Amygdala

The cognitive level of analysis is basically the way psychology study the way the brain processes cognitive mechanisms, such as perception, thinking, problem solving, memory, language and attention. Cognition refers to the mental representation of the world of and individual, the way it receives and processes the information. Cognitive processes such as emotions have been studied in terms of cognitive and biological factors. On the other hand, physiology is know for being the biological…

affected. Looking at the symptoms of schizophrenia and the roles of several parts of the brain, I conclude that the areas altered biologically can include the neurotransmitter dopamine, the frontal lobe, the parietal lobe, the temporal lobe, and the amygdala. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with reward and pleasure. It is…

memory. This could be through the potentiation of vHPC inputs to vmPFC (Sierra-Mercado et al., 2010). This study did not differentiate the role of the vHPC in the extinction of context versus tone fears. Furthermore, it was found that the basolateral amygdala (BLA) was necessary for extinction of fear memory. Thus, it was established that the inactivation of BLA leads to impaired recollection extinction memory and reduces fear expression (Sierra-Mercado et al.,…

The amygdala is one of areas which processes memory, emotion, and involved in sexual behavior. Individuals with BD often have a smaller amygdala than individuals who do not have the disorder. The hippocampus is responsible for memory, motivation, and emotion. This structure is affected because it does not have as many neurons…

the adrenal glands and the brain. Norepinephrine makes a person more aware and awake, shifts blood flow, and is the backup system for adrenaline. Lastly, is the hormone cortisol, which takes more time to be released into the bloodstream. First the amygdala has to recognize the threat, then a series of hormones released causes the adrenal glands to start the production of cortisol…

receive primary afferent fibers in the dorsal horn. Projections from laminae I and V continue ventrally through the spinothalamic tract (STT) to the thalamus. The spinobulbar pathway receives input from the STT and continues to the hypothalamus, amygdala, periaqueductal gray…

stress-induced changes to the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex earlier on in development, could alter the size and neuronal architecture of these areas. This then results in functional differences in memory and learning (Shonkoff, Gamer et al., 2012). For example, the amygdala activates the physiologic stress response, like fear and anxiety. However, significant stress during early stages of childhood development leads to the hypertrophy of the amygdala and subsequently in the…

into the mechanisms of amnesia. This work revealed the importance of the amygdala and hippocampus, located in the medial temporal lobe, in explicit memory, a conscious recollection of declarative knowledge. However, his implicit memory, or memory for skills and procedural knowledge (Psych 240 Lecture, 10-15-14), was mostly intact. Numerous studies of HM across 30 years illustrated the importance of the hippocampus and amygdala in storing and retrieving explicit memories. (Ogden and Corkin,…

Memory is an area of cognition that is thought to both be affected by, and be an integral part of the substance abuse cycle. Whereas addiction was once believed to be attributed to a lack of willpower, or flaws of character, much of the current understanding realizes it is a complex interplay between individual genetic, biological, developmental, and environmental characteristics (Koob & Volkow, 2009). The overreaching scope of this paper is to examine the connections between addiction and…

connects the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for critical thinking, to the amygdala, which is the center of emotion. In a normal brain, if a threat is detected, and it is not real, the prefrontal cortex sends a message to the amygdala to calm down. However, if the wiring is not connected correctly, the message to the amygdala might not go through. When this occurs, the people will react with greater amygdala activity and more emotion. Some of the reason this happens is due to the genes…