Clearing up confusion: The amygdala is not the same as the reptile brain & it's probably not reserved for fear

The amygdala gets lots of attention in conflict resolution circles these days, but not all of what is said is accurate. For example, the amydala's role in fear seems often to be the sole focus. Therefore, I was very glad to see Wray Herbert write a post refining the idea of the role of the amygdala beyond just being the "fear center."  From "Fleeing the Brain’s Fear Center" (Association for Psychological Science blogs).

Cunningham and Brosch conducted a thorough review of the vast literature on amygdala function, and their analysis also reveals a lot of individual variation in amygdala activity. Some subjects respond more to positive and negative stimuli than to neutral stimuli; others mostly to negative stimuli; and still others to positive information. In other words, amygdala activation may not have the same meaning for everyone; it may instead reflect the psychological state of the individual. The amygdala appears initially to evaluate the relevance of stimuli, and then to tune the individual’s overall cognitive and emotional response.

These varying responses may reflect personality to some degree. ...

...

All of these recent findings, taken together, call into question the whole idea of brain modules that govern specific, universal emotions like fear, sadness, disgust and surprise. The new and more dynamic view of the amygdala—and the brain—raises doubts about such an emotional taxonomy. ...

I urge you to read the whole post, which includes an interesting section on racial prejudice.

I believe what we can say about the amygdala is that it

is reactive and, in conflict resolution, is best mediated by the reflectiveness of higher brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex—but the reaction is not always or predictably fear.

In addition to equating the amygdala with fear, some people are confusing it with the reptilian brain and using reptile brain and amygdala as synonymous. To clear up that confusion, let me quote from an article I co-authored in 2010. From "Atticus Finch Would Not Approve: Why a Courtroom Full of Reptiles Is a Bad Idea" (The Jury Expert):

[T]he basic neuroanatomy presented in some [consultants', speakers' and trainers'] reptile theory is incorrect. Reptiles do not have fear; they rely on pure habit and instinct. Fear, especially learned fear, emanates from the limbic system, which exists only in mammals. Reptile fans may say, "Who cares about the anatomy if the techniques work?" For us, the mistake triggers threshold skepticism. If reptile consultants are inaccurate about this basic principle, what else in what they put forth may be inaccurate?

I will be giving a few workshops this year about some of these brain myths in the field of conflict resolution. Those scheduled right now are March 8, in Little Rock, Arkansas; and May 5, in Seattle, Washington.

Note (added August 13, 2013): A post at Boing Boing is related and makes one of the same points: "Who’s afraid of the amygdala? Research blows away "fear center" myth."

Comments

[Mark Robert Waldman]

Great material Stephanie. Even when neuroscientists like Andy Newberg publish popular books -- or when neuro-researchers like myself, Dan Siegel, or Daniel Amen speak about the emotional/cognitive centers of the brain, we often reduce complex functions of the brain into sound-bites. Then, unfortunately, other people distill our over-simplifications further, and it turns into urban myth. The upside: more people take an interest in the brain now than ever before. The other upside: it allows wonderful blogs like this one to pop up. I'm recommending your site to everyone in our social media world. Congrats! Mark Waldman