CROSS-MODAL ASSOCIATIONS AND THE HUMAN AMYGDALA

The role of the human amygdala in cross-modal associations was investi gated in two subjects: SM-046, who had bilateral damage circumscribed to the amygdala; and the patient known as Boswell, whose damage in bot h temporal lobes includes the amygdala and surrounding cortices. Neith er subject was impaired on Tactile Visual or Visual Tactile cross-moda l tasks using the Arc-Circle test [32], suggesting that the amygdala i s not involved in cross-modal associations involving perceptually ''eq uivalent'' basic stimulus properties. On the other hand, the results a re compatible with the amygdala's involvement in higher-order associat ions between exteroceptive sensory data and interoceptive data concern ed with correlated somatic states.