When & Where: I found the word amygdalae as I was reading the memoir Still by Lauren Winner (2012) on my deck on a beautiful July afternoon.
Level of Familiarity: The author is writing about things she misses about her deceased mother and she wrote, "I do miss her voice; it hovers at the edges of my amygdalae like a dream I can't quite remember" (p. 41). I don't recall ever encountering this word before, but it sounded to me like some sort of body organ or perhaps a region of the brain, perhaps because it sounds a bit like "medulla oblongata."
What it Means: Dictionary.com defines amygdala (singular of amygdalae) as "a ganglion of the limbic system adjoining the temporal lobe of the brain and involved in the emotions of fear and aggression."
Reflective Commentary: Reading this definition actually gave me some new insight on the author of this memoir. She mentioned earlier in the chapter that she didn't really miss her mother, but that she was thinking about things that she would miss if she missed her. Amygdalae, because it is responsible for feelings of fear and aggression, makes me think more about her relationship with her mother and to her mother's memory, that there may be negative feelings associated even with what she misses about her.
I don't see myself using this word since I'm still not quite clear on the biology behind it, but it is a useful word to understand in this context since it added a more nuanced meaning to Winner's (2012) description.
Interestingly, amygdala also comes up in our reading for our 2nd class in Chapter 1 of Teaching Reading in the Content Areas: If Not Me, Who?
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