The study investigates the mechanism of unconscious emotional learning in the human amygdala. Volunteers were shown two angry faces, one paired with a burst of white noise (conditioned stimulus, CS+), and the other unpaired (CS-). The faces were presented either masked or unmasked, and subjects were required to detect the angry faces. Despite being unable to consciously perceive the masked faces, subjects showed a significant neural response in the right amygdala to the CS+ face when masked. Unmasked presentations of the CS+ face produced enhanced neural activity. The results indicate that the amygdala can discriminate between stimuli based on their acquired behavioral significance and that this response is lateralized according to the subjects' level of awareness. The study provides evidence that the amygdala mediates the learning of associations between behaviorally significant stimuli, even when they are not consciously perceived. Additionally, the lateralization of the amygdala response suggests that conscious awareness may inhibit certain neural processes.The study investigates the mechanism of unconscious emotional learning in the human amygdala. Volunteers were shown two angry faces, one paired with a burst of white noise (conditioned stimulus, CS+), and the other unpaired (CS-). The faces were presented either masked or unmasked, and subjects were required to detect the angry faces. Despite being unable to consciously perceive the masked faces, subjects showed a significant neural response in the right amygdala to the CS+ face when masked. Unmasked presentations of the CS+ face produced enhanced neural activity. The results indicate that the amygdala can discriminate between stimuli based on their acquired behavioral significance and that this response is lateralized according to the subjects' level of awareness. The study provides evidence that the amygdala mediates the learning of associations between behaviorally significant stimuli, even when they are not consciously perceived. Additionally, the lateralization of the amygdala response suggests that conscious awareness may inhibit certain neural processes.