What Is The Amygdala?

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].

The biological explanation for the acquisition of phobic disorders establishes that phobias are caused by genetics, innate influences and the principles of biochemistry. This theory recognizes that an oversensitive fear response may be inherited, causing abnormal levels of anxiety. This is illustrated in the basis of inheritance, particularly the adrenergic theory that convicts that those who have an acquisition to phobic disorders consequently show high levels of arousal in the automatic nervous system, which leads to increased amounts of adrenaline, thus causing high levels of anxiety.

The amygdala is the area of the brain that is involved with emotional regulation and mood. This is the area that is affected by living the city.

From the study conducted by Ferri et al., there was a slight statistical significance between amygdala activation to neutral and fearful faces in regards to anxiety levels. On the contrary, they did not find a significant difference. This could be due to the girls being unable to predict the

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,

The amygdala specializes in threat detection, fear, excitement, and arousal, hippocampus helps format long-term declarative memories and spatial reasoning. The anterior cingulate cortex influences autonomic function, decision making, error detection and emotion while the posterior has a role in spatial annotations memory. The septal area produces pleasurable feeling,

In Chapter 8 “Where the Wild Things Are,” the author Le Doux looked at the how our brain regions and systems functioned during the development of anxiety disorders. He introduced many researchers’ ideas and theories such as Pavlovian conditioning and instrumental conditioning; then, he listed the brain regions that were associated with anxiety and fear conditioning such as hippocampus, amygdala, sympathetic nervous system, and various brain cortexes. He also explained how our brain became conditioned for different anxiety disorders.

Scientist has identified the region of the brain that is called the amygdala which is responsible for instinctual reactions including fear and aggressive behavior. (AACAP) The frontal cortex is the area of the brain that controls reasoning and help us think before we act, this develops later. (AACAP)

Many studies have shown us that a specific area of the brain called the amygdala is responsible for instinctual reactions. These reactions include fear and aggressive behaviour. These instinctual reactions area

Posttraumatic stress disorder also most known at PTSD is what someone goes through after being in combat, assault, or disaster1. After the trauma someone people may have stress however, if it has been a long period of time that person may have PTSD. It is important to see a doctor if you feel you may be suffering from PTSD. Symptoms of Posttraumatic stress disorder could be distressed memories of the experience, increased jumpiness, or even troubled sleeping. There has been research that could help cease the symptoms of PTSD. There are ways to avoid re-experiencing symptoms such as, not visiting the places, events, or objects that would remind you of the experience, and feeling of strong guilt or depression. There is another symptom called

The amygdala has been the subject of many researchers’ curiosity throughout the history of neurological science and neuropsychology. Multiple studies have been successful in identifying the role of the amygdala in the human brain and it’s primary

The adult brain is described as the brain to think by feeling. We are feeling machines that think. Hardships that effect the brain can be post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and stroke. The brain reacts in different ways, especially in the adult brain. When the brain encounters a stroke, it cannot process emotions because there are no neurons functioning. Generally, when the brain encounters an emotional event, the amygdala is the first brain structure to respond. The role of the amygdala and the brain stem when responding to an emotional event is working together to get a response through the body. The nerve impulse travels from the amygdala down the brain stem; without each other, the body would not function right. Although

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.

This small area is placed to receive stimuli from all the sensory cortices and other sensory areas. It is together with the hippocampus, considered a part of the limbic system. The amygdala receives input from all levels of sensory processing. From thalamus, it receives early sensory signals that have not yet been highly analyzed. A more thorough analysis of a stimulus is done in the sensory cortex that also projects to the amygdala .

Typically the amygdala is involved in the normal function of interpreting and displaying emotions, memory and fear-conditioning. The amygdala has been found to impact encoding and storage of memories in the hippocampus that are formed during emotional situations. Through such, the hippocampus forms episodic memories based on the amygdala’s interpretation of a particular event and any surrounding emotional stimuli. The ability to properly form memories, experience fear in appropriate situations, and understand and express emotions is critical for an individual to function in society and uphold tenets of the social contract which prevent most people from committing crime.