Brain mechanisms of emotion and emotional learning.

The amygdala appears to play an essential role in many aspects of emotional information processing and behavior. Studies over the past year have begun to clarify the anatomical organization of the amygdala and the contribution of its individual subregions to emotional functions, especially emotional learning and memory. Researchers can now point to plausible circuits involved in the transmission of sensory inputs into the amygdala, between amygdaloid subregions, and to efferent targets in cortical and subcortical regions, for specific emotional learning and memory processes.