-Why does the limbic system theory still persist?
While the concept of the “triune brain” is, as a whole, wrong, MacLean in 1970 did propose some interesting ideas about the evolution of the brain. He proposed that there are three main layers of evolutionary progress in the human brain. It starts in the middle with the most basic, the reptilian brain. The reptilian brain is the brainstem itself, and is responsible for the most basic of survival behaviors. The next layer out is what he called the paleomammilian brain, which is where MacLean says we find the limbic system. This part of the brain deals with social and emotions, and MacLean argues that most mammals have this. The third and most complex layer is the neomammilian or neocortex that deals with the highest of cognitive functions. LeDoux argues that while MacLean was fundamentally wrong about the physical layers of the brain, he was not far from the truth about the evolutionary brain. Emotions at the core are in part for survival, and so therefore the more complex the emotion, the more complex the functions needed.
-What remains relevant in limbic system theory?
Emotions are (in part) for survival, and the more complex the emotion, the more complex the system to process it must be (both in theory and in context). If an emotion or mood is as simple as fight or flight, then this is something that is instilled in reptiles, mammals, and humans alike. These emotions are more easily figured out in the human brain, and seem to be easier to experiment with as well as find out about. There has been a large amount of research on the amygdala and fight or flight response, which as was stated above, is a basic emotion that reptiles, mammals, and humans all seem to have alike. The mor...
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...here is still disagreement on what should go in the limbic system, as there is little hard evidence to support a definitive set of structures. Most researchers have agreed that it is a lot more complicated than they originally thought, and that if MacLean was very wrong about one thing, it was that he was much too simplistic in his approach to define what the emotional regulation process should be. Each time researchers learn more, they just discover that it is evermore increasingly complicated, and there seems to be more than one system for dealing
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A large concern of the field of neurobiology seems to be finding and understanding a connection between the structure and function of the nervous system. What tangible system of tissues is responsible for creating a given perceived output? Some outputs can be more easily traced back to a specific 'motor symphony' and the involved structures isolated. This problem has obsessed generations of scientists. One of the first of this generation of researcher was F.J. Gall who promoted the idea that observable features of the brain could lead to an understanding of specific traits of action (7). Gall's greatest opponent, Marie-Jean-Pierre Flourens published research on localization of function and among his findings was evidence for sensory perception in certain sub-cortical structures (7). However, when Flourens examined the cerebrum he did not get such clean results. He found that damage to the cerebrum would not compromise specific abilities in the patient based on area, but incapacitate the patient in different ways based on the extent of the created lesion. In other words, damage to the cerebrum effected a diminution of 'higher mental faculties' such as "perception intellect and will" according to how great the lesion actually was, not according to where in the hemispheres it occurred (7). His conclusion proposed these higher mental faculties as existing throughout the structures of the cerebrum, and not isolated as with sensory perception. How is it possible to attribute, say elements of personality to a specific structure? Is their a region of the brain responsible for the way we are? A 'nice' region, an 'angry' gland? Here we encounter the ever ephemeral concept of where the I-function lies within the nervous system.
... & Mishkin, 1970; Roberts & Wallis, 2000 ; Rolls, 2000). Therefore it can be concluded that lesion to this area of the brain could result in disinhibited behaviour affecting social behaviour.
We can’t help think of our emotional coping brain without realizing its connection to reptilian instincts that also help us to survive. But emotional brain does much more than keep us
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In the brainstem, the most primitive part of the brain, lie clusters of serotonin neurons. The nerve fiber terminals of the serotonergic neurons extend all throughout the central nervous system from the cerebral cortex to the spinal cord. This neurotransmitter is responsible for controlling fundamental physiological aspects of the body. In the central nervous system (CNS), serotonin has widespread and often profound implications, including a role in sleep, appetite, memory, learning, temperature regulation, mood, sexual behavior, cardiovascular function, muscle contraction, and endocrine regulation. Not only does this bioamine control physiological aspects of the body, but it also has an involvement in behaviors like eating, sleeping and aggression. Serotonin has been noted to produce an inhibitory effect on the nervous system that calms, soothes and generates feelings of general contentment and satiation.
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According to Paul MacLean, the human brain is the interconnected, three-level brain. He proposed two archetypal neural circuitries emerging from different periods of human evolution. The most basic is self-preserving circuitry from our early stem vertebrate ancestry involved during the Permian and Triassic periods between 250–300 million years ago which provides basic life-support functions and behaviors to include food-getting, self-defense, and reproduction. It is cold-blooded and provides for little or no social life. From the mainly survival-centered promptings of these ancestral circuits arise the motivational source for egoistic, surviving, self-interested subjective experience and behaviors.
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The human brain weighs approximately three pounds and contains approximately 100 billion neurons (Farmer, 2009, p. 21). The brainstem is the oldest part of the brain and it controls important functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and our fundamental emotions such as happiness or sadness. It also sends and receives information from the spinal cord. Above the brainstem is the thalamus, which connects to the higher cortical regions of the brain. It manages sensations such as touch. The hippocampus surrounds the thalamus and it manages spatial working memory, learning, and emotion. The cerebellum is located at the back of the brain is responsible for movement and cognitive and emotional functions. The outer region of the brain is the cerebral cortex and is divided i...
Today, emotions means, when a person changes from one state to another, as in happy to sad (Petri H. L., & Govern, J. M., 2013). You might be wondering now where exactly did we learn how to express ourselves with the many emotions there are. Well, Darwin would argue that emotions come natural and that they are not learned, with the exception of a few. He would go on and say, that our able to recognize behaviors that are associated with certain emotions is innate as well (Petri H. L., & Govern, J. M., 2013). Have you ever smiled at a baby and they smiled back, that gives you evidence that displaying emotions are not young. It is so easy even a baby can do it. The amygdala has been viewed as the primary structure of the brain where expressions of emotions are
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Discuss the "cognition versus biology" debate in the study of emotion. Outline first the cognitive position and then the biological position. Discuss one possible, satisfying resolution to the cognition versus biology debate, using an original example to illustrate this
R. J. Dolan, Emotion, Cognition, and Behavior, Science 8 November 2002: 298 (5596), 1191-1194. [DOI:10.1126/science.1076358]