Abstract: Detecting threatening information rapidly and accurately is a kind of ability endowed by evolution. This ability, as the prerequisite of effectively coping with danger, is of vital importance to the survival of organisms. Precious studies have demonstrated the cooperation of multiple sensory modalities in threat detection. Specifically, the amygdala served as a hub connecting top-down and bottom-up processes, because of dense reciprocal connections between the amygdala and widespread regions, including perceptual pathways as well as prefrontal regions. Considerable studies confirmed its role in integrating information from cortical and subcortical visual pathways. The functions of the amygdala and various neural networks and their cooperation in threat detection still need further investigation.

Key words: threatening information, amygdala, cortical pathway, subcortical pathway