title: Functional circuits and anatomical distribution of response properties in the primate amygdala.
abstract: Recent electrophysiological studies on the primate amygdala have advanced our understanding of how individual neurons encode information relevant to emotional processes, but it remains unclear how these neurons are functionally and anatomically organized. To address this, we analyzed cross-correlograms of amygdala spike trains recorded during a task in which monkeys learned to associate novel images with rewarding and aversive outcomes. Using this task, we have recently described two populations of amygdala neurons: one that responds more strongly to images predicting reward (positive value-coding), and another that responds more strongly to images predicting an aversive stimulus (negative value-coding). Here, we report that these neural populations are organized into distinct, but anatomically intermingled, appetitive and aversive functional circuits, which are dynamically modulated as animals used the images to predict outcomes. Furthermore, we report that responses to sensory stimuli are prevalent in the lateral amygdala, and are also prevalent in the medial amygdala for sensory stimuli that are emotionally significant. The circuits identified here could potentially mediate valence-specific emotional behaviors thought to involve the amygdala.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Wujie
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Marina A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Belova
authors.forename: Sara E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Morrison
authors.forename: Joseph J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Paton
authors.forename: C Daniel
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Salzman
mesh_terms: D000679:Amygdala / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012201:Reward; D012677:Sensation / Q000502:physiology