Different parts of brain stem function full#

The structural development of the male amygdala occurs over a longer period than in women.

Different parts of brain stem function full#

Amongst female subjects, the amygdala reaches its full growth potential approximately 1.5 years before the peak of male development. Within this early period, female limbic structures grow at a more rapid pace than the male ones. There is considerable growth within the first few years of structural development in both male and female amygdalae. The amygdala is larger in males than females in children aged 7 to 11, adult humans, and adult rats. The amygdala is one of the best-understood brain regions with regard to differences between the sexes. See also: Neuroscience of sex differences The right amygdala plays a role in the association of time and places with emotional properties. This type of memory does not require conscious recall. Episodic memory consists of the autobiographical aspects of memory, permitting recall of emotional and sensory experience of an event. It also plays a significant role in the retention of episodic memory. The right hemisphere is also linked to declarative memory, which consists of facts and information from previously experienced events and must be consciously recalled. This emotional response conditions the individual to avoid fear-inducing stimuli and more importantly, to assess threats in the environment.

When an individual is presented with a conditioned, aversive stimulus, it is processed within the right amygdala, producing an unpleasant or fearful response. Fear conditioning, which occurs when a neutral stimulus acquires aversive properties, occurs within the right hemisphere. It plays a role in the expression of fear and in the processing of fear-inducing stimuli. The right hemisphere of the amygdala is associated with negative emotion. The right and left portions of the amygdala have independent memory systems, but work together to store, encode, and interpret emotion. Įach side holds a specific function in how we perceive and process emotion. Other evidence suggests that the left amygdala plays a role in the brain's reward system.

In contrast, stimulation of the left amygdala was able to induce either pleasant (happiness) or unpleasant (fear, anxiety, sadness) emotions. In one study, electrical stimulations of the right amygdala induced negative emotions, especially fear and sadness. Īnatomically, the amygdala and more particularly its central and medial nuclei, have sometimes been classified as a part of the basal ganglia. The basolateral complex can be further subdivided into the lateral, the basal, and the accessory basal nuclei. Among these nuclei are the basolateral complex, the cortical nucleus, the medial nucleus, the central nucleus, and the intercalated cell clusters. The regions described as amygdala nuclei encompass several structures of the cerebrum with distinct connectional and functional characteristics in humans and other animals.