HistoryThe term "amygdala" was first used by Burdach (1819) and referred to a set of nuclei in the brain (Aggleton & Saunders, 2000). In 1939, researchers Klüver & Bucy inflicted bilateral lesions on the inferior temporal lobe of monkeys in the laboratory in an attempt to reduce aggression. These lesions affected the cortical areas, the amygdala and the hippocampus. This later became known as Klüver-Bucy syndrome and consisted of symptoms such as psychic blindness, hypermetamorphsis, oral tendencies, and changes in emotional and sexual behaviors. Lesions of the amygdala made the monkeys fearless, for example, towards humans or snakes, and emotionally flat and docile. This research led to the recognition of the idea that the amygdala plays a significant role in recognizing the emotional and social relevance of sensory stimuli. In 1995, Bechara conducted a dissociation study that concluded that the function of the amygdala is dissociated from the functioning of the hippocampus. In other words, Bechara clarified that the amygdala is responsible for the acquisition of fear conditioning while the hippocampus is responsible for the memory of conditioning procedures. From 1990 to 1996, LeDoux studied the role of different brain structures in rats in reference to fear conditioning. He found that after creating lesions in the amygdala, fear conditioning did not take place. Furthermore, his research concluded that the amygdala is an important structure for fear learning and emotion expression. Furthermore, LeDoux's research has also shown that the hippocampus provides contextual information and interacts with the amygdala in fear learning and emotional memory. Overall, all the research conducted in the past shows that the amygdala plays a key role in mental health. New York, NY: Worth Publishers. Lamprecht, R. & Dudai, Y. (2000). The amygdala in conditioned taste aversion: it's there, but where. In J. P. Aggleton (ed.), The amygdala. (331-351). New York: Oxford University Press Inc.LeDoux, J.E., Cicchetti, P., Xangoraris, A., & Romanski, L.M. (1990) Lateral amygdaloid nucleus: sensory interface of the amygdala in fear conditioning. Journal of Neuroscience, 10, 1062-1069. Le Doux, J. (1996) The emotional brain. Simon and Schuster, New York. Norgren, R., Nishijo, H. and Travers, S.P. (1989) Gustatory responses of the entire gustatory system. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 575, 246-263. Yamamoto, T., Shimura, T., Sako, N., Yasoshima, Y. and Sakai, N. (1994) Neuralsubstrates for Conditioned Gust Aversion in the rat. Behavioral brain research, 65,123-137.