What is the role of the amygdala in emotional processing?

Your amygdala is part of your temporal lobe. It’s a paired structure, meaning you have two of them, one on each side of your brain (experts refer to both using the singular form of the word). Your amygdala sits near several structures that carry information from your senses, especially smell (which is why scents can connect strongly to emotions and memories). Your amygdala also connects to brain areas that process vision and hearing.Fear is the main emotion that the amygdala is known to control. That’s why your amygdala is so important to survival. It processes things you see or hear and uses that input to learn what’s dangerous. If you encounter something similar in the future, your amygdala will cause you to feel fear or similar emotions.

It also contributes to more than just anxiety or fear. It also plays a role in the following:

*Aggression.
*Learning through rewards and punishment.
*Handling and using implicit (unconscious) memory, which allows you to remember how to do certain things without remembering how you learned them (like riding a bike or tying your shoes).
*Social communication and understanding, including how you interpret someone’s intentions from how they talk or act).
*Emotions that relate to parenting and caregiving.
*Emotions we connect to memories.
*Learned behaviors related to addiction.