The role of the human amygdala in emotional modulation of long-term declarative memory (original) (raw)
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The Possible Contribution of the Amygdala to Memory
Behavioural Neurology, 1993
The processing of episodic memories is believed to depend on the proper functioning of so-called bottleneck structures through which information apparently must pass in order to be stored long term. These regions are seen in the basal forebrain, the medial diencephalon, and the medial temporal lobe. We here report a case with circumscribed bilateral temporal lobe damage, principally involving the amygdaloid area. Neuropsychological investigation demonstrated preserved intelligence, intact general memory and several other undisturbed cognitive functions, but a specific, affect-related, memory disorder. We conclude from these findings that the role of the amygdala is to process mnemonic events in a way that a specific emotional significance can be found and reactivated. Therefore it is suggested that the amygdala is likely to be a bottleneck structure for affect-related long-term memory functions.
How the amygdala affects emotional memory by altering brain network properties
Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 2014
The amygdala has long been known to play a key role in supporting memory for emotionally arousing experiences. For example, classical fear conditioning depends on neural plasticity within this anterior medial temporal lobe region. Beneficial effects of emotional arousal on memory, however, are not restricted to simple associative learning. Our recollection of emotional experiences often includes rich representations of, e.g., spatiotemporal context, visceral states, and stimulus-response associations. Critically, such memory features are known to bear heavily on regions elsewhere in the brain. These observations led to the modulation account of amygdala function, which postulates that amygdala activation enhances memory consolidation by facilitating neural plasticity and information storage processes in its target regions. Rodent work in past decades has identified the most important brain regions and neurochemical processes involved in these modulatory actions, and neuropsychological and neuroimaging work in humans has produced a large body of convergent data. Importantly, recent methodological developments make it increasingly realistic to monitor neural interactions underlying such modulatory effects as they unfold. For instance, functional connectivity network modeling in humans has demonstrated how information exchanges between the amygdala and specific target regions occur within the context of large-scale neural network interactions. Furthermore, electrophysiological and optogenetic techniques in rodents are beginning to make it possible to quantify and even manipulate such interactions with millisecond precision. In this paper we will discuss that these developments will likely lead to an updated view of the amygdala as a critical nexus within large-scale networks supporting different aspects of memory processing for emotionally arousing experiences.
EMOTION AND COGNITION: Insights from Studies of the Human Amygdala
Department of Psychology, New York University, 2006
This review explores insights into the relations between emotion and cognition that have resulted from studies of the human amygdala. Five topics are explored: emotional learning, emotion and memory,emotion’s influence on attention and perception, processing emotion in social stimuli, and changing emotional responses.
Amygdala and Emotional Modulation of Multiple Memory Systems
The Amygdala - Where Emotions Shape Perception, Learning and Memories
Stress and anxiety can either enhance or impair memory, and the direction of the effect partially depends on the type of memory being affected. Behavioral or pharmacological stressors typically impair cognitive memory mediated by the hippocampus, but enhance stimulus-response habit memory mediated by the dorsolateral striatum. Evidence also indicates that the effect of emotion on different kinds of memory critically depends on a modulatory role of the basolateral amygdala (BLA). BLA modulation of multiple memory systems may be achieved through its glutamatergic projections to other brain regions, which may enhance stress hormone activity, modulate competition between memory systems, and alter synaptic plasticity. The neurobiology underlying the emotional modulation of multiple memory systems may be relevant to understand the impact of emotional arousal on the development and expression of human psychopathologies characterized by maladaptive habitual behaviors (e.g., drug addiction and relapse).
Mechanisms of emotional arousal and lasting declarative memory
Trends in Neurosciences, 1998
Neuroscience is witnessing growing interest in understanding brain mechanisms of memory formation for emotionally arousing events, a development closely related to renewed interest in the concept of memory consolidation. Extensive research in animals implicates stress hormones and the amygdaloid complex as key,interacting modulators of memory consolidation for emotional events. Considerable evidence suggests that the amygdala is not a site of long-term explicit or declarative memory storage, but serves to influence memory-storage processes in other brain regions, such as the hippocampus, striatum and neocortex. Human-subject studies confirm the prediction of animal work that the amygdala is involved with the formation of enhanced declarative memory for emotionally arousing events.
IntechOpen eBooks, 2023
The Amygdaloid Body is a heterogeneous nuclear complex that establishes extensive connections with numerous structures of the limbic system, the thalamus, the brainstem, and the neocortex, and constitutes the focal center of its widespread three-dimensional white matter chassis. Since the 50s, the neurophysiological observations of Wilder Penfield et al. began to clarify the role of the AB in human memory. More recently, the introductions of a more advanced neuroimaging technology (PET, fMRI, DTI) led to a growing awareness of its crucial implications in the etiology of a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders, such as trauma spectrum and mood spectrum disorders. Additionally, the AB and its connections have been successfully used as a target for Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) in the treatment of refractory forms of psychiatric disorders, especially trauma spectrum disorders. Therefore, gaining a deeper understanding of the morphophysiology of the AB has increasingly become utmost relevance for neuroscientists and clinicians alike. With the present chapter, we attempt to provide an exhaustive description of the functional anatomy of the AB, hopefully providing a useful tool for the approach to the anatomical substrates of the emotional components of memory and learning and to their role in the phenomenology and treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders.