Topic: Chapter 4
Type: Essay
Style: APA
Description: Read chapter 4.Your post about this chapter must be 400 words minimum (you can say more if you want), and you must include your favorite passage from the chapter and talk about why it is your favorite. I want to see a connection about critical thinking between and the passage below. The Triune Brain: Your Brain The reptilian brain, the oldest of the three, controls the body's vital functions such as heart rate, breathing, body temperature and balance. Our reptilian brain includes the main structures found in a reptile's brain: the brainstem and the cerebellum. The reptilian brain is reliable but tends to be somewhat rigid and compulsive. The limbic or Mammalian brain emerged in the first mammals. It can record memories of behaviours that produced agreeable and disagreeable experiences, so it is responsible for what are called emotions in human beings. The main structures of the limbic brain are the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the hypothalamus. The limbic brain is the seat of the value judgments that we make, often unconsciously, that exert such a strong influence on our behaviour. The neocortex or New Brain first assumed importance in primates and culminated in the human brain with its two large cerebral hemispheres that play such a dominant role. These hemispheres have been responsible for the development of human language, abstract thought, imagination, and consciousness. The neocortex is flexible and has almost infinite learning abilities. These three parts of the brain do not operate independently of one another. They have established numerous interconnections through which they influence one another. The neural pathways from the limbic system to the cortex, for example, are especially well developed. The Triune Brain
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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 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.