Amygdala Experiments.
There are a lot of experiments that took place to discover what the amygdala contributed to the brain. Some of these experiments included the removal of part of the brain and some included an electric charge. Most of these experiments were preformed on animals, and the most common animal was the lab rat. This was all in search to find the main function of the amygdala, so various tests were preformed.
Emotionally Neutral Conditioned Experiment (CS) (Tone)What this experiment was, trained lab rats who were food deprived pulled a lever to get food. Sometimes they would receive a shock when the lever was pulled and interestingly enough when a tone was added the rats would essentially become "frozen with fear". This experiment is critical in experimental psychology and could be powerful in altering behavior.
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Hippocampus Memory testing.There was an experiment on rats and other laboratory animals, but this time with the removal or damage of certain parts of the brain, in particular the hippocampus. It showed that if certain parts of the hippocampus is damaged then it prevents certain types of spatial memory. While damage to the striatum prevents the formation of habit memories.
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Amygala Rat Experiment Videos
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Just reading about the damage of rats brains is one thing but actually seeing the difference in fear and fight or flight response is something else. the first video shows a rat whose brain has no been tampered with and the second shows a rat who has had a lesion put into its hippocampus.
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