Fear keeps humans alive. It is one of our most basic instincts. A tiger roars, a gunshot rings out, or a truck rattles around a corner too close to where we are standing, and our bodies leap into ...

Researchers have long believed that the amygdala, an almond-shaped structure in the brain, is central to the experience and perception of fear. Studies initiated in the 1990s of a patient with a rare ...

A new study on mice from the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics has pinpointed 'positive' neurons housed in the back of the amygdala and 'negative' neurons located in the front of the ...

A key part of the brain involved in processing emotionally influenced memories acts differently in men and women, even in the absence of stimuli, UC Irvine researchers have found. Larry Cahill, an ...

For the first time, an international team of scientists has shown that the amygdala in the human brain is able to detect possible threats in the visual environment at ultra-fast time scales. By ...

Neurons that specifically reduce and modulate electrical brain activity have a greater influence on emotional memories than previously thought. DZNE researchers came to this conclusion based on ...

I’ve been studying the amygdala for more than 30 years. When I started this work, research on this brain region was a lonely field of inquiry. The hippocampus was all the rage, and I sometimes felt ...