Anatomy of Emotional Pathways Flashcards
What are the components of the limbic system?
Limbic lobe Hippocampus Dendate gyrus Amygdaloid body Hypothalamus Anterior thalamus
What are the 4 main sources of hippocampal afferents?
- Cerebral cortex, mainly entorhinal cortex (perforant and alvear paths)
- Septal area
- Contralateral hippocapus
- Brainstem nuclei (various)
What is the entorhinal cortex?
Part of the primary olfactory area and informs the hippocampus of sensory information and higher brain functions
Which areas in the brainstem send messages to the hippocampus?
VTA (dopamine), locus coerulus (NA) and raphe nuclei (serotonin)
What controls:
Emotional colouring?
Emotional experience?
Emotional expression?
Respectively:
Neocortex
Cingulate cortex
Hypothalamus
What are the afferents to the circuit of Papez?
Neocortex
Thalamus
Septal area
Reticular formation
What is the function of the hippocampus?
- Retention of short-term memory and conversion to long-term declarative memory
- Long term potentiation
- Storage of long term memory (engrams) in their relevant cortical areas (?)
Where are the amygdaloid nuclei located?
Between the anterior of the temporal horn of the lateral ventricle, and the ventral surface of the lentiform nucleus.
What are the 2 main pathways that connect the amygdala to the hypothalamus?
Striata terminal
Ventral amygdalfugal pathway
What is the function of the amygdala?
Learns and remembers pain/fear-associated stimuli to mediate autonomic responses, behavioral reactions and emotional reactions to said stimuli (including aggressive responses).
What are the structures responsible for affective aggression? (ie. emotional response)
Medial hypothalamus -> periaqueductal grey
What structures are responsible for predatory aggression? (ie. goal-oriented)
Lateral hypothalamus -> VTA
