The amygdala can be stimulated when faced with a perceived threat. If in a threatening situation, the amygdala will send information to other parts of the brain to prepare the body to either face the situation, or to get away from it. This fight-or-flight response is triggered by emotions of fear, anxiety, aggression, and anger. It is beneficial that the amygdala is working correctly in order to act appropriately in threatening or stressful situations.
However, sometimes the amygdala can act too strongly, leading to amygdala hijacking. Typically, in a stressful situation, the frontal lobes will step in to override the amygdala to ensure we respond in a rational manner.
But, if the stressful situation causes strong feelings of anxiety, anger, aggression, or fear, this can result in illogical and irrational overreactive behaviors to be displayed. The amygdala plays a distinctive role in mediating many aspects of emotional learning as well as emotional behavior. An emotion the amygdala is particularly responsible for is controlling fear. Using Pavlovian conditioning can produce something called fear conditioning to occur.
This is when an otherwise neutral stimulus is paired with an innately aversive unconditioned stimulus. After repeated pairing of these two stimuli, the neurons within the amygdala will be conditioned to the change in stimuli, reflecting a conditioned fear response. Therefore, we may expect that the person in the example would then become fearful of the stranger in the image due to being conditioned to be fearful. Literature supports the view that the amygdala has an influence on cognitive processes such as memory-formation, decision-making, attention, and social behavior.
It can be assumed that this is due to the amygdala projecting information to the prefrontal and sensory cortices, as well as the hippocampus. Thus, the amygdala can attribute emotions onto these cognitive processes. For instance, we may make a decision which is based off our own personal emotions, or we may pay more attention to something if we believe it will make us feel positive emotions towards it.
An area in which the amygdala is most prominent is within the formation of memories, especially those which are emotional. As the amygdala is remarkably close to, and forms connections with the hippocampus a memory structure of the brain , these two often work together to make memories more memorable.
The amygdala can attribute emotions onto memories. Essentially, the more emotive the memory, the more likely it is to be remembered. For instance, the birth of a child is typically a highly emotive positive memory, as so is likely to be retained. Some emotional memories can be permanent, whereas those memories which are mundane, having little to no emotional attachment, are often forgotten. The amygdala acts as a store for good and bad memories, but especially for emotional traumas.
This is when the amygdala can be detrimental as these traumas will be especially difficult to overcome, due to it being a highly emotional memory. Individuals who have experienced emotional trauma may also find that their trauma can affect other cognitive functions as a result, due to the amygdala being connected to many other regions of the brain. Fear memories are thought to be embedded within the neuronal connections of the amygdala. The amygdala is the most important part of the limbic system for many emotions, including aggression.
These are called emotional remembrances. The amygdala also activates the fight-or-flight response. This response can help people in immediate physical danger react quickly for their safety and security. For example, the fight-or-flight response helped early humans respond to threats to avoid being injured or killed. The amygdala activates this fight-or-flight response without any initiative from you. When that part of your brain senses danger, it signals your brain to pump stress hormones, preparing your body to either fight for survival or to flee to safety.
Today, that fight-or-flight response is more likely to be triggered by emotions such as stress, fear, anxiety, aggression, and anger. To understand what an amygdala hijack is, you need to know about a second part of the brain: the frontal lobes. These two, large areas are located at the front of your brain. This area of the brain regulates voluntary actions like reasoning, thinking, movement, decision-making, and planning.
It is more rational than the amygdala. The front lobes allow you to evaluate your emotions and then use your experiences and judgement to consciously respond. These reactions are not automatic, like the ones generated by the amygdala. For mild or moderate threats, the frontal lobes can often override your amygdala so you can approach the situation rationally. But in the case of strong threats, the amygdala may trigger the fight-or-flight response. For early humans, the fight-or-flight response was vital.
The threat of physical harm was very real. Anger, aggression, fear, and stress are all common emotional triggers. They can cause sudden, illogical, and even irrational reactions. That activates the fight-or-flight response and disables rational, reasoned responses. You can find the book for sale online.
Goleman was also responsible for popularizing the concept of emotional intelligence EI. He explained how EI can help people manage their emotions and guide their behavior and thinking.
Where amygdala hijack is natural and immediate, EI can help you regain control. EI can also help you recognize the emotions of other people so that you can understand and influence them. When you experience stress, your brain releases two kinds of stress hormones: cortisol and adrenaline. Both of these hormones, which are released by the adrenal glands, prepare your body to fight or to flee.
Together, these stress hormones do a number of things to your body in response to stress. They :. An amygdala hijack may lead to inappropriate or irrational behavior. After an amygdala hijack, you may experience other symptoms like embarrassment and regret. For example, when we hear an unpleasant sound , the amygdala heightens our perception of the sound.
This heightened perception is deemed distressing and memories are formed associating the sound with unpleasantness. If the noise startles us, we have an automatic flight or fight response. This response involves the activation of the sympathetic division of the peripheral nervous system. Activation of the nerves of the sympathetic division results in accelerated heart rate, dilated pupils, increase in metabolic rate, and increase in blood flow to the muscles.
This activity is coordinated by the amygdala and allows us to respond appropriately to danger. The amygdala is composed of a large cluster of around 13 nuclei. These nuclei are subdivided into smaller complexes. The basolateral complex is the largest of these subdivisions and is composed of the lateral nucleus, basolateral nucleus, and accessory basal nucleus.
This nuclei complex has connections with the cerebral cortex , thalamus, and hippocampus. Information from the olfactory system is received by two separate groups of amygdaloid nuclei, the cortical nuclei, and medial nucleus. Nuclei of the amygdala also make connections with the hypothalamus and brainstem. The hypothalamus is involved in emotional responses and helps to regulate the endocrine system. The brainstem relays information between the cerebrum and spinal cord.
Connections to these areas of the brain allow amygdaloid nuclei to process information from sensory areas cortex and thalamus and areas associated with behavior and autonomic function hypothalamus and brainstem. The amygdala is involved in several functions of the body including:.
The amygdala receives sensory information from the thalamus and from the cerebral cortex. The thalamus is also a limbic system structure and it connects areas of the cerebral cortex that are involved in sensory perception and movement with other parts of the brain and spinal cord that also have a role in sensation and movement. The cerebral cortex processes sensory information obtained from vision, hearing, and other senses and is involved in decision-making, problem-solving, and planning.
Directionally , the amygdala is located deep within the temporal lobes , medial to the hypothalamus and adjacent to the hippocampus. Hyperactivity of the amygdala or having one amygdala that is smaller than the other has been associated with fear and anxiety disorders.
Fear is an emotional and physical response to danger.
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