Taken further, reduced amygdala-vmPFC rsFC strength, as well as compromised uncinate fasiculus structural integrity, has been observed in neuropsychiatric conditions characterized by pathological levels of anxiety (Hahn et al., 2011; Phan et al., 2009). Diminished amygdala-vmPFC functional and structural connectivity has similarly been noted in a sample of psychopathic versus non-psychopathic criminals (Motzkin et al., 2011), which may offer a neurobiological account of the aberrant emotional and social behaviors associated with psychopathy (Blair 2008). Kim and colleagues (2011) have reviewed extensive evidence regarding this circuitry and tentatively concluded that more efficient amygdala-vmPFC neurobiological coupling likely yields beneficial behavioral outcomes in terms of elevated emotional regulation and reduced anxiety. Initial addiction-related rsFC studies, combined with evidence from healthy samples and other neuropsychiatric disorders, suggest the intriguing possibility that abnormalities in functional and structural connectivity between amygdala and medial PFC may, at least partly, mediate aspects of emotional dysregulation often observed in drug dependent individuals.
