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Numerous studies have suggested that the amygdala is involved in the formation of aversive memories, but the possibility that this structure is merely related to any kind of fear sensation or response could not be ruled out in previous studies. The present study investigated the effects of bilateral inactivation of the amygdaloid complex in rats tested in the plus-maze discriminative avoidance task. This task concomitantly evaluates aversive memory (by discrimination of the two enclosed arms) and innate fear (by open-arm exploration). Wistar rats (3–5months-old) were implanted with bilateral guide cannulae into basolateral amygdala. After surgery, all subjects were given 1week to recover before behavioral experiments. Afterwards, in experiment 1, 15min prior to training, 0.5μl of saline or muscimol (1mg/ml) was infused in each side via microinjection needles. In experiment 2 the animals received injections …