SATO Wataru Laboratory

The information processing role of the amygdale in emotion


(Sato, W.: Affective computing: Emotion modelling, synthesis and recognition)



This review article focuses on the role of the amygdala in emotion.

Psychological studies suggest that emotion is a series of information processes that appraise the adaptive significance of environmental stimuli and then elicit widespread adaptive responses to them.



Based on the neuroscientific evidence, I propose that, in emotion, the amygdala is involved in the significance appraisal of stimuli and generation of response commands for other brain regions.



The emotional processing in the amygdala could occur immediately on a sensory input via a subcortical route.
The output of the amygdala activates a wide range of other brain regions dedicated to specific emotional responses, such as the hypothalamus and brain stem for autonomic arousal, the visual cortices for perceptual enhancement, and the hippocampus for memory facilitation.




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