Basolateral amygdala activation enhances object recognition memory by inhibiting anterior insular cortex activity

Abstract

Significance The basolateral amygdala is known to mediate emotional arousal effects on different forms of recognition memory via functional interactions with the insular cortex. Human neuroimaging studies have revealed that emotional stimulation first rapidly increases activity of the anterior division of the insular cortex, as part of the large-scale salience network, but suppresses anterior insular cortex activity in a delayed fashion. Here, we show that the effect of noradrenergic activation of the basolateral amygdala on enhancing object recognition memory is associated with a suppression of anterior insular cortex activity during the postlearning consolidation period. Such delayed emotional arousal effects on brain network dynamics might disrupt attentional reorienting toward new external stimuli and thereby protect the ongoing consolidation process from interference.