Logo image
Fear and panic in humans with bilateral amygdala damage
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Fear and panic in humans with bilateral amygdala damage

Justin S Feinstein, Colin Buzza, Rene Hurlemann, Robin L Follmer, Nader S Dahdaleh, William H Coryell, Michael J Welsh, Daniel Tranel and John A Wemmie
Nature neuroscience, Vol.16(3), pp.270-272
03/2013
DOI: 10.1038/nn.3323
PMCID: PMC3739474
PMID: 23377128
url
https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3323View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Decades of research have highlighted the amygdala’s influential role in fear. Surprisingly, we found that inhalation of 35% CO 2 evoked not only fear, but also panic attacks, in three rare patients with bilateral amygdala damage. These results indicate that the amygdala is not required for fear and panic, and make an important distinction between fear triggered by external threats from the environment versus fear triggered internally by CO 2 .
interoception emotion feeling lesion CO2

Details

Logo image