How to Use amygdala in a Sentence

amygdala

noun
Definition of amygdalanext
  • Studies in both humans and rodents suggest that fear-memory updating is mediated by changes to the memory in the amygdala.
    — Bj Casey, Scientific American, 14 May 2024
  • The fear response starts in a region of the brain called the amygdala.
    — Arash Javanbakht and Linda Saab, Smithsonian, 28 Oct. 2017
  • The amygdala is the part of your brain that processes fear.
    — Ashley Stahl, Forbes, 30 Nov. 2023
  • The results center on the ancient brain area called the amygdala.
    — Steven Poole, WSJ, 17 Oct. 2017
  • Your fear is so acute that the amygdala takes over and adrenaline kicks in.
    — National Geographic, 17 Mar. 2020
  • The brain's amygdala acts as a kind of alarm system for the brain that can hijack it while looking for threats.
    — Jayne O'Donnell, USA TODAY, 1 May 2017
  • This activates the amygdala, a little ball of nerves in the brain that detects fear.
    — Anna Brooks, Popular Science, 30 Dec. 2020
  • This will help calm your amygdala and could give you a quick boost of feel-good endorphins, says Pittman.
    — Jenny McCoy, Glamour, 3 June 2020
  • The brain then sends the message to a part called the amygdala, which controls aggression in humans.
    — Jordan Mendoza, USA TODAY, 23 Nov. 2021
  • At the base of our brains, within the limbic system, is a primitive part called the amygdala.
    — Roberta Moore, Forbes, 5 Oct. 2021
  • Throughout, the brain’s amygdala stars as the central player.
    — Hara Estroff Marano, New York Times, 12 Jan. 2018
  • One study found that naming negative emotions calmed down the amygdala, the part of the brain where feelings light up.
    — Time, 28 Oct. 2021
  • The amygdala is part of the limbic system, the area of the brain associated with emotions.
    — Andrea Kuszewski, Discover Magazine, 7 Sep. 2011
  • The scans also showed that the amygdala (involved in anxiety, fear, and stress) got smaller.
    — Katelyn Beaty, The Atlantic, 6 Oct. 2017
  • Fear starts in the amygdala which rapidly signals danger to the rest of the body, initiating the fight or flight response.
    — Alison Escalante, Forbes, 25 Oct. 2021
  • Your amygdala — your lizard brain — takes over on social media.
    — Jacob Calvin Meyer, baltimoresun.com, 9 Sep. 2020
  • And studies have shown that a part of your brain that's called the amygdala changes its activity pattern.
    — Eileen Finan, Peoplemag, 10 Mar. 2024
  • The amygdala is the reflexive part of your brain that responds to danger and potential risks.
    — Ben Carlson, Fortune, 7 Mar. 2020
  • The amygdala and hippocampus, two clumps of gray matter that help govern our moods and emotions, shrink as well.
    — Rene Chun, Los Angeles Magazine, 19 June 2017
  • But sit next to that person in a sports stadium, chanting in unison in support of the same team, and your amygdala stays asleep.
    — Robert Sapolsky, Foreign Affairs, 12 Feb. 2019
  • Teens process information with the amygdala, and this is the emotional part.
    — Fox News, 19 Apr. 2018
  • The hippocampus is near and tightly connected to the amygdala.
    — Arash Javanbakht, Discover Magazine, 7 Sep. 2023
  • But around three seconds in, your amygdala starts paging for backup.
    — Mac Schwerin, New York Times, 27 June 2023
  • While our frontal cortex wants to think about where the lions may be tomorrow night, our amygdalas are in overdrive.
    — National Geographic, 17 Mar. 2020
  • Sure enough, people with IBS have been shown to have a hyperactive amygdala.
    — Jessica Wapner, The Atlantic, 15 Mar. 2023
  • First, the brain on love deactivates the amygdala, which controls the perception of fear, anger and sadness.
    — Sandee Lamotte, CNN, 14 Feb. 2020
  • To say that my serotonin levels are doing fab and that my amygdala is firing on all cylinders.
    — Claire Fitzsimmons, Longreads, 10 Aug. 2020
  • For example, seeing an angry lion in the zoo and in the Sahara both trigger a fear response in the amygdala.
    — Arash Javanbakht, Discover Magazine, 7 Sep. 2023
  • Chesnot Many areas of the brain are involved in thinking about the future, but when feeling stressed, we’re governed by the amygdala.
    — Nina St. Pierre, ELLE, 17 Feb. 2023
  • Meanwhile, fear is curtailed: the amygdala, the brain’s threat response system, quietens down.
    — Frances Vinall, Washington Post, 29 June 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'amygdala.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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