The Organization of the Defence Reaction Elicited from Amygdala and Its Connections

Postural and autonomic manifestations in a cat to stimulation in the amygdala are usually accepted as unmistakable signs of emotional involvement and the range of these changes, particularly the extent of participation of the autonomic system, is taken as a measure of the intensity of emotion.

Abstract

Manifestations of emotional state ranging from fear to fury evoked by electrical stimulation in the complex of amygdaloid nuclei have been demonstrated by many workers (Gastaut et al., 1951; Kaada et al., 1954; De Molina and Hunsperger, 1959; Ursin, 1960; Zbrozyna, 1963). A typical rage response in a cat to stimulation in the amygdala is shown in Figure 1. The animal shows a characteristic feline threatening posture which is always accompanied by pupillary dilatation, piloerection and threatening vocalization: growling and hissing. These postural and autonomic manifestations are usually accepted as unmistakable signs of emotional involvement and the range of these changes, particularly the extent of participation of the autonomic system, is taken as a measure of the intensity of emotion.