Analyzing Biological Explanations of Emotions and Brain Structures

This essay delves into the biological explanations of emotions, focusing on the role of various brain regions. It highlights the importance of the limbic system, including the hypothalamus, thalamus, amygdala, and hippocampus, in processing and regulating emotional responses. The essay discusses how the amygdala is crucial for processing fear and other emotions, while the hippocampus integrates emotional experiences with cognition. It also touches upon the cerebellum's contribution to emotional responses. The essay emphasizes how these interconnected brain structures work together to allow humans to experience, express, and categorize emotions, differentiating between pleasant and unpleasant experiences and how these processes are related to the sympathetic nervous system. References to relevant academic sources such as books and journals are included to support the arguments made in the essay.

Discuss biological explanations of
emotions and the implications of
different brain regions

Discuss biological explanations of emotions and the implications of different
brain regions
Emotions are psychophysiological experience of an individual’s state of mind when it
interacts with biochemical and environmental influences (Seth & Friston, 2016). Emotions
within a human body are characteristics of multiple areas of brain and are based on different
activities of nerve cells called neurons. Different areas of brain that characterize emotions are:
the neocortex, brain stem and an almond-shaped region in the limbic system. All together all of
these regions of brain form a complex network of neuronal circuits. But in all of these limbic
system plays a vital and important role within brain. Limbic system is an area within brain that
deals with emotions and memory. It directly helps in controlling both physical and emotional
response to environmental stimuli (Pessoa, 2019). This system is located between brain stem and
two cerebral hemispheres. This part of brain helps in experiencing different kinds of emotions
whether they are pleasant or unpleasant. Limbic system includes hypothalamus, thalamus,
amygdala, and the hippocampus. Hypothalamus plays a vital role in activating sympathetic
nervous system that gives emotional reaction. Another part of limbic system is thalamus that
serves as a sensory rely centre whose neurons project to both amygdala and other higher cortical
regions for further processing (Pessoa, 2019). Amygdala contains two almond shaped clusters
which is primarily responsible regulating an individual’s perception of reaction, feat, anger and
other emotions. Amygdala is connected to other systems of body as well so that the emotional
reaction, facial reactions can be expressed.
In all the three parts of Limbic system amygdala plays a vital role in processing all kinds
of emotional information. It also helps in sending all kinds of emotional information to cortical
structure. Hippocampus is a lower part of Limbic system that integrates all kinds of emotional
experiences with cognition (Seth & Friston, 2016). All of these parts of brain are known as old
brain because of which emotional functioning of body is done. Ability of humans in
experiencing emotions is only because of their brain as brain helps humans to experience
emotions and provides them with ability to express those emotions in a proper manner. Other
than limbic system, cerebellum also plays a vital and important role in experiencing emotions.
Cerebellum contributes in emotional responses that can help an individual to discriminate
between textures and sounds, react emotionally to other things. It is an important part that helps a
human body in learning different things. All of these primary functions of different parts of brain
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directly helps in feeling, experiencing and reacting emotionally. But mostly out of all the parts
limbic system’s role and responsibility is important in terms of experiencing emotions. It helps a
huma in reacting emotionally and responding to both reward and punishment (Seth & Friston,
2016). All of this system together helps a human in categorise emotional experiences and
segregate them in terms of pleasant and unpleasant.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Pessoa, L. (2019). Brain networks for emotion and cognition: Implications and tools for
understanding mental disorders and pathophysiology. Behavioral and Brain
Sciences, 42.
Pessoa, L. (2019). Embracing integration and complexity: placing emotion within a science of
brain and behaviour. Cognition and Emotion. 33(1). 55-60.
Seth, A. K., & Friston, K. J. (2016). Active interoceptive inference and the emotional
brain. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological
Sciences. 371(1708). 20160007.
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