The amygdala has two main output pathways: one to the hypothalamus and adrenals, and another to other brain areas.

“And there are two main pathways. One involves the hypothalamus, which you heard about before this collection of neurons that control a lot of our primitive drives for sex, for food, for thirst and for warmth, et cetera. And it also feeds out to our adrenals. Those glands that you learned about a few minutes ago to create a sense of alertness and action. It also feeds out what I mean by feeds out, by the way, is there are neurons that send wires. We call those wires axons connections. Where they can release chemicals and trigger the activation of different brain areas. So it feeds out to other brain areas such as the PAG.”