Emotions are what makes us home sapiens; they are made possible through the limbic system, the limbic system is in the temporal lobe (Boeree, 2009). The limbic system is made up of many different parts of the brain. The amygdala is the center of emotional processing it receives input from other brain functions, like memory and attention (Boeree, 2009). The amygdala is the reason we have multiple emotional responses, like love, fear, anger and sexual desire (Boeree, 2009). The hippocampus is another constituent of the limbic system that directs info to the amygdala (Boeree, 2009). The hippocampus works as a team with the amygdala (Boeree, 2009). The connection between the hippocampus and amygdala may very well be the origination of strong emotions elicited by individual memories which would explain emotional responses to distressing memories (Boeree, 2009). …show more content…
The prefrontal cortex controls the decisions we make when faced with an emotional reaction; it also regulates anxiety (Swenson, 2006). The hypothalamus feeds information into the amygdala (Swenson, 2006). The hypothalamus acts as a regulator of emotion, controlling levels of sexual desire, pleasure, aggression, and anger (Swenson, 2006). The cingulate gyrus is a pathway between the thalamus and the hippocampus, and it plays a role in remembering emotionally charged events (Swenson, 2006). The cingulate gyrus directs the attention to the fact, letting the rest of the brain know that it is emotionally significant (Swenson, 2006). The ventral tegmental is another part of the brain involved in emotions and love, particularly in how a person perceives pleasure (Swenson, 2006). The different areas of the brain that control emotions are very significant, but how can we connect emotions and learn in a classroom is a whole other
The limbic system (or Paleomammalian brain) is a set of brain structures including the hippocampus, amygdala, anterior thalamic nuclei, and limbic cortex, which support a variety of functions including emotion, behavior, long term memory, and olfaction.[1] The term "limbic" comes from Latin limbus, loosely translating as "border" or "belt".
The limbic system was first recognized due to Franz Josef Gall (LeDoux, J., 1996). Franz Joseph Gall developed the idea of “phrenology” that focused on the study of the different variations of bumps on the human skull to be related to differences in behavioral and emotional functioning. The limbic system’s main function in the brain is to control emotional behaviors and certain forms of memories that are infused with emotion (amygdala). The amygdala is a part of the brain that forms the tail end of the basal ganglia within the rostral temporal lobe and is located near the hippocampus (Lambert, K.G. & Kinsley, C .H., 2005). The amygdala, as defined by the text, is an almond-shaped structure that functions as a part of the limbic system involved in regulation of emotion and sexual urges (Lambert, K.G. & Kinsley, C .H., 2005). In addition, the amygdala is comprised of a dozen or more sub regions that are not all involved in fear conditioning (LeDoux, J., 1996).
Structural and functional studies in rodents1-4, primates 5, and humans 6 have shown that the hippocampal formation (HPF) and prefrontal cortex (PFC) are integrated with direct and indirect connections. The HPF and the PFC interact reciprocally to regulate several cognitive functions and process emotional information 7. The functional and anatomical connections formed by the cells in hippocampus and the PFC orchestrate with each other to modulate emotional and cognitive processes 8. The hippocampal prefrontal connections in rodents and humans are illustrated schematically in figures 1 and 2 respectively. The HPF and PFC communicate by both direct monosynaptic and indirect polysynaptic connections 9.
Each individual piece has its own job, that not only controls our emotional being but also mental functions like learning and formation of memories. The amygdala controls the emotion center of the brain. The hypothalamus and thalamus are related with changes in emotional reactivity. The hippocampus plays the essential role of forming new memories about past experiences. The basal ganglia is a group of nuclei lying deep in the subcortical white matter of the frontal lobes that arrange motor behavior and coordinate rule-based, habit learning. The cingulate gyrus coordinates sights and smells with pleasant memories, regulates aggressive behavior, and induces emotional reactions to
At this point, compulsion takes over. The pleasure associated with an addictive drug or behavior subsides—and yet the memory of the desired effect and the need to recreate it (the wanting) persists. It’s as though the normal machinery of motivation is no longer functioning.
The amygdala is part of the limbic system, which is the part of the brain that understands emotion. It is connected mainly to the brainstem and hypothalamus (Whalen & Phelps, 2009). The role of the amygdala in understanding emotion was first introduced
One cannot fully comprehend this procedure without first understanding some key terms. The brain is regionalized into four main lobes and has a special region for emotions. Generally speaking, the occipital lobe is located in the back of the brain and is responsible for vision, the parietal lobe is located on the top of the brain and is responsible for interpreting sensory signals, and the temporal lobe is located on either side of the brain and is responsible for memory, language comprehension, and emotions. The limbic lobe is responsible for emotions which is made up of many smaller structures, including the hypothalamus, surrounding the corpus callosum, which is what allows the left and right hemispheres of the brain to communicate. The
2. The limbic system also includes the amygdala(Amig- Dalah) which is the part of the brain responsible for emotions. In an Article called Scientists Discover Why Dreams Are So Weird they state “During REM sleep, the men's brains showed the most activity in the limbic system, a primitive part of the brain that governs emotion. Meanwhile, little activity was seen in the frontal lobes. The frontal lobes help sort out and give meaning to information from the senses. According to the researchers, this unequal activity might explain why dreams can be so intense, yet so illogical. It may also explain why dreams do not seem strange to the dreamer while they are happening” (Scientists Discover Why Dreams Are So Weird).
In addition, the limbic system is responsible for our perception of other emotions, both positive and negative, which explains the mood altering properties of many drugs. The cerebral cortex is divided into areas that control specific functions. Different areas process information from our senses, enabling us to see, feel, hear, and taste. The front part of the cortex, the frontal cortex or forebrain, is the thinking center of the brain, it powers our ability to think, plan, solve problems, and make decisions.
An amygdala is at its very essence linked to the sentiment of anxiety or fear. Its function is more broadly defined to the genre of emotions only because anxiety or fear can manifest themselves in far more colors than their prototypes are limited to; fear can make an individual lash out, a behavioral mechanism that is typically comprehended as anger, and anxiety can cause a person to break down or cry, and society would perceive this as depression. Most emotions are interconnected, and no matter the emotion one feels they are experiencing with respect to a particular hurdle in their life, those emotions are an incarnation of either fear or anxiety, which in turn are born to the human brain’s amygdala. An individual can call something their
Perception occurs in three different areas located in the brain. These three streams are covered by the cerebral cortex. The dorsal stream which is also known as the “how” pathway. This stream consists of the primary visual cortex (V1) which is located around the calcarine fissure in the occipital lobe and travels all the way into the parietal lobe. The dorsal stream is responsible for controlling your movements, mindfulness of spatial layout, recognizing object locations and unique motion. Then there is the area that is referred to as the “what” pathway which is known as the ventral stream. This stream consists of the medial temporal lobe as well as the limbic system. The temporal lobe supplies long-term memories and the limbic system regulates emotions. The third area is referred to as the “where” pathway, and is called the lateral
The hippocampus involves memory and encoding new information: past experiences & facts, feelings, thoughts, and awareness of our autobiographical past. The Hippocampus controls our emotional response by transforming sensory stimuli into emotional and hormonal signals then refers this information to other parts that control behavior.
The Amygdala is apart of the Limbic system its primary function is that it influences our emotional control, motivation, fear response and interpretations of nonverbal emotional expressions (facial and bodily expressions) (Ciccarelli & White, 2014). For some reason, explained by many but I'm going off of the book and one other source with two differing opinions on how the amygdala is involved with fear and the memory of (Ciccarelli & White, 2014).
In the next paragraphs I will consider some theories, factors and evidence on cognitive controlling of emotion in terms of
The amygdala is an almond-shaped region that is key to the normal expression of emotions, specially fear. Brian imaging studies see high activity in the amygdala when subjects experience anxiety, stress of phobias. The vmPFC can be thought of a s a higher part of the brain, involved in less well defined activities such as emptional processing and decision making. The hippocampus is a larger region that is very simply, involved in memory.