Context Effects and the Amygdala

Abstract

The amygdala is a critical component of the brain network responsible for learning about cues that predict biologically relevant outcomes. But these cues are always encountered within a particular context, and this contextual information can modulate amygdala responses. Here, we review neuroimaging studies examining human amygdala responses to specific predictive cues and the modulation of these responses by contextual information. Specifically, we focus on human neuroimaging studies of facial expressions as an example of predictive environmental cues. These studies suggest that regions of the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus are responsive to contextual information and that these responses presumably influence amygdala responses to faces when they are encountered within a given context. These data are interpreted as consistent with the nonhuman animal conditioning literature that supports a role for these regions in facilitating context conditioning.