1. Lateralisation
1.1. Right amygdala
1.2. Left amygdala
2. Researchers
2.1. Karl Friedrich Burdach
2.1.1. Named in 1819 an almond-shaped cell mass in the temporal lobe, which is now known as the basolateral complex, the amygdala
2.2. Kluver and Bucy
2.2.1. They observed that lesions to both temporal lobes resulted in profound changes in fear reactivity, feeding, and sexual behavior
2.3. John Downer
2.3.1. His experiments with rhesus monkeys demonstrated the importance of the amygdala in assigning emotional significance to sensory information
2.4. Lawrence Weiskrantz
2.4.1. Lesions to the amygdala lead to the disappearance of fear responses
2.5. Alheid and Heimer
2.5.1. They argued for the concept of an extended amygdala where the central and medial nucleus form a continuous structure with the bed nucleus of the stria termnalis
2.6. Swanson and Petrovich
2.6.1. They claim there is no need to refer to the amygdala as a functional nor as a structural unit within the brain
2.7. Mortimer Mishkin
2.7.1. Some of the behavioral symptoms observed in the past could be due to imprecise surgical procedures, however the amygdala is still crucial for the normal regulation of emotions
2.8. Ralph Adolphs
2.8.1. People with severely impaired amygdaele have difficulty recognizing emotional expressions particularly from faces that are expressing fear
2.9. Joseph Ledoux
2.9.1. Developed an animal model of fear conditioning describing two distinct amygdala pathways which he called the low road and the high road
2.10. James McGaugh
2.10.1. Performed research on how emotional arousal influences memory consolidation, where the amygdala appears to play a key role
2.11. Paul Whalen
2.11.1. Claims that the amygdala is not the fear center of the brain. It's an attentional area involved in detecting ambiguous stimuli that are potentially threatening
3. Main Groups of Nuclei
3.1. Basolateral nuclei
3.1.1. Largest collection of nuclei in the amygdala
3.1.2. Has output connections to the striatum ventrale and the dorsal-medial nucleus of the thalamus
3.1.3. Involved in memory consolidation
3.1.4. Evolutionary newer part of the amygdala and associated with the neocortex
3.1.5. Comprises the lateral nucleus, the basal nucleus, and the accessory basal nucleus
3.2. Corticomedial nuclei
3.2.1. Interacts with the hypothalamus related to appetitive states
3.2.2. Associated with the olfactory system
3.2.3. Evolutionary older part of the amygdala
3.3. Central nuclei
3.3.1. Smallest collection of nuclei in the amgdala
3.3.2. Has outpunt connections to the lateral hypothalamus and the brain stem
3.3.3. Produces automatic emotional responses
4. Major Pathways
4.1. Ventral amygdalofugal pathway
4.1.1. Nucleus accumbens
4.1.2. Septal area
4.1.3. Hypothalamus
4.1.4. Thalamus
4.1.5. Association areas of the cortex
4.1.6. Brain stem
4.2. Stria terminalis
4.2.1. Habenula
4.2.2. Septal area
4.2.3. Hypothalamus
4.2.4. Contralateral amygdala
4.3. Direct connections
4.3.1. Hippocampus
4.3.2. Entorhinal cortex
4.3.3. Dorsomedial thalamus
4.3.4. Brain stem