The work is published Oct. 30 in the American Journal of Psychiatry. "The amygdala is central to emotion processing in the brain, and is known to contribute to fear and anxiety," said Drew Fox ...

"To analyze how the amygdala functions during depression, we measured the activity of some networks of neurons involved in the more or less negative interpretation of olfactory stimuli," says Alonso.

"We now know that the amygdala is not only involved in our emotional response to environmental stimuli, fostering attraction or repulsion, but that it also plays a role in depression," explains ...

To shed light on the question, scientists decided to explore the amygdala and observe how it functions during depressive episodes. Their findings suggest that a depressive state alters certain ...