If you want to activate your cerebral amygdala so that it works at its maximum, there is nothing like horror movies, thrillers… or participating yourself in a escape room Horror. The amygdala is involved in the emotional reactions of very varied animal species, including humans.
Furthermore, the cerebral amygdala intervenes in the effects of emotions on different cognitive processes, such as attention, memory or social cognition. If you want to know more about the Brain amygdala: what it is, location, parts and functions, keep reading! In this Psychology-Online article, we explain it to you with the best notes with infographics.
What is the cerebral amygdala?
The amygdala is a small almond-shaped subcortical structure, which is located inside the adjacent medial temporal lobe, in the anterior portion of and bordering the periamygdaloid cortex and the parahippocampal cortex. It also forms one of the structures that make up the limbic system and, in turn, is made up of different nuclei.
The amygdala receives sensory information from the thalamus and sensory cortex. In addition, it receives information from the association cortex and the limbic system (especially the hippocampal formation). Likewise, this structure sends connections to the sensory cortex, the frontal cortex, the hippocampal formation, the hypothalamus and different nuclei of the .
There is a relationship between the amygdala and emotions, since this structure sends information to the hypothalamus and brainstem to launch the three components of an emotion (behavioral, autonomic and endocrine) in response to situations of a varied nature.
Location of the cerebral amygdala
The amygdala is a subcortical structure located in the amygdaloid complex of the telencephalonin the internal part of the , in an anterior and dorsal position to the hippocampal formation, and forms a subsystem within the limbic system.
The amygdala subsystem links to the association cortex through the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, anterior temporal cortex, and insula and is functionally related to the dorsomedial nucleus of the thalamus. Likewise, this subsystem extends through the septal area and hippocampus to the mesencephalic reticular formation.
Image: Altruistic Gene.
Parts of the brain amygdala
The amygdala is made up of a heterogeneous set of thirteen cores located in the medial rostral pole of the temporal lobe. In turn, these can be grouped into three groups of nuclei widely connected to each other and with a specific pattern of projections with other brain regions, but not all of them are part of the limbic system.
These cores are:
- Cores corticomedial: they are part of the olfactory cortex, so they receive information related to smell
- Core central: This is part of the limbic system. It is an output nucleus of the amygdala and is related to the expression of emotional responses. Specifically, it is responsible for causing a series of changes on a physical level associated with emotions.
- Basolateral nuclei group: They are a set of nuclei, which are also part of the limbic system and are associated with the assignment of emotional content to stimuli. For example, a spider that generates a fear response in us.
Functions of the cerebral amygdala
What do tonsils have to do with emotions? Along with other structures such as the hypothalamus, lateral orbitofrontal cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, insular cortex, temporal pole, anterior cingulate cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, among others, the cerebral amygdalae play a specialized role in the brain. processing of emotions.
Specifically, the cerebral amygdala is responsible for the formation of primary emotions, especially negative ones such as fear. But, in addition to this, it has other functional implications:
- Processing of olfactory information.
- Assigning emotional content to the experience, especially those that generate fear, threat and negative sensations. The amygdala, in these cases, produces both the subjective and peripheral emotional response (for example, when fear paralyzes us).
- Learning and memory with emotional components.
- Recognition of both in ourselves and in others. This function explains why some people who have an alteration in the amygdala have difficulty recognizing the emotions of others.
- Control of motivated behaviors.
- Control of the stress response of the organism.
Other functions of the cerebral amygdala as a consequence of those mentioned are:
- Origin of the satisfaction response, especially in those behaviors related to food intake
- Sexual response interventionsince it provides motivation and predisposition factors
- Management of social relationships due to its involvement in the recognition and interpretation of primary emotions and the emotional content of other people’s faces.
How and when to activate the brain amygdala
The amygdala receives and sends information through two main pathways. Let’s see how they work:
- The stria terminalis pathway: It is characterized by being a bundle of fibers that enables connections with the lateral hypothalamus, the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, the nucleus accumbens and the septal nuclei. This set of axons originate mainly in the cells of the medial nucleus group. Through this pathway, the amygdala receives information from the septal nuclei and the , mainly.
- The ventral amygdalofugal pathway: it is a diffuse set of fibers that send information to different brainstem nuclei, the dorsomedial nucleus of the thalamus, the hypothalamus and the septal nuclei, the ventral striatum, the rostral cingulate gyrus and the orbitofrontal cortex. These axons originate from both the basolateral cell group and the group of central nuclei. Through this pathway, the amygdala receives information from the anterior cingulate cortex and the orbital cortex.
In addition to these two main pathways, the amygdala receives information directly from structures in the temporal lobe and, through the lateral olfactory tract, receives information from the olfactory cortex and olfactory bulb. In addition, the amygdala sends efferent projections directly to extensive cortical areas in the temporal lobe and to cortical areas involved in the processing of sensory information.
An example of when the cerebral amygdala is activated in response to stimuli that provoke emotions is shown by Goel and Dolan in 2007. They carried out a study in which they demonstrated that jokes that implied a violation of social norms induced an activation of the amygdala. right amygdala and left orbitofrontal cortex.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- Carlson, N. R. (2014). Physiology of behavior. Madrid. Pearson Education, S.A.
- Jodar Vicente, M. (Coord.) (2013). Neuropsychology. Barcelona. UOC Publishing.
- Portell, I. (2015). The limbic system. Autonomous University of Barcelona.
- Triglia, A. (2007). Brain amygdala: what it is, functions and anatomy. Azsalud. Recovered from: https://azsalud.com/medicina/amigdala-cerebral