The ERP latency effect was maximal frontally, consistent with a frontal cortex locus for the persistent EFE effects in LTAA. One theory is that certain areas of the prefrontal cortex perform cognitive control processes that down regulate amygdala activity and other systems (structures) in encoding emotionally salient stimuli (Anderson and Phelps, 2001, Adolphs, 2002). Marinkovic et al. (In Press) proposes that LTAA compensate for subcortical damage via the prefrontal cortex. In LTAA, Marinkovic et al. (In Press) find that amygdala activity, measured with fMRI, was inversely correlated with lateral prefrontal activation to faces, interpreted as a compensatory effect. A frontal lobe hypothesis has been proposed to explain the social cognitive impairments in alcoholism as resulting from the vulnerability of the prefrontal cortex to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol (Oscar-Berman et al., 1990, Uekermann and Daum, 2008).
