Low-intensity focused ultrasound to human amygdala reveals a causal role in ambiguous emotion processing and alters local and network-level activity

The amygdala is a core region changed in depression, a disorder characterized by compromised emotion, motivation and learning processes. However, lesion studies in humans examining amygdala function have largely focused on its role in processing fear. It currently remains unclear what causal role the human amygdala plays in more complex emotion, motivation and learning processes in daily life. This is because it has not been possible to reversibly modulate amygdala activity non-invasively in humans. Here, we used transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation (TUS) to bilaterally perturb neural activity in the basolateral amygdala (BLA). In separate sessions (n = 87), 29 healthy volunteers received offline-TUS to bilateral BLA, mid-insula or sham before playing a novel emotional learning task validated in an independent large cohort online (n = 210). 7T-resting-state and metabolite signals clearly demonstrated target engagement. BLA-TUS reduced the BLA’s connectivity fingerprint and decreased its excitation/inhibition balance, suggesting an inhibitory effect of our TUS protocol on BLA activity. In behaviour, BLA-TUS caused a stimulation volume-dependent increase in the tendency to approach neutral, emotionally ambiguous faces, treating them more similarly to happy faces, and a slowing of reaction times for those two emotion categories. These effects were functionally and regionally specific and suggest a causal role for the amygdala in resolving emotional ambiguity. Our results provide important insights for future studies into mood disorders where ambiguous situations might be harder to resolve, which could contribute to existing emotional and learning biases.