The Limbic System (AKA inner brain) LOCATION: Deep within brain, next to thalamus, at top of brain stem FUNCTION? – The 4 Fs : fight, flight, food, fornication!

The Limbic System (AKA “inner brain”)

• LOCATION: Deep within brain, next to thalamus, at top of brain stem

• FUNCTION? – The 4 F’s : fight, flight,

food, fornication!– memory!!

Hypothalamus: “body’s regulator” 1. In charge of endocrine system2. Regulates

– hunger & thirst• if ventromedial hypothalamus is

stimulated, rats STOP eating • if lateral hypothalamus is stimulated, rats

eat• if lateral hypothalamus is lesioned, rats

will not eat– response to pain– levels of pleasure – sexual satisfaction– anger and aggressive behavior

3. Regulates the autonomic nervous system pulse, blood pressure, breathing, and arousal in response to emotional circumstances.

Pituitary Gland --master gland of endocrine system

1. Regulates body temperature2. Creates and releases:

– Growth hormone– prolactin (tells woman’s breasts

to produce milk after giving birth)– hormone to signal sperm

production and releases of eggs3. Creates hormones messages and

directs body’s other glands to produce hormones for:– stress

• cortisol released by adrenal glands

Amygdala: Emotions, fear, memories

• Location: Within temporal lobe• Function:1. Directs aggressive and fearful responses

– Lesion=less aggression, more mild, meek demeanor

– stimulation=extreme aggression!2. Plays role in formation of emotionally

charged memoriesInteresting facts:1. Size positively correlates with levels of

aggression 2. Shrinks by 30% in castrated males!!

video on flight or fight response

Hippocampus

• Converts short-term explicit memories to long-term

Video clip: John Forbes story (start @ 9:55 go to end of part 2)

How do we know what we know about the brain? How do we know what we know about the brain?

• Technology that allows us to see brain at work– EEG –charts brain’s electrical brain waves E for electricity! Output is a

graph of lines registering different brain wave patterns– PET—shows where brain activity is occurring by showing where glucose is

being consumed after person given radioactive glucose Mnemonic: Give your “pet” some “sugar” and watch how it responds!

– MRI—shows soft tissue areas of brain using magnetic pulses (good for finding tumors or enlarged/smaller than usual areas) m for magnetic

– fMRI—measures second-by-second images of blood flow to show which part of brain is active during certain mental functions f for function

– CAT (CT) --x-ray of brain, similar to MRI think of your cat having x-ray vision

• Research, clinical observation, and case studies (HM anterograde amnesia)• Split-brain patients (Sperry, Gazzaniga)• Lesions and stimulation experiments (rats, cats)

start at 5 min. video clip brain surgery

A look at scans and how they are doneA look at scans and how they are done

1. 1.

2. 2.

3. 3.

4. 4.

5. 5.

6. 6. 7. 7.

1. PET scan2. CAT scan3. MRI4. MRI or PET

machine5. fMRI6. EEG7. EEG output

video clip MEG start at 4 min

Quick quiz

• Label your brain in the lecture packet

Answer Key: How’d you do at labeling your brain?Answer Key: How’d you do at labeling your brain?