A new study reveals a new hypothesis about the role the amygdala plays in the experience and perception of fear. Researchers say, instead of directly mediating fear, the amygdala is involved in a person's ability to attend to the whites of another person's widening eyes, something that is more generally important to social functioning.
A new study provides proof that the amygdala is not the only gatekeeper of fear in the human brain. Other regions, such as the brainstem, diencephalon, or insular cortex, could sense the body’s most primal inner signals of danger when basic survival is threatened.