Amygdala Essay

The amygdalae (Latin, also corpus amygdaloideum, singular amygdala, from Greek αμυγδαλή, amygdalē, 'almond', 'tonsil', listed in the Gray's Anatomy as the nucleus amygdalæ)[1] are almond-shaped groups of nuclei located deep within the medial temporal lobes of the brain in complex vertebrates, including humans.[2] Shown in research to perform a primary role in the processing and memory of emotional reactions, the amygdalae are considered part of the limbic system.[3].

Because of Patient SM’s condition, she has been harmed, held at gunpoint, and has even had history of being involved in domestic violence. She does not have the capability to learn from the situations she has been through. The amygdala is very important and it is also the reason why we connect fearful stimuli to a particular situation. Therefore, Patient SM lacks the ability to connect the stimulus and memories she has obtained through these situations.

The amygdala of psychopaths have has been found to be hypoactive during fear conditioning (Birbaumer et al., 2005), moral decision-making (Glenn, Raine, & Schug, 2009), and social cooperation (Rilling et al., 2007). As expected, studies have also found the amygdala to be hypoactive in response to fearful faces or other affect-related activity (e.g. Carré et al., 2013; Kiehl et al., 2001). Nevertheless, Müller et al. (2003) found that psychopaths had increased activation in the amygdala (in addition to increased prefrontal activation) when viewing negative content (e.g. pictures of threatening animals, wounded people) which they interpreted as reflecting abnormal prefrontal – amygdala communication.” (Umbach et al., 2015,

Studying parts of the brain that are involved in dealing with fear and stress also helps researchers understand possible causes of PTSD to begin formulating a plan to treat PTSD. The amygdala is known for its role in emotion, learning, and memory. The amygdala appears active in learning to fear an event as well as in the early stages of fear extinction. In storing extinction memories and dampening an existing fear the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in problem solving, decision making, and judgement, is seemingly

Signal processing within the amygdala is further regulated by interactions with a network of external structures. In particular, the dMT and its projections to the CeL have been demonstrated to play a role in fear memory retrieval. Notably, the dMT is assumed to be extensively modulated by opioids considering its innervation with opioidergic fibers and the high expression levels of MORs. Previous studies have reported the MOR system in the PVT, as part of the dMT, to be involved in managing physical pain. Moreover, social pain, which describes social rejection, being excluded or not being liked by others and which is associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression, appears to involve the MOR system in the PVT (Hsu et al). However, so far a direct implication of

The Prefrontal Cortex is involved in planning of behavior, attention and judgment and the orbitofrontal cortex plays an important role in emotions and impulse control. This is related to the article because in order for people to feel empathy, their orbitofrontal cortex has to function. To act the way people do when approached by their competitors, people need their prefrontal cortex to act how they would. The article does not necessarily contradict any of the content we learned but it gives examples of how there structures in our brain aid in our behavior and in the way we act. If these parts of our brain weren’t working, people would experience impulsiveness, antisocial behavior, experience of various emotions and deficits in the ability

It is believed that a mutation in the prefrontal cortex predisposes some people to violence. The frontal lobe is what we use to make decisions and, when fully developed, allows us to think carefully about our actions before we take them. An alteration in the prefrontal cortex may make us susceptible to impulsive and rash behaviors. For example, teens tend to be more reckless than adults. The teen frontal lobe is not fully formed, which is the reason for this outcome. Teens also tend to rely on their amygdalas to make decision. The amygdala is the center for powerful emotions, such as anger, jealousy, and guilt. For example, psychopaths have been found to be void of guilt and regret as a result of “the amygdala [being] less activated when they

The Amygdala, which help the driver with memory and emotions. This part of the brain comes in when the driver is scared, happy, or angry. When the driver begins to get frustrated and has road rage, it is because of the Amygdala.

The distinction between conscious and unconscious memory suggests - and it is generally accepted - that emotional memory involves two brain systems. While conscious memory is mediated by the hippocampus, the amygdala is implicated in emotional memory (1). A small collection of nuclei in the center of each temporal lobe, the amygdala controls the fear response, receiving and integrating sensory input to determine the level of threat. If the input is sufficiently intense to initiate an action potential, the amygdala triggers other areas of the brain that induce the physiological response that humans interpret as fear (3); the danger has been "recognized."

D. S., Decety, J. and Blair, R. J. R. (2013). Empathic responsiveness in amygdala and anterior

By finding places in the brain where behavioral traits lie we can understand that there may exist people with neuropathological disorders that can show 'rational-analytic behavior' that is dysfunctional in that it lacks the social emotions that guide

The limbic system was first recognized due to Franz Josef Gall (LeDoux, J., 1996). Franz Joseph Gall developed the idea of “phrenology” that focused on the study of the different variations of bumps on the human skull to be related to differences in behavioral and emotional functioning. The limbic system’s main function in the brain is to control emotional behaviors and certain forms of memories that are infused with emotion (amygdala). The amygdala is a part of the brain that forms the tail end of the basal ganglia within the rostral temporal lobe and is located near the hippocampus (Lambert, K.G. & Kinsley, C .H., 2005). The amygdala, as defined by the text, is an almond-shaped structure that functions as a part of the limbic system involved in regulation of emotion and sexual urges (Lambert, K.G. & Kinsley, C .H., 2005). In addition, the amygdala is comprised of a dozen or more sub regions that are not all involved in fear conditioning (LeDoux, J., 1996).

The amygdala video was very informing to me. Our amygdala is a small region in our brain that is in the temporal lobe which is located behind your ear. The first part that stuck with me through this video is the picture/shape that he gave. Our amygdala is shaped like an almond where it primarily associated with fear because it is must easier to study fear than things that are good. The amygdala gets sensory information directly from the various sensory systems. I think that it’s interesting that our amygdala can take in information for the environment and use the information. Our brain knows when something painful is about to happen. I think this can tie into the way I feel before I get a shot from the doctor. My brain knows which allows me

The importance of the amygdala in social cognitions has been examined in both primate and human studies. Use of primates to study the social brain suggests that the amygdala contributes to social cognition. Kluver and Bucy made large bilateral lesions in monkey brains made across the amygdala, temporal neocortex, and surrounding structure. After the lesion, the animals engaged in hypersexual behaviors, unusual tameness, and a lack of knowledge about emotional stimuli. Lesions exclusively targeting the monkey’s amygdala resulted in similar, but more subtle impairments. This suggest that the amygdala may play a role in emotions elicited by social cues. Studies of the amygdala’s role in human social cognition suggest that the temporal lobes process socially relevant facial information from humans. Emotions from facial expressions, in particular fear are projected to the amygdala. Studies using FMRI to examine typical subjects and subjects with amygdala damage support this theory. Individuals with amygdala damage have difficulty recognizing facial expressions, specifically negative emotions such as fear.

Chapter 2 is centered on the early attempts to identify the brain’s components of emotions. Key researchers that are discussed are a Cornell neuroanatomist, James Papez, and aforementioned physician and neuroscientist Paul MacLean, who worked at Yale and the National Institutes of Mental Health. Together, this pair of researchers conducted seminal medial temporal lobe lesion experiments. The resulting idea was that the emotional brain is composed of a set of interconnected structures in the core of the brain. MacLean dubbed these structures as the “limbic system”. The function of the limbic system and it relationship to emotion was widely debated by many researchers.