Research on defensive behaviour in mammals has in recent years focused on elicited
reactions; however, organisms also make active choices when responding to danger. We …

This review examines mechanisms contributing to the intergenerational transmission of self-
regulation. To provide an integrated account of how self-regulation is transmitted across …

The amygdala is composed of multiple nuclei with unique functions and connections in the
limbic system and to the rest of the brain. However, standard in vivo neuroimaging tools to …

Evolution has endowed all humans with a continuum of innate, hard-wired, automatically
activated defense behaviors, termed the defense cascade. Arousal is the first step in …

Feelings are mental experiences of body states. They signify physiological need (for
example, hunger), tissue injury (for example, pain), optimal function (for example, well …

Brain-wide circuits that coordinate affective and social behaviours intersect in the amygdala.
Consequently, amygdala lesions cause a heterogeneous array of social and non-social …

I propose a reconceptualization of key phenomena important in the study of emotion—those
phenomena that reflect functions and circuits related to survival, and that are shared by …

Fear, which can be expressed innately or after conditioning, is triggered when a danger or a
stimulus predicting immediate danger is perceived. Its role is to prepare the body to face this …

Each of us has felt afraid, and we can all recognize fear in many animal species. Yet there is
no consensus in the scientific study of fear. Some argue that 'fear'is a psychological …

Anxiety—a sustained state of heightened apprehension in the absence of immediate threat—
becomes severely debilitating in disease states. Anxiety disorders represent the most …