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Running head: CHAPTER 4
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Chapter 4
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Institution
CHAPTER 4
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Chapter 4
My favorite passage from the chapter talks about the limbic brain/system also referred to
as the Paleomammalian brain. MacLean first came up with the name limbic system in 1952 to
refer to the middle part of our brains. It can also be referred to as the old mammalian
(intermediate) or the paleopallium brain. It matches with the brain of earlier mammals. What
aroused my interest is the fact that the mature mammalian brain that resides in the limbic system
is responsible for instincts and emotions, fighting, feeding, fleeing, and sexual behavior, as well.
As MacLean views, every action in this emotional system can either be agreeable or
disagreeable. I also noted that, endurance is dependent on evasion of pain and reverberation of
pleasure. A number of emotions including rage, fear, pain, pleasure, and joy are produced when
the Limbic System of the brain is aroused with a mild electric current. No emotion has been
discovered to exist in one place for a long time.
However, the entire Limbic system appears to be the main source of attention, emotion,
and affective memories. Physiologically, it comprises thee amygdala, hippocampus, and
hypothalamus. It aids establish salience and valence, creative behavior and unpredictability, as
well. Salience in Buddhism is known as vedena, which means feeling. An example is whether
you feel positivity or negativity towards something. Salience, on the other hand, refers to
situations that get your attention. The Limbic System has wide interconnection with the
neocortex; thus the brain functions are not purely cortical or purely limbic but a mixture of the
two.
Maclean discovered in the Limbic System a corporeal basis for the paranoid and
dogmatic tendency, the biological basis for the thinking tendency to be subsidiary feeling, to
downsize desires. He views an immense danger in the limbic system power. According to his
understanding, such lowly mammalian brain synonymous with the limbic system appears to be
the core of our value judgments, and not the somehow advanced neocortex. The Limbic system
decides whether the human higher brain has a good scheme or not, whether it feels correct or
true.
It is exciting to note that the same structures present in the human limbic system are also
present in the brains of ancient animals like the alligator. The limbic system in the alligator is
deeply involved in smell. It plays a crucial role in hunting prey, eating it and defending territory.
The limbic system in humans is more concerned with emotional behaviors and motivation.
Structures in this part of the brain intersect; however, research has indicated that the amygdala
and the hippocampus appear to be the main parts involved with emotions. The amygdala links up
with the hippocampus and the thalamus. Such a connection enables it to take part in the control
and mediation of main activities like love, friendship and affection, and mood expression.
It has been pointed out that the hypothalamus, especially the median part, has been
discovered as a main provider to the production of loud and uncontrollable laughter. The Basal
Ganglia, also a part of the Limbic system, plays a crucial role in development and coordinating
posture and motor movements. Complex neural connections tie the Cerebral Cortex to Basal
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Ganglia. The main effect of the Basal Ganglia is to prevent unwarranted muscular activity.
Disorders of the Basal Ganglia end in exaggerated and uncontrolled movements.
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