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The amygdala: securing pleasure and avoiding pain

The amygdala has traditionally been associated with fear, mediating the impact of negative emotions on memory. However, this view does not fully encapsulate the function of the amygdala, nor the impact that processing in this structure has on the motivational limbic corticostriatal circuitry of whic...

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Autores principales: Fernando, Anushka B. P., Murray, Jennifer E., Milton, Amy L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3854486/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24367307
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00190
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author Fernando, Anushka B. P.
Murray, Jennifer E.
Milton, Amy L.
author_facet Fernando, Anushka B. P.
Murray, Jennifer E.
Milton, Amy L.
author_sort Fernando, Anushka B. P.
collection PubMed
description The amygdala has traditionally been associated with fear, mediating the impact of negative emotions on memory. However, this view does not fully encapsulate the function of the amygdala, nor the impact that processing in this structure has on the motivational limbic corticostriatal circuitry of which it is an important structure. Here we discuss the interactions between different amygdala nuclei with cortical and striatal regions involved in motivation; interconnections and parallel circuitries that have become increasingly understood in recent years. We review the evidence that the amygdala stores memories that allow initially motivationally neutral stimuli to become associated through pavlovian conditioning with motivationally relevant outcomes which, importantly, can be either appetitive (e.g. food) or aversive (e.g. electric shock). We also consider how different psychological processes supported by the amygdala such as conditioned reinforcement and punishment, conditioned motivation and suppression, and conditioned approach and avoidance behavior, are not only psychologically but also neurobiologically dissociable, being mediated by distinct yet overlapping neural circuits within the limbic corticostriatal circuitry. Clearly the role of the amygdala goes beyond encoding aversive stimuli to also encode the appetitive, requiring an appreciation of the amygdala's mediation of both appetitive and fearful behavior through diverse psychological processes.
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spelling pubmed-38544862013-12-23 The amygdala: securing pleasure and avoiding pain Fernando, Anushka B. P. Murray, Jennifer E. Milton, Amy L. Front Behav Neurosci Neuroscience The amygdala has traditionally been associated with fear, mediating the impact of negative emotions on memory. However, this view does not fully encapsulate the function of the amygdala, nor the impact that processing in this structure has on the motivational limbic corticostriatal circuitry of which it is an important structure. Here we discuss the interactions between different amygdala nuclei with cortical and striatal regions involved in motivation; interconnections and parallel circuitries that have become increasingly understood in recent years. We review the evidence that the amygdala stores memories that allow initially motivationally neutral stimuli to become associated through pavlovian conditioning with motivationally relevant outcomes which, importantly, can be either appetitive (e.g. food) or aversive (e.g. electric shock). We also consider how different psychological processes supported by the amygdala such as conditioned reinforcement and punishment, conditioned motivation and suppression, and conditioned approach and avoidance behavior, are not only psychologically but also neurobiologically dissociable, being mediated by distinct yet overlapping neural circuits within the limbic corticostriatal circuitry. Clearly the role of the amygdala goes beyond encoding aversive stimuli to also encode the appetitive, requiring an appreciation of the amygdala's mediation of both appetitive and fearful behavior through diverse psychological processes. Frontiers Media S.A. 2013-12-06 /pmc/articles/PMC3854486/ /pubmed/24367307 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00190 Text en Copyright © 2013 Fernando, Murray and Milton. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Fernando, Anushka B. P.
Murray, Jennifer E.
Milton, Amy L.
The amygdala: securing pleasure and avoiding pain
title The amygdala: securing pleasure and avoiding pain
title_full The amygdala: securing pleasure and avoiding pain
title_fullStr The amygdala: securing pleasure and avoiding pain
title_full_unstemmed The amygdala: securing pleasure and avoiding pain
title_short The amygdala: securing pleasure and avoiding pain
title_sort amygdala: securing pleasure and avoiding pain
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3854486/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24367307
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00190
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