Organization of primate amygdalo-prefrontal projections

The amygdalo-prefrontal network is thought to play an important role in fear conditioning and other associative learning processes. We investigated amygdalo-prefrontal connectivity data from anatomical tracing studies using an advanced databasing approach (www.cocomac.org) and multivariate statistics. Both amygdaloid and prefrontal cortical areas ere found to form three distinct clusters with (i) widespread, (ii) absent, and (iii) highly specific connections, respectively. Major amygdaloid sources of projections were the accessory basal (AB), basal (B), lateral (L) nuclei and the periamygdaloid cortex (PAC). Major prefrontal targets were orbital areas 13 and 14, as well as medial areas 24 and 25. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.