"It is in moments such as these--when impulsive feeling overrides the rational--that the newly discovered role for the amygdala is pivotal. Incoming signals from the senses let the amygdala scan every experience for trouble. This puts the amygdala in a powerful post in mental life, something like a psychological sentinel, challenging every situation, every perception, with but one kind of question in mind, the most primitive: "Is this something I hate? That hurts me? Something I fear?" If so--if the moment at hand somehow draws a "Yes"--the amygdala reacts instantaneously, like a neural tripwire, telegraphing a message of crisis to all parts of the brain."