“We do not merely perceive objects and hold thoughts in our minds: all our perceptions and thought processes are felt.”- Antonio Damasio

Post #2 in category. We recommend you read posts in numerical order.

“The connectivity of the amygdala with the neocortex is not symmetrical. The amygdala projects back to the neocortex in a much stronger sense than the neocortex projects to the amygdala…The implication is that the ability of the amygdala to control the cortex is greater than the ability of the cortex to control the amygdala.  And this may explain why it’s so hard for us to will away anxiety; emotions, once they’re set into play, are very difficult to turn off.  Hormones and other long-acting substances are released in the body during emotions.  These return to the brain and tend to lock you into the state you’re in at the time. Once your’re in that state it’s very difficult for the cortex to find a way of working its way down to the amygdala and shutting it off.”

“The amygdala can control the neocortex very easily, because all it has to do is arouse lots of areas in a very nonspecific way. But for the cortex to then turn all of that off is a very difficult job.”

                                                                                                                                                    Joseph LeDoux

Ledoux, J. 2011. Parallel Memories: Putting Emotions Back into the Brain. In: Brockman, J., ed. (2011). The Mind. New York, NY: Harper Perennial

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