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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 10, 2026

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Memory-Enhancing Effect of Emotion

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Memory-Enhancing Effect of Emotion

Published on: May 4, 2011

The amygdala, reward and emotion.

Elisabeth A Murray¹

¹Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, 49 Convent Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892-4415, USA. murraye@mail.nih.gov

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

|November 9, 2007

Summary

The amygdala (a brain region) plays a crucial role in processing positive emotions and rewards, not just negative ones. It is essential for specific aspects of reward processing and involves parallel systems influencing behavior.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Affective Science
Behavioral Neuroscience

Background:

The amygdala's role in processing negative stimuli is well-established.
A prevailing view suggested the amygdala's primary function is in negative emotion and threat detection.
Limited understanding existed regarding its specific contributions to positive emotions and reward processing.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the amygdala's role in processing positive emotions and rewards.
To clarify the extent of the amygdala's involvement in stimulus-reward processing.
To explore the neural substrates underlying emotion and reward.

Main Methods:

Neuronal activity recordings in the monkey amygdala.
Analysis of autonomic responses mediated by the monkey amygdala.
Neuropsychological studies in humans and non-human primates.

Main Results:

The amygdala is equally important for processing positive reward and reinforcement as it is for negative stimuli.
The amygdala is essential for only a subset of stimulus-reward processing.
Neural substrates for emotion and reward partially overlap but are not identical.
Two parallel systems within the amygdala modulate behavior based on reward-predicting cues.

Conclusions:

The amygdala's function extends significantly to positive emotional and reward processing.
The amygdala's involvement in reward processing is specific, not global.
Parallel pathways within the amygdala mediate distinct aspects of reward's influence on behavior.