How the Amygdala Works

The amygdala detects important features of the environment and it can trigger the fight or flight response. This brain region used to be thought of as the brain’s ‘fear center’ or sometimes as the emotional core of the brain, but in recent years neuroscientists have discovered that the amygdala’s function is more general. It now appears that the amygdala’s function is to detect important and relevant features of our sensory experience, and it activates most strongly when those features are unexpected. More specifically, the amygdala can be thought of as a prediction error detector which is sensitive to things that are biologically relevant and/or important for the task at hand.
This video explains how the amygdala works, including a discussion of amygdaloid nuclei anatomy, how the fight or flight response works and how the amygdala triggers it, how the amygdala can be “hijacked” and lead us to doing things we later regret, and how we can calm our amygdalae if we experience the amygdala hijack often.
Chapters
00:00 The amygdala detects important features of the environment
00:26 Is the amygdala the fear center?
01:15 Anatomy of the Amygdala
02:31 Information flow through the amygdala
04:04 Fight or flight response and the amygdala
06:54 Amygdala hijack
08:43 The amygdala's function is about more than stress and fear
09:49 The amygdala and biological relevance prediction error signal
14:20 Calm your amygdala
--
Book recommendations (for calming the ‘amygdala hijack’ response):
Rage: A Step-by-Step Guide to Overcoming Explosive Anger www.amazon.com/Rage-Step-Step...
Designing the Mind: The Principles of Psychitecture www.amazon.com/Designing-Mind...
References:
Ferrara, N. C., Vantrease, J. E., Loh, M. K., Rosenkranz, J. A., & Rosenkranz, J. A. (2020). Protect and harm: Effects of stress on the amygdala. In Handbook of behavioral neuroscience (Vol. 26, pp. 241-274). Elsevier.
Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst. Penguin.
Daniel Goleman's explanation of "amygdala hijacks" ( • Daniel Goleman's expla... )
Iordanova, M. D., Yau, J. O. Y., McDannald, M. A., & Corbit, L. H. (2021). Neural substrates of appetitive and aversive prediction error. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 123, 337-351
B-Roll: www.pexels.com
Brain fMRI Coordinate Images: www.neurosynth.org
3D Brain images: Copyright © Society for Neuroscience (2017). Users may copy images and text, but must provide attribution to the Society for Neuroscience if an image and/or text is transmitted to another party, or if an image and/or text is used or cited in User’s work.
Music:
Rhythm Boulevard by | e s c p | escp-music.bandcamp.com
Music promoted by www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
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Paradox by | e s c p | escp-music.bandcamp.com
Music promoted by www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
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Fluid Dynamics by Punch Deck | / punch-deck
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Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
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Progressive Love by tubebackr | / tubebackr
Music promoted by www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
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Kinetics by | e s c p | escp-music.bandcamp.com
Music promoted by www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
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Thanks for your time and I hope you have a great day.
Andrew
--
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#neuroscience #amygdala #calmyourmind

Пікірлер: 60

  • @senseofmindshow
    @senseofmindshow7 ай бұрын

    ⚠ CORRECTION!!! In this video, I said "this video is brought to you by the Diamond Mind Foundation." Well, as of December 2022, that is no longer the case. Sense of Mind is now 100% dependent on viewers like you. So if you value this content, please go to www.patreon.com/senseofmind. For less than $5 a month, you'll get exclusive content and the satisfaction of knowing you're helping to keep Sense of Mind alive! 🧠

  • @CarolRobertsonPsychosensory
    @CarolRobertsonPsychosensory Жыл бұрын

    Love it, but would prefer without the music

  • @senseofmindshow

    @senseofmindshow

    Жыл бұрын

    Thank you! And thanks for the suggestion!

  • @EveretteCrudup_AMFT

    @EveretteCrudup_AMFT

    3 ай бұрын

    Agreed

  • @emanueldavis4535

    @emanueldavis4535

    3 ай бұрын

    The music was right on point as he began to talk about how your amygdala reacts to mudical tones

  • @klumpytheklown3798

    @klumpytheklown3798

    3 ай бұрын

    Yeah. Music is distracting.

  • @Susan-ol4ys

    @Susan-ol4ys

    2 ай бұрын

    Agree, had to turn it off

  • @brianpaul98
    @brianpaul983 ай бұрын

    The whole first 39 seconds before I turned it off would have been a whole lot better without the blaring music. Do you usually sit in educational lectures with music blaring in the background?

  • @halffullalpaca
    @halffullalpaca5 ай бұрын

    I love your video but have a request. Would you consider deleting the background music? It makes your voice hard to listen to. Thank you

  • @alexfloridarican9534
    @alexfloridarican9534 Жыл бұрын

    Explains so much of why I get certain sensations when I get panicky. Ty for this explanation...it helped

  • @sosororo4891
    @sosororo48917 ай бұрын

    Music is destracting for me

  • @josephricciardi601
    @josephricciardi6018 ай бұрын

    Enjoyed this very much! I’m a psychologist working with neurologically impaired individuals and see the impact of the unmodulated amygdala all the time in individuals with frontal lobe injuries. This makes a lot of sense Keep up the good work!

  • @rem9547
    @rem9547 Жыл бұрын

    Cut the music. You will do better.

  • @mohammedfazhridabdulkarim4376

    @mohammedfazhridabdulkarim4376

    Жыл бұрын

    True. It is distracting

  • @katrinadoran6474
    @katrinadoran64748 ай бұрын

    Your videos are top notch. Thank you.

  • @taylorguthrie4133
    @taylorguthrie4133 Жыл бұрын

    So well done! This was so in depth and fantastic. I've been doing a lot of reading of Joseph Ledoux and his work on fear processing lately and I really like how you steered clear of claiming it was a "fear" circuit. Evolutionarily it looks like it's a salience and survival circuit and that our perception of fear is something we cognitively tack on after the fact. Loved the part about Amygdala hijack and the b-roll is 🔥

  • @senseofmindshow

    @senseofmindshow

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks so much Taylor! I think you might be right about that. Ledoux is certainly an important figure in this area, so I need more of his work. I've also been reading about the "extended" fear circuit, which involves a more dispersed network and seems like a more realistic picture of fear processing compared to a single brain region doing everything.

  • @JB-op5tf
    @JB-op5tf5 ай бұрын

    Thank you. Perfectly presented.

  • @zendrox.von-laixer9192
    @zendrox.von-laixer919211 ай бұрын

    This is such a good lesson. Thank you so much for uploading this since I got to control my behaviour better after recognizing when my amygdala is taking action

  • @senseofmindshow

    @senseofmindshow

    11 ай бұрын

    I’m so glad to hear that you got something out of it. Thanks for checking it out!

  • @captaindeo9594
    @captaindeo9594 Жыл бұрын

    Keep up the content man hidden gem!

  • @senseofmindshow

    @senseofmindshow

    Жыл бұрын

    Thank you!

  • @oscardeltoro8715
    @oscardeltoro8715Ай бұрын

    Exelente, video muchas gracias por compartir.

  • @erikamondragon5229
    @erikamondragon52295 ай бұрын

    Thank you !

  • @JulioCesar-go1zd
    @JulioCesar-go1zd7 ай бұрын

    Here after August-d solo album

  • @sapienspace8814
    @sapienspace881411 ай бұрын

    Interesting talk, thank you for sharing. It's seems like to help people over come PTSD, we need to learn how to build a squelch knob (used in old radios to differentiate between noise level and signal).

  • @senseofmindshow

    @senseofmindshow

    11 ай бұрын

    Great point and thanks for your comment! I think something like that squelch knob might already be in the human brain: the prefrontal cortex!

  • @jinghe8424
    @jinghe84249 ай бұрын

    Great, thanks !

  • @EldhoseJoseph
    @EldhoseJoseph Жыл бұрын

    Brilliant one. Can you make one on judgment and decision making? . I have watched pfc video.

  • @senseofmindshow

    @senseofmindshow

    Жыл бұрын

    Thank you! And thanks for the suggestion. I’ll put that on the list for future videos!

  • @Psychiatry.321
    @Psychiatry.321 Жыл бұрын

    Often Amygdala damage (not over active) cause *No Fear* , but the inverse is possible. Also Visual Snow Syndrome and Hyperacusis (Sound Sensitivity) are strongly related to the Amygdala Functions, since any issue with it could trigger these conditions.

  • @geekymonkey5294
    @geekymonkey5294 Жыл бұрын

    I really enjoy watching your videos, and learn so much! Thank you for your work! Would you be willing to make a video about the (triune) lizard brain and why is wrong, and what model we should study instead? I've read the lizard brain is a myth but then what model should we use?

  • @senseofmindshow

    @senseofmindshow

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for your question and suggestion! I’d love to make a video about that in the future. You’re right that the triune brain model is something of a myth. I think the alternative is a more nuanced understanding of the whole brain as a complex system that functions through network interactions. Still, there are aspects of the triune model that are useful and should be retained.

  • @portaldeluzmadrid
    @portaldeluzmadrid10 ай бұрын

    I´alsso recommend Havening technique to regulate the amydala.

  • @dawitn3793
    @dawitn37935 ай бұрын

    Thanks.

  • @PauloRLustosa
    @PauloRLustosa Жыл бұрын

    Muito obrigado. Eu achei sua explicação excelente.

  • @senseofmindshow

    @senseofmindshow

    Жыл бұрын

    Obrigado por todos os seus comentários! (A propósito, estou usando o tradutor do Google, então me desculpe se minha gramática estiver ruim)

  • @eifrigpublishing
    @eifrigpublishing4 ай бұрын

    Could you provide a video of how it is explicitly exploited by scammers and tools to help people avoid it and recover from it?

  • @shubhamr3982
    @shubhamr3982 Жыл бұрын

    I don't able to create any memory (2016) I don't feel feeling. Can you tell reason ?

  • @michaelgarrow3239
    @michaelgarrow32393 ай бұрын

    Wonderful and informative. I am recovering from years of narcissistic abuse. Mental abuse on a very high level and physical abuse. As bad as it can be.. I can’t seem to recover I guess it takes time. My psychiatrist handles soldiers with past and he is frustrated. Any help would be appreciated.

  • @salehthani
    @salehthaniАй бұрын

    Your amazing

  • @janm2473
    @janm24732 ай бұрын

    Andrew, this was excellent... I had a stroke (tia), just after the world closed down for covid, March, 2020. The doctor at the hospital did an mri of my brain ( my whole head, down to my neck).. Would the results possibly have shown any amygdala function, either good or bad results? It's sort of an awkward question, but I'm curious if the amygdala would have shown up. Does this make sense? My thanks, jan

  • @Sebastianswane
    @Sebastianswane2 ай бұрын

    The music is so disturbing.

  • @blgdinger3
    @blgdinger3 Жыл бұрын

    I don't know if I'm soothed or irritated that this video confirms many things I had been thinking on my own. oof

  • @juandelamora3941
    @juandelamora3941 Жыл бұрын

    Hi. You said "mindfulness" and "pay attention to the causes" to calm de amygdala... what about exercise contribution to it? is it neglectable?

  • @senseofmindshow

    @senseofmindshow

    Жыл бұрын

    Great question! I should have included this in the original video, but there is research suggesting that exercise helps to reduce the amygdala's reactivity in response to fear and that this may be one of the mechanisms responsible for the anxiety-reducing quality of physical exercise: www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-56226-z

  • @nalou2786
    @nalou2786Ай бұрын

    I won’t finish this video bc of the background music… hmmm

  • @traciemartin2509
    @traciemartin25094 ай бұрын

    Can you help me understand why my son has contamination OCD since last September 1 2022 literally overnight after having the evil vi rus early Aug. What should ppl who suffer from this focus on? I'm going to relisten to this video but just desperate for answers. This issue is heartbreaking what ppl are going through. My son struggles with fear of urine and he feels like something is always poking him, brain fog and memory issues. He had a Nuroquaint MRI. We haya FMaps neurologist and the analysis of the MRI numbers shoes he has a mold infection. His hippocampus asymmetry is off the right side is smaller than the left side. She says he has inflammation and no permanent brain damage but there is damage. Basically inflammation damaged but it can rejuvenate. I'm now wondering of the inflammation is hindering the amyglydala and it's causing memory issues. He's only 21. It's been a tough journey. 😢♥️🙏

  • @pritamshil5765
    @pritamshil5765 Жыл бұрын

    Sir, does conscious attention convert Short term memory into Long term memory in human ?

  • @senseofmindshow

    @senseofmindshow

    Жыл бұрын

    Attention is definitely very important to the process of forming a long term memory. But I wouldn’t say it converts short term into long term memory, because for something to be a short term memory you have to pay attention to it. I talk about this in an interview with Artem Kirsanov (go to 38:15) kzread.info/dash/bejne/oHqo0dd-mKXQZ6w.html

  • @pritamshil5765

    @pritamshil5765

    Жыл бұрын

    @@senseofmindshow 😊

  • @fatimatabikh5583
    @fatimatabikh55832 ай бұрын

    the subscribe pop up is too redundant please stop overdoing it it distracts me from enjoying the video

  • @pritamshil5765
    @pritamshil5765 Жыл бұрын

    Sir, is human long term memory capacity unlimited?

  • @senseofmindshow

    @senseofmindshow

    Жыл бұрын

    I haven’t studied this specifically, but according to one article in Scientific American from 2010, the human brain may be able to store around as much as 2.5 million gigabytes of data… but that makes a lot of assumptions about how our brain’s memory system works. The true answer is that memory is almost certainly not unlimited, but its capacity is really, really big.

  • @pritamshil5765

    @pritamshil5765

    Жыл бұрын

    @@senseofmindshow could you please give me an idea about how much big it is?

  • @jinhyungyu201
    @jinhyungyu2016 ай бұрын

    damn

  • @AleseCopley
    @AleseCopley24 күн бұрын

    ugh TAKE THE MUSIC OFF

  • @ingathomas6653
    @ingathomas66535 ай бұрын

    Well explained, thank you. Beside that I find animal testings are barbaric. Plus: They are mostly not really useful for humans. For all the "Shut-Uppers" rising now: It is standard that under every experiment you will find the note: "However it is not clear if it applies to humans".