Cited by 186Memory and Neural MechanismsFace Recognition and PerceptionNeural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

Is the human amygdala specialized for processing social information?

ADOLPHS, RALPH·2003·Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Abstract

A bstract : A number of studies in humans and other animals has confirmed the amygdala's role in modulating cognition and behavior on the basis of a stimulus' motivational, emotional, and social atttributes. This raises the question of how these attributes are related: is social information processing reducible to motivational processing? Some recent data suggest the possibility that the amygdala's primitive function may be motivational processing that is domain‐general, but that its function in primates, and especially humans, may have evolved to process social information specifically. While the issue is unresolved, future experiments could provide additional support.

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Crossref · 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2003.tb07091.x

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  • The affective pathway is associated with limbic and paralimbic areas including ventral striatum, orbitofrontal cortex, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and superior temporal sulcus.

    “The affective pathway described in dual-systems models is most closely associated with a network of limbic and paralimbic areas involved in emotion- and reward-related processing, most notably the ventral striatum (which subsumes the nucleus accumbens), but also the orbitofrontal cortex, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and superior temporal sulcus”
  • The limbic/paralimbic reward network is centrally involved in processing social and emotional stimuli and includes neural circuits that mediate reward-sensitivity.

    “This network is centrally involved in the processing of social and emotional stimuli (e.g., face recognition, social judgments, social reasoning; Adolphs, 2003) and, importantly, includes neural circuits that mediate reward-sensitivity (Spear, 2009).”

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Authors
ADOLPHS, R.
Affiliations
University of Iowa (US)
Corresponding author
ADOLPHS, RALPH
Venue
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2003-04
Volume
985
Issue
1
Pages
326-340
ISSN
  • 0077-8923 (ISSN-L)
  • 1749-6632
OpenAlex
W1966033532
Cited by
186
References
47
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 7
FWCI
1.18
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Keywords
amygdala, social information processing, emotions, domain specificity, primate cognition
MeSH terms
Amygdala, Animals, Emotions, Humans, Motivation, Organ Specificity, Primates, Social Behavior, Species Specificity

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