and are more dreadful than personal risks that bring physical or health problems to individuals. To assess the neurocognitive processes involved in environmental risk identification, we recorded brain activities, using event-related potential (ERP) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), from human adults while they identified risky and safe environmental and personal events depicted in words. We found that, relative to safe environmental events, the identification of risky environmental events induced larger amplitudes of an early positive ERP component at 180-260ms over the frontal area (P200) and of a late positive wave at 420-660ms over the central-parietal area (LPP). fMRI results showed that the identification of environmental risks was associated with increased activations in the ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). The amplitudes of the LPP/P200 and the PCC activity positively correlated with subjective ratings of risk degree of and emotional responses to the risky environmental events. However, the identification of personal risks induced positive shift of ERPs at 280-320ms over the frontal and parietal areas and increased activity in the left inferior and medial prefrontal cortex. Our findings suggest that identification of dreadful environmental risks is subserved by an early detection in vACC and a late retrieval of emotional experiences in PCC.     

Emotion disrupts neural activity during selective attention in psychopathy

Dimensions of psychopathy are theorized to be associated with distinct cognitive and emotional abnormalities that may represent unique neurobiological risk factors for the disorder. This hypothesis was investigated by examining whether the psychopathic personality dimensions of fearless-dominance and impulsive-antisociality moderated neural activity and behavioral responses associated with selective attention and emotional processing during an emotion-word Stroop task in 49 adults. As predicted, the dimensions evidenced divergent selective-attention deficits and sensitivity to emotional distraction. Fearless-dominance was associated with disrupted attentional control to positive words, and activation in right superior frontal gyrus mediated the relationship between fearless-dominance and errors to positive words. In contrast, impulsive-antisociality evidenced increased behavioral interference to both positive and negative words and correlated positively with recruitment of regions associated with motivational salience (amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, insula), emotion regulation (temporal cortex, superior frontal gyrus) and attentional control (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex). Individuals high on both dimensions had increased recruitment of regions related to attentional control (temporal cortex, rostral anterior cingulate cortex), response preparation (pre-/post-central gyri) and motivational value (orbitofrontal cortex) in response to negative words. These findings provide evidence that the psychopathy dimensions represent dual sets of risk factors characterized by divergent dysfunction in cognitive and affective processes.