Everything about Amygdala
Paired structure within the brain temporal lobe
The amygdala is a paired nuclear complex present in the cerebral hemispheres of vertebrates. It is considered part of the limbic system. In primates, it is located medially within the temporal lobes. It consists of many nuclei, each made up of further subnuclei. The subdivision most commonly made is into the basolateral, central, cortical, and medial nuclei together with the intercalated cell clusters. The amygdala has a primary role in the processing of memory, decision-making, and emotional responses. The amygdala was first identified and named by Karl Friedrich Burdach in 1822. Wikipedia →
🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path
- Read the overview: AmygdalaA 5-minute orientation
- Skim a recent paper: Emotion, motivation, decision-making, the orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and the amygdalaInfluential work since 2022
- Pick up a classic book: Unfuck your brainThe most-reprinted book on the subject
- Read the landmark paper: Contributions of the Amygdala to Emotion Processing: From Animal Models to Human BehaviorCited 2,800 times
- Go sideways: Central nucleus of the amygdalaA closely related topic
- Go sideways: Basolateral amygdalaA closely related topic
📖 Definitions
Noun Each one of the two regions of the brain, located as a pair in the medial temporal lobe, believed to play a key role in processing emotions, such as fear and pleasure, in both animals and humans.
🗂️ The subject at a glance
🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)
Contributions of the Amygdala to Emotion Processing: From Animal Models to Human Behavior
Differential contribution of amygdala and hippocampus to cued and contextual fear conditioning.
The amygdala: vigilance and emotion
Fear memories require protein synthesis in the amygdala for reconsolidation after retrieval
From circuits to behaviour in the amygdala
The Role of the Amygdala in Fear and Anxiety
Serotonin Transporter Genetic Variation and the Response of the Human Amygdala
THE AMYGDALA MODULATES THE CONSOLIDATION OF MEMORIES OF EMOTIONALLY AROUSING EXPERIENCES
🆕 Influential since 2022
Emotion, motivation, decision-making, the orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and the amygdala
How nature nurtures: Amygdala activity decreases as the result of a one-hour walk in nature
Rapid eye movement sleep is initiated by basolateral amygdala dopamine signaling in mice
Midbrain projection to the basolateral amygdala encodes anxiety-like but not depression-like behaviors
Glutamatergic synapses from the insular cortex to the basolateral amygdala encode observational pain
📚 Books worth reading
Unfuck your brainFaith G. Harper · 2017
The AmygdalaJohn P. Aggleton · 1992
Sexual dimorphism of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and the amygdalaNadya Stefanova, Wladimir Ovtscharoff · 2000
De l'epithelioma primtif de l'amygdaleLéon Derecq · 1887
The Amygdala in Brain FunctionPatricia Shinnick-Gallagher · 2003
Living Without an AmygdalaDavid G. Amaral, Ralph Adolphs · 2016
Tumeurs des amygdalesRéné Passaquay · 1873
Contribution à l'étude des abcès amygdaliens & péri-amygdaliensCharles de Guardia · 1913
Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.
🔗 Related topics
- Central nucleus of the amygdala The central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA or aCeN) is a nucleus within the amygdala. It serves as the major output nucleus of the amygdala and participates…
- Basolateral amygdala The basolateral amygdala, or basolateral complex, or basolateral nuclear complex consists of the lateral, basal and accessory-basal nuclei of the amygdala…
- Amygdalofugal pathway The amygdalofugal pathway (Latin for "fleeing from the amygdala" and commonly distinguished as the ventral amygdalofugal pathway) is one of the three major…
- Limbic system The limbic system, also known as the paleomammalian cortex, is a set of brain structures involved in emotional processing and motivation in humans and…
- Fear conditioning Pavlovian fear conditioning is a behavioral paradigm in which organisms learn to predict aversive events. It is a form of learning in which an aversive…
- Intercalated cells of the amygdala The Intercalated cells of the amygdala (ITC or ICCs) are GABAergic neurons situated between the basolateral and central nuclei of the amygdala that play…
- Neuroanatomy of memory The neuroanatomy of memory encompasses a wide variety of anatomical structures in the brain. The hippocampus is a structure in the brain that has been…
- Affective neuroscience Affective neuroscience is the study of how the brain processes emotions. This field combines neuroscience with the psychological study of personality,…