The amygdala plays a pivotal role in processing anxiety and connects to large-scale brain networks. However, intrinsic functional connectivity (iFC) between amygdala and these networks has rarely been examined in relation to anxiety, especially across the lifespan. We employed resting-state functional MRI data from 280 healthy adults (18-83.5 yrs) to elucidate the relationship between anxiety a...

Data from both rodents and humans show that testosterone reduces fear. This effect is hypothesized to result from testosterone's down regulating effects on the amygdala, a key region in the detection of threat and instigator of fight-or-flight behavior. However, neuroimaging studies employing testosterone administration in humans have consistently shown increased amygdala responsivity. Yet, no ...

CONTEXT Smaller hippocampal volumes are well established in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but the relatively few studies of amygdala volume in PTSD have produced equivocal results. OBJECTIVE To assess a large cohort of recent military veterans with PTSD and trauma-exposed control subjects, with sufficient power to perform a definitive assessment of the effect of PTSD on volumetric cha...

Background Orexins are hypothalamic neuropeptides recently involved in the regulation of emotional memory. The basolateral amygdala, an area orchestrating fear memory processes, appears to be modulated by orexin transmission during fear extinction. However, the neuronal types within the basolateral amygdala involved in this modulation remain to be elucidated. Methods We used retrograde tracin...

BACKGROUND Converging lines of evidence have implicated the amygdala in the pathophysiology of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We previously developed a method for measuring automatic amygdala responses to general threat-related stimuli; in conjunction with functional magnetic resonance imaging, we used a passive viewing task involving masked presentations of human facial stimuli. METHO...

Recent research provides new insights into amygdala contributions to positive emotion and reward. Studies of neuronal activity in the monkey amygdala and of autonomic responses mediated by the monkey amygdala show that, contrary to a widely held view, the amygdala is just as important for processing positive reward and reinforcement as it is for negative. In addition, neuropsychological studies...

Bilateral lesions of the basolateral amygdala caused facilitation of instrumental alimentary conditioned reflexes while bilateral cortico-medial amygdala damage produced inhibition of conditioned responses. The most rapid learning was in rats after basolateral lesions whereas the cortico-medial rats required more trials to criterion than controls. In basolateral rats the largest number of inter...

Recent research provides new insights into amygdala contributions to positive emotion and reward. Studies of neuronal activity in the monkey amygdala and of autonomic responses mediated by the monkey amygdala show that, contrary to a widely held view, the amygdala is just as important for processing positive reward and reinforcement as it is for negative. In addition, neuropsychological studies...

Previous work has shown differential amygdala response to African-American faces by Caucasian individuals. Furthermore, behavioral studies have demonstrated the existence of skin tone bias, the tendency to prefer light skin to dark skin. In the present study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate whether skin tone bias moderates differential race-related amygdala a...

The amygdala is a prime valuation structure yet its functions in advanced behaviors are poorly understood. We tested whether individual amygdala neurons encode a critical requirement for goal-directed behavior: the evaluation of progress during sequential choices. As monkeys progressed through choice sequences toward rewards, amygdala neurons showed phasic, gradually increasing responses over s...