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Lateralized response to diazepam predicts temperamental style in rhesus monkeys
Behavioral Neuroscience
Format: Journal Article
Publication Year: n.d.
Pages: 1106-1110
Sources ID: 22669
Visibility: Private
Zotero Collections: Contexts of Contemplation Project
Abstract: (Show)
Based on previous findings in humans and rhesus monkeys suggesting that diazepam has asymmetrical effects on frontal lobe activity and other literature supporting a role for the benzodiazepine system in the mediation of individual differences in anxiety and fearfulness, the relation between asymmetrical changes in scalp-recorded regional brain activity in response to diazepam and the temperamental dimension of behavioral inhibition indexed by freezing time in 9 rhesus monkeys was examined. Animals showed greater relative left-sided frontal activation in response to diazepam compared with the preceding baseline. The magnitude of this shift was strongly correlated with an aggregate measure of freezing time (r = .82). The implications of these findings for understanding the role of regional differences in the benzodiazepine system in mediating individual differences in fearfulness are discussed.
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