Damage To The Amygdala

The brain can be affected by damage and cause behavior to be expressed differently in every person. Events such as a car crash or childhood abuse can affect brain development and function. Damage to certain areas of the brain can have a variety of effects. The hippocampus controls emotions and is associated with memory, and the frontal lobe is a brain cortex that controls motor functions, problem solving, memory, language, judgments, social and sexual behavior and impulse. When the frontal lobe or hippocampus is affected, a person’s emotion can be out of their control.

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.

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

A key function of the amygdala is memory. Research confirms that due to the complexity of the human mind that often times memories and life experiences merge together as one, ergo creating a sense

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).

A child who is under the age of puberty is lacking the chemicals in the brain to see the whole picture and make decisions so the wounds that happen in childhood, a time during which the child does not have the capacity to understand, trigger responses not based on the whole picture of the event just happened, it is based on the adrenaline of the events and the relationship of the current event to previous events and trauma stored in the brain. Once a child is traumatized, the child will be more vulnerable to perceiving future events as trauma. In the bible Paul says, “We are not to cast down arguments or strongholds and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bring every thought into captivity and to the obedience

One way fear can be a destructive emotion is it can make you less logical. “the beast was on it’s knees in the center, It’s arms folded over it’s face” (Golding 152-153). This shows fear is a destructive emotion because they are killing the beast out of their fear, which makes it first of all not right second of all it makes them more destructive. Another example of fear making people less logical is when in the book “Lord of the

In the addition to the hormone testosterone, other biological factors such as brain structures contribute to the behaviour of aggression. The amygdala is a part of the limbic system which is located in the frontal lobe of the brain. The amygdala is considered to function or mediate the expression of rage and fear. Research was conducted of rhesus Monkeys to determine if the amygdala was responsible for the behaviour of rage (Harry Harlow,1955). Researchers removed this region to determine the effect on the aggressive monkeys. The removal of the amygdala caused the monkeys to act lethargic and docile and inability to respond or to recognise possible threats. This research displayed the function of the amygdala in determining the fight or flight response in dangerous situations, contributing to when a human or animal should display aggressive behaviour. Therefore the amygdala’s role in regulating

Review on How the Amygdala’s Emotional Function can Affect Sufferers of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Each individual piece has its own job, that not only controls our emotional being but also mental functions like learning and formation of memories. The amygdala controls the emotion center of the brain. The hypothalamus and thalamus are related with changes in emotional reactivity. The hippocampus plays the essential role of forming new memories about past experiences. The basal ganglia is a group of nuclei lying deep in the subcortical white matter of the frontal lobes that arrange motor behavior and coordinate rule-based, habit learning. The cingulate gyrus coordinates sights and smells with pleasant memories, regulates aggressive behavior, and induces emotional reactions to

Because this process in the brain is so sensitive, lots of things can alter it and mess with the “creation and storage” as well everything that makes the thinking part of the brain conscious (Howard & Crandall, page 10). If something does interfere or disrupt with the regulatory processes of the brain, such as danger, or any traumatic experience in this case, the amygdala determines that danger is present. Trauma will trigger the “flight or fight” sequence as well as set off stress hormones that raise adrenaline, including blood pressure and heart rate. While one interference, depending on the amount of fear a person has, may not hurt the brain at once, “if the trauma is prolonged, extreme or repetitive, it can physically injure the brain” (Howard & Crandall, page 14). In the process of damaging the brain, there will be damages done to the automatic system as well, including disturbances in sleep, such as dreams or nightmares.

The neural regulation of emotional perception, learning, and memory is essential for normal behavioral and cognitive functioning. The neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) modulates neural regions involved in emotional learning, perception, and memory formation. The amygdala is part of the interconnected set of structures that are referred to as the limbic system. The primary function of the limbic system is to modulate emotional and motivated behavior. The amygdala plays a key role in evaluating the emotional valence of stimuli. An example of this is when the amygdala lesions defect fear behavior in animals. In humans the amygdala is sensitive to facial expressions of fear or threatening words. This could be represented by wide-eye expressions. Damage to the amygdala impairs the ability to recognize the emotion of fear. Urbach-Wiethe disease is a genetic disorder leading to atrophy of the amygdala. Patients with amygdala damage are less responsive to features in negative faces.

Another area of the brain, which if damaged can contribute to an individual committing sadistic crime, is the amygdala (Bufkin & Luttrell, 2005; DeLisi, Umphress & Vaughn, 2009; Raine et al., 1997; Yang et al., 2008). The amygdala can be found in the medial temporal lobe of the brain (DeLisi et al., 2009; Yang et al., 2008). However, the amygdala is divided within this region and as such one amygdalae is located in the right temporal lobe and one in the left (DeLisi et al., 2009). Basically, the amygdala’s key function is regulation of an individual’s emotions (DeLisi et al., 2009). Therefore, if the amygdala is impaired in some way, then an individual will be unable to control their emotions as well as be unable to interpret other’s emotions. This leads to aggression and/or violence as the individual will misread another person’s facial expression and misperceive it as a threat (DeLisi et al., 2009). As well as this, the individual will show no remorse for their actions due to

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.

When a person is faced with a stressor, stress hormones are secreted by the brain. In over a short period of time, these can enhance a person ability to think clearly. However, long-term stress can cause the atrophy and retraction of neurons in the hippocampus. Even if the hippocampus can form new neurons, stress can inhibit their production. People who have experienced extreme stress, such as massive long-term depression, abuse or war, often suffer from memory loss resulting from the permanent damage of the hippocampus. (Ruenzel, 2003)