The DOI matches its Crossref record; 335 of the 335 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The human amygdala and the emotional evaluation of sensory stimuli
Abstract
A wealth of animal data implicates the amygdala in aspects of emotional processing. In recent years, functional neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies have begun to refine our understanding of the functions of the amygdala in humans. This literature offers insights into the types of stimuli that engage the amygdala and the functional consequences that result from this engagement. Specific conclusions and hypotheses include: (1) the amygdala activates during exposure to aversive stimuli from multiple sensory modalities; (2) the amygdala responds to positively valenced stimuli, but these responses are less consistent than those induced by aversive stimuli; (3) amygdala responses are modulated by the arousal level, hedonic strength or current motivational value of stimuli; (4) amygdala responses are subject to rapid habituation; (5) the temporal characteristics of amygdala responses vary across stimulus categories and subject populations; (6) emotionally valenced stimuli need not reach conscious awareness to engage amygdala processing; (7) conscious hedonic appraisals do not require amygdala activation; (8) activation of the amygdala is associated with modulation of motor readiness, autonomic functions, and cognitive processes including attention and memory; (9) amygdala activations do not conform to traditional models of the lateralization of emotion; and (10) the extent and laterality of amygdala activations are related to factors including psychiatric status, gender and personality. The strengths and weakness of these hypotheses and conclusions are discussed with reference to the animal literature.
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In the citing paper
“fear consistently activates the human amygdala”
From Large-scale automated synthesis of human functional neuroimaging data. (2011) · cites this paper as [18]
In the citing paper
“this does not imply that people who show amygdala activation must be experiencing fear, because other affective and non-affective states have also been reported to produce amygdala activation4,18.”
From Large-scale automated synthesis of human functional neuroimaging data. (2011) · cites this paper as [18]
In the citing paper
“In normal individuals, exposure to threat-related social signals such as fearful and angry facial expressions increases amygdala activity (Whalen et al. 1998; Zald, 2003); this effect is heightened in individuals with social anxiety (Phan et al. 2006).”
From Effects of MDMA on sociability and neural response to social threat and social reward (2009) · cites this paper as Zald, 2003
In the citing paper
“show the amygdala to be particularly important in socioemotional processing, especially processing of threat-related social information (Whalen et al. 1998; Zald 2003).”
From Effects of MDMA on sociability and neural response to social threat and social reward (2009) · cites this paper as Zald 2003
In the citing paper
“But the amygdala also supports stimulus-reinforcement learning as it relates to positive stimuli.16–18”
From Neural Substrates of Childhood Anxiety Disorders (2012) · cites this paper as [18]
In the citing paper
“When viewing fear faces, adult humans show an increase in amygdala activation relative to amygdala activation during a baseline condition”
From Neural Substrates of Childhood Anxiety Disorders (2012) · cites this paper as [18]
In the citing paper
“First, emotional stimuli activate the amygdala (Zald, 2003), which in turn signals to the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC).”
From Understanding depressive rumination from a cognitive science perspective: The impaired disengagement hypothesis (2011) · cites this paper as Zald, 2003
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Metadata
- Authors
- Zald, D. H.
- Affiliations
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Zald, David H.
- ORCID
- Zald, David H.
- Venue
- Brain Research Reviews
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2003-01
- Volume
- 41
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 88-123
- ISSN
- 0165-0173 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2154734566
- Cited by
- 1,062
- References
- 335
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 41 · 2017: 43 · 2016: 51 · 2015: 50 · 2014: 59 · 2013: 54 · 2012: 56
- FWCI
- 6.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Brain Research Reviews (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (F32MH011641, 1F32MH11641-01A1)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (T32-DA-07097, T32DA007097)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- amygdala, affective evaluation, sensory stimuli, aversive stimuli, positive valence, arousal, hedonic value, habituation, conscious awareness, emotional memory, attention, gender differences, personality, mental health status, autonomic regulation, motor readiness
- MeSH terms
- Amygdala, Arousal, Cognition, Emotions, Fear, Female, Humans, Functional Laterality, Male, Perception, Radionuclide Imaging, Sensation, Sexuality
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