Amygdalae, the basal ganglia, and the brain diagram. The diagram is from this link.
There are two amygdalae, one on each side of the brain, each attached to a basal ganglion, one on each side of the brain.
The amygdala exists in the brain as two almond shaped organs, referred in their plural as amygdalae. They receive all kinds of internal and sensory inputs, on which they quickly perform pain-related pattern recognition, and assemble “combinatorial memories of pain-related patterns”.
This statement from Gerry Vassar’s online article, The Amygdala & Emotions , also tells us that the amygdala makes this pattern perception within 20 milliseconds (msec), whereas we are aware of the associated perception within 300 milliseconds. A psychiatric neuropharmacologist, (Personal communication, 2015) said that parts of the brain recognize inputs within 33 msec. The unchecked amygdala produces ” quick and dirty — knee jerk responses”, fight or flight, which can be quieted by the rest of the basal ganglion of which it is a part. My psychiatric neuropharmacologist source also said that
“we generally think of the prefrontal cortex as being the main modulator of the amygdala, although those signals may travel through the basal ganglia first… ”
( Anger is one of the responses of the brain. The speed with which the amygdala reacts to incoming information explains the speed with which we get angry.
The rest of Vassar’s article contains very interesting, rich and concise information about the brain, which is useful to anyone on a personal level.
The patterns representing the danger are already present in brain. I think of all patterns in the brain as sets of “mind points”, my own descriptive term. I am happy to have some anatomical and functional information to integrate with what I already know from my general experience.
One of my grandmothers said that the way to have a good, long, healthy, or positive life was to “Keep your feet warm, and your head cool.” I have to control my amygdala in order to do that.
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This is a wonderful book for anybody at all, but especially for people of child-bearing age, and those with children. It explains that the first thing that parents and others should know is that the brain of babies is interested first of all in survival, and if it has any energy left, that can go on learning in the more traditional sense. Therefore, one always does better in relating to babies, in trying to understand the baby’s point-of-view.
