Role of Medial Temporal Lobe (Amygdala)

Question 1

Define: amygdala

Answer 1

1.5cm bulbs interconnected with the hippocampus involved in emotional reactions, encoding and storying emotional memories, and learning and remembering conditioned fear response.

Question 2

2 minor roles of the amygdala?

Answer 2

Processes and regulates emotional reactions (especially for strong emotions like fear and anger) and memory of emotions shown on faces

Question 3

How does the amygdala interact with the hippocampus to link emotion to explicit declarative memories?

Answer 3

Increased norepinephrine at the amygdala; signals to hippocampus to encode emotional details of the memory along with the memory.

Question 4

Define: flashbulb memory

Answer 4

vivid, highly detailed memories of the circumstances (time, place, physiological and psychological state) in which someone first learns of an emotionally arousing event.

Question 5

Why do we remember flashbulb memories?

Answer 5

Because of the increased amount of norepinephrine in the amygdala, the emotional details are better encoded

Question 6

How does the amygdala create conditioned fear responses?

Answer 6

Associates a previously neutral event with fear to create the conditioned fear response - eg. rats shown blue light and given electric shock (electric shock is fear response) and after time they will show a CONDITIONED fear response to the light alone.

Question 7

Why do the conditioned fear/emotional responses involve implicit memory?

Answer 7

As they occur involuntarily when presented with the stimulus and without conscious recall, and can be observed

Question 8

What does damage to amygdala produce?

Answer 8

Inability to produce a conditioned fear response when presented with the original stimuli.

Question 9

Is the amygdala also involved in sympathetic arousal, and do seizures involving the amygdala cause fear?

Answer 9

Yes