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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The position of the prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia positions inside the human brain. The prefrontal cortex is a part of the brain, about which we have all heard, which does not mature until age 25. It helps to regulate brain’s preconscious responses which occur in a few milliseconds (less than 33) in the amygdala. It possibly does this via the basal ganglia. You can see in this picture that the prefrontal cortex is immediately in front of, and above, the basal ganglia.
For a link to the source of this diagram, please see the post in this blog on the basal ganglia, the prefrontal cortex, the amygdala, and anger .