Solely of either detection or response is not sufficient. Rather, amygdala activity should be considered within an emotional decision-making framework. Our results suggest that salient visual stimuli activate intrinsic circuits within the amygdala, and that this BX795MedChemExpress BX795 activation represents the evaluation of this visual information for further evidence of a motivationally significant event. Importantly, this activation is not necessarily predictive of behavior, suggesting that it potentially precedes behavioral output.laterobasal subregion, is processed in intrinsic circuits within the interspersed tissue, and is passed to the centromedial subregion if and only if the source of visual information signals a potential threat in the environment. The wide variety of experimental paradigms and the often conflicting results have led to the AUY922 site formulation several theories ?of amygdala function (Ledoux, 2000; Ohman and Mineka, 2001; Sander et al., 2003; Whalen, 2007; Pessoa, 2010). Some suggest that the amygdala is primarily involved in the expression of fear (Ledoux, 2000), while others suggest that it is primarily involved in the detection of motivationally significant environmental and social signals (Davis and Whalen, 2001; Tamietto and de Gelder, 2010). At a fundamental level, these theories can be broadly categorized into two different categories that differ in whether they define the amygdala primarily in terms of input or output. Some of these issues can be resolved by considering that these two processes are both mediated by the amygdala, but by different subregions. Additionally, our results suggest that a third process–evaluation–must also be considered. That is, the amygdala is not simply a region that detects or responds to motivationally significant events; rather it is a region that actively monitors the environment, evaluates environmental signals for evidence of motivationally significant events, and generates responses if and only if such an event is detected.The laterobasal subregion: feature detectionThere are many theories of amygdala function that suggest that the amygdala is specialized to detect specific visual features, such as forms that may indicate the presence of a dangerous ?snake or a threatening face (Ohman and Mineka, 2001; Adolphs, 2002; Isbell, 2006). For instance, it is well known that both angry and fearful faces activate the amygdala more than neutral faces (Whalen et al., 1998, 2001; Reinders et al., 2006), and that this effect can occur without awareness (Whalen et al., 2004; Carlson et al., 2009; Feng et al., 2009). In fact, some have shown that specifically the eye region of the face can evoke similar effects (Whalen et al., 2004; Gamer and Buchel, 2009). Accordingly, indi?viduals with bilateral amygdala lesions have difficultyThe centromedial subregion: response expressionAccording the traditional view, the primary function of the amygdala is to form associative memories involving biologically significant events (Ledoux, 2000; Kim and Jung, 2006). Information about stimuli and motivationally significant outcomes converges on the basolateral nuclei and these associations lead to the activation of the central nucleus, which initiates a fear response (Ledoux, 2000; Kim and Jung, 2006). Work from Pavlovian fear conditioning studies shows that the|Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2015, Vol. 10, No.amygdala is necessary for the acquisition, and consolidation of learned fear associations (Bailey et al.,.Solely of either detection or response is not sufficient. Rather, amygdala activity should be considered within an emotional decision-making framework. Our results suggest that salient visual stimuli activate intrinsic circuits within the amygdala, and that this activation represents the evaluation of this visual information for further evidence of a motivationally significant event. Importantly, this activation is not necessarily predictive of behavior, suggesting that it potentially precedes behavioral output.laterobasal subregion, is processed in intrinsic circuits within the interspersed tissue, and is passed to the centromedial subregion if and only if the source of visual information signals a potential threat in the environment. The wide variety of experimental paradigms and the often conflicting results have led to the formulation several theories ?of amygdala function (Ledoux, 2000; Ohman and Mineka, 2001; Sander et al., 2003; Whalen, 2007; Pessoa, 2010). Some suggest that the amygdala is primarily involved in the expression of fear (Ledoux, 2000), while others suggest that it is primarily involved in the detection of motivationally significant environmental and social signals (Davis and Whalen, 2001; Tamietto and de Gelder, 2010). At a fundamental level, these theories can be broadly categorized into two different categories that differ in whether they define the amygdala primarily in terms of input or output. Some of these issues can be resolved by considering that these two processes are both mediated by the amygdala, but by different subregions. Additionally, our results suggest that a third process–evaluation–must also be considered. That is, the amygdala is not simply a region that detects or responds to motivationally significant events; rather it is a region that actively monitors the environment, evaluates environmental signals for evidence of motivationally significant events, and generates responses if and only if such an event is detected.The laterobasal subregion: feature detectionThere are many theories of amygdala function that suggest that the amygdala is specialized to detect specific visual features, such as forms that may indicate the presence of a dangerous ?snake or a threatening face (Ohman and Mineka, 2001; Adolphs, 2002; Isbell, 2006). For instance, it is well known that both angry and fearful faces activate the amygdala more than neutral faces (Whalen et al., 1998, 2001; Reinders et al., 2006), and that this effect can occur without awareness (Whalen et al., 2004; Carlson et al., 2009; Feng et al., 2009). In fact, some have shown that specifically the eye region of the face can evoke similar effects (Whalen et al., 2004; Gamer and Buchel, 2009). Accordingly, indi?viduals with bilateral amygdala lesions have difficultyThe centromedial subregion: response expressionAccording the traditional view, the primary function of the amygdala is to form associative memories involving biologically significant events (Ledoux, 2000; Kim and Jung, 2006). Information about stimuli and motivationally significant outcomes converges on the basolateral nuclei and these associations lead to the activation of the central nucleus, which initiates a fear response (Ledoux, 2000; Kim and Jung, 2006). Work from Pavlovian fear conditioning studies shows that the|Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2015, Vol. 10, No.amygdala is necessary for the acquisition, and consolidation of learned fear associations (Bailey et al.,.
