Amygdala Damage and Fear: Summary

These findings show that the amygdala damage impairs our recognition and recall of negative emotions, particularly fear, suggesting that the amygdala plays an important role in identifying emotions in others and predicting an upcoming fear event from our memory. Despite these impairments, people who experience amygdala damage can still recognize their close others, maintain a conceptual understanding of fear, and experience the same level of valence and arousal during a fear experience.