From this anatomical organization, it is clear that the BLA is positioned to receive information regarding salient environmental stimuli and orchestrate instrumental responses to these stimuli via projections to the prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens, as well as to the CeAM, which in turn targets hypothalamic, brainstem, and reticular structures. Thus, the BLA and CeA are often considered to comprise a serial pathway, where information from the BLA is transferred to the CeA to modulate specific endocrine, autonomic, and arousal-related responses (Davis, 1997; Davis and Whalen, 2001). However, a parallel processing system, where the BLA and CeA serve distinct functions that operate independently has also been suggested (see (Knapska et al., 2007) for review).
