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Fear and the human amygdala
Open accessAbstract
We have previously reported that bilateral amygdala damage in humans compromises the recognition of fear in facial expressions while leaving intact recognition of face identity (Adolphs et al., 1994). The present study aims at examining questions motivated by this finding. We addressed the possibility that unilateral amygdala damage might be sufficient to impair recognition of emotional expressions. We also obtained further data on our subject with bilateral amygdala damage, in order to elucidate possible mechanisms that could account for the impaired recognition of expressions of fear. The results show that bilateral, but not unilateral, damage to the human amygdala impairs the processing of fearful facial expressions. This impairment appears to result from an insensitivity to the intensity of fear expressed by faces. We also confirmed a double dissociation between the recognition of facial expressions of fear, and the recognition of identity of a face: these two processes can be impaired independently, lending support to the idea that they are subserved in part by anatomically separate neural systems. Based on our data, and on what is known about the amygdala's connectivity, we propose that the amygdala is required to link visual representations of facial expressions, on the one hand, with representations that constitute the concept of fear, on the other. Preliminary data suggest the amygdala's role extends to both recognition and recall of fearful facial expressions.
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“Similarly, human amygdala lesions are related to difficulties in perceiving both fearful (Adolphs et al. 1995) and happy faces (Kipps et al. 2007).”
From The brain basis of positive and negative affect: evidence from a meta-analysis of the human neuroimaging literature (2016) · cites this paper as Adolphs et al. 1995
In the citing paper
“an idea motivated by a large literature implicating this brain structure in processing fear and threat (9), as well as in anticipation and experience of monetary loss (10).”
From Amygdala damage eliminates monetary loss aversion (2010) · cites this paper as [9]
In the citing paper
“Considerable research drawing on cross-species models delineates the amygdala, located in the medial temporal lobe, and regions of the ventral prefrontal cortex (vPFC), as key substrates underlying how the brain processes and responds to signals of danger in one's surroundings (Adolphs et al., 1995).”
From Gaining insight into adolescent vulnerability for social anxiety from developmental cognitive neuroscience (2014) · cites this paper as Adolphs et al., 1995
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Metadata
- Authors
- Adolphs, R., Tranel, D., Damasio, H., & Damasio, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Iowa (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 1995-09-01
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 5879-5891
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC6577662
- OpenAlex
- W2116372303
- Cited by
- 1,138
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 32 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 34 · 2016: 33 · 2015: 35 · 2014: 49 · 2013: 45 · 2012: 65
- FWCI
- 15.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Life Sciences Research Foundation
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS-19632)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- amygdala, fear recognition, facial expressions, face identification, double dissociation, amygdala connectivity, concept of fear
- MeSH terms
- Amygdala, Art, Brain Damage, Chronic, Brain Diseases, Emotions, Face, Facial Expression, Fear, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Neuropsychological Tests, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Social Behavior
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