What is the connection between the amygdala and thalamus important for?
Pathways from the thalamus to the amygdala are particularly important in emotional learning. Output pathways from the central nucleus of the amygdala make extensive connections with the brain stem for emotional responses and extensive connections with cortical areas through the nucleus basalis.
Is the thalamus connected to the amygdala?
There is a pathway that runs from the thalamus to the amygdala, and sensory information about fearful stimuli may be sent along this pathway to the amygdala before it is consciously processed by the cerebral cortex.
What part of the brain controls the amygdala?
In addition to sensory input, the amygdala receives input from a number of cortical and subcortical brain systems. Most prominently, the amygdala receives dense input from the prefrontal cortex, especially from the anterior cingulate and orbitofrontal cortices.
What does the amygdala cortex do?
The amygdala is commonly thought to form the core of a neural system for processing fearful and threatening stimuli (4), including detection of threat and activation of appropriate fear-related behaviors in response to threatening or dangerous stimuli.
What does the thalamus do for emotions?
This is a small brain structure responsible for receiving sensory information. It relays it to the appropriate area of the brain for processing. When a triggering event occurs, the thalamus might send signals to the amygdala. The amygdala is responsible for processing strong emotions, such as fear, pleasure, or anger.
Which nucleus of the thalamus provides a direct path to the amygdala?
dorsomedial nucleus
The amygdala connects to the thalamus both through the amygdalofugal pathway and through a direct connection to the dorsomedial nucleus of the thalamus.
What connects to the amygdala?
The amygdala has connections with several subcortical regions, including the basal forebrain, diencephalon, and brainstem. Some of these fibers course in the ventral amygdalofugal pathway, which runs ventral to the globus pallidus (Figure 3).
What happens if amygdala is damaged?
The amygdala helps control our fear response, but it also plays a crucial role in many other cognitive functions. Therefore, damage to the amygdala can cause serious problems, such as poor decision-making and impaired emotional memories.
What stimulates the amygdala?
Today, however, you’re more likely to experience psychological threats, such as the pressures and stress of modern life, work, and relationships. These emotions, too, can trigger the amygdala’s fight-or-flight response. Anger, aggression, fear, and stress are all common emotional triggers.
How do sensory signals travel from the thalamus to the amygdala?
Animal, lesion and neuroimaging studies indicate that incoming sensory signals of fear travel from thalamus to amygdala via two neural pathways: a direct subcorti … Pathways for fear perception: modulation of amygdala activity by thalamo-cortical systems
What does the thalamus do in the brain?
The thalamus is involved in sensory perception and regulation of motor functions (i.e., movement). 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.
How do the amygdala and thalamus inter-projection interact?
To understand the anatomical and physiological bases underlying these inter-projection interactions, the current study in mice of both sexes focused on how the basolateral amygdala projection to the NAcSh (BLAp) regulates, and is regulated by, projections from the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFCp) and paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVTp).
What is the pathway from the amygdala to the hypothalamus?
This pathway runs from the centromedial nucleus of the amygdala to the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus. The pathway also carries fibers to the septal nuclei and to the thalamic regions of the brain. Along with this efferent fibers, the stria terminalis carries fibers projecting from these three areas back to the amygdala.
