If I tamed my amygdala, then...

I could give it away useful tips on the topic of how to be happy. The human brain and the processes occurring in it are the basis of our entire life. Any changes in the brain affect us, our health, mood, and behavior. The structure of the brain is individual for everyone, full of features, strong and weak areas. And the most amazing thing is that a person is able to “sculpt” his own brain, since it is plastic. Here the phrase “we build our own lives” is fully revealed. And indeed, aiming to live a life full of happiness and love, it is enough for a person to understand the peculiarities of the structure of the brain. And then he will understand what should be paid more attention to, and what is not worthy of this attention.

Amygdala- this is a small, amygdala-shaped body in the brain in which the emotion of fear is formed. Yes, yes, exactly the one that tells us to stop, don’t take on this new and interesting project, sit down and keep your head down.

5 facts about the brain to live happily

1. Regularity is important for the skill. Very often we want to get for ourselves good habit, but we absolutely cannot bring ourselves to do this new action regularly. “Neurons firing together form connections” (pp. 27-29). Everyone knows that if we want to improve a certain skill, we need to practice it more and more often. At the brain level, this is explained as follows: when performing some action, a neural connection is formed between brain cells. By repeating exactly the same action, the same connection is strengthened. This means that the possibility of activating these neurons in the future is significantly high. So if you want to, for example, get better at playing table tennis or learn foreign language, experience required! Or, for example, start running to have one healthy habit, start doing this a little bit every day.

3. "Disable" false alarm or eliminating its appearance. This skill is necessary in order to overcome the anxiety associated with the emotion of fear. Fear, in turn, is formed by the amygdala (that same amygdala, yeah). And the main thing is that there is no need to “overlap” it. You can work on it, tame it, direct it in the right direction. Good effect on this physical activity, which engages the left frontal lobe, and this helps to reduce excess animation amygdala. The left frontal lobe is aimed at action and reinforces positive emotions, and the right is aimed at inert behavior and refusal to participate; reinforces negative emotions (pp. 56-62). That is why many, during an exciting conversation, intuitively begin to walk around the room. All this is needed in order to relieve excess tension and eliminate anxiety and fear.

4. Stress management. There is no need to avoid it or even try to get rid of it completely, because a person needs it in moderation. Simply put, throughout life it keeps us in good shape: thanks to it, we do any tasks efficiently, arrive at meetings on time, try to “squeeze out” everything we need as much as possible when the situation requires it, remember significant events and moments. Moreover, research has shown that a little stress is most beneficial for the neuroplasticity of the brain. So, if you feel restlessness within yourself, then do not try to run away from it. Get in touch with her and learn to manage her. The main thing is the golden mean. Severe stress(distress) is not helpful at all. Its absence or low level too (pp. 63-66).

5. "Overcoming the Paradox"(pp. 70 - 75). This is what the author of the book calls resistance to the temptation to avoid unpleasant situations. You need to come into direct contact with fear. Thus, a person develops a habit of this, due to which his feeling of anxiety begins to decrease.

Behaviors that increase anxiety (these are not effective if your goal is to normalize your stress levels):

"escape";
"avoidance";
"procrastination";
“going into the comfort zone.” All these are so-called ineffective coping strategies (or strategies for coping with stress). They do not carry an orientation towards solving a problem situation.

When we are determined to resolve a problematic situation, and we succeed, then we “harden” and more easily experience similar situations in the future.

Favorable conditions for developing a new skill

There is a system for rewiring the brain, consisting of 4 points (pp. 39-43):

"concentration"- allows you to focus on what is happening here and now, without distractions;
"an effort"- transition from perception to action with increased formation of new synaptic connections in the brain;
"relaxation"- to reconfigure the brain, you need to practice a new action for as long as necessary until it reaches a state of mechanicalness; and then you will be able to perform the improved skill relaxed, without much effort;
"pursuit"- it lies in constant practice, in active engagement in an already familiar activity.

So, the “taming” of the amygdala is facilitated by facing fear face to face. This is how we learn to feel confident and natural in complex, changing situations. How we feel about things is very important. After all, you just have to look positively at stress (that you can use it for good) - and your view of the world will seem to be renewed, become free and wise. Knowledge of the described nuances will help us better understand ourselves, find the right paths, and more often than not just talk about happiness, but know what it means and where it is hidden.

The tips in this article are based on the book Taming the Amygdala and Other Brain Training Tools by John Arden. (M.: Mann, Ivanov and Ferber, 2016. - 304 p.)

We continue to build an evidence base for the existence of invisible, but having a tremendous impact on life and mental health person, four entities in its subtle-energy design, in order to convince modern scientists and progressive thinkers of society that thanks to this sensational discovery, it is possible to find answers to countless unanswered questions and solve many hitherto unsolvable problems. Earlier, in the articles “Energy Construction” and “The Four Essences of Man. Why do contemporaries know nothing about this?” we began to consider the issue of the “well-forgotten” theory described in the AllatRa book regarding the presence of intelligent energy-informational structures in humans and confirming this numerous historical artifacts, today we will try to connect some of the achievements of scientists in the field of studying the brain with the Primordial Knowledge brought to the world by Bodhisattva Rigden Jappo. We do not particularly hope that academic science, mothballed in materialism, will instantly react and show due interest in these studies; its marking time does not bother us at all. Our goal is to give those who have reached a dead end the opportunity to get out of it, to find and connect the facts of the last scientific achievements with the deepest knowledge of human nature. Prompt, push, guide... further, whoever is interested will develop it.

EMOTIONS, DEFINITION

People have been studying the human being as a perfect biomachine for a very long time, trying to figure out the patterns of development, all kinds of adaptive reactions, the processes of development of the body from intrauterine maturation to the processes of extinction - aging and death. The same applies to the brain. After all, according to scientists, based on official theories and versions, this is the part of our body where we, as those who are aware of ourselves, are located. Moreover, the brain, according to generally accepted opinion, is the great manager of our body, the one who solves all emerging questions and tasks, draws conclusions, analyzes, gains experience, controls, and so on. A thousand experiments and analyzes have been carried out, many scientific reports, dissertations and articles have been written.

And indeed, a long journey of knowledge has been made. But, as it turned out, there is only data that essentially indicates the consequences of a person’s choice - the processes of excitation and inhibition of areas of the brain that cause certain chemical reactions in the body, which lead to the manifestation of various emotional states, that is, a response to the pathogen. But where is the man himself in all this? After all, in essence, what is brain activity and the very mechanism of the generation of emotions from the point of view of physiologists? In general, emotions and feelings today are associated with various functional states brain, with processes of excitation of certain subcortical zones and with changes in autonomic activity nervous system.

The definition of emotions goes like this:

Emotions is a genetically determined nonspecific behavioral program, which is determined by a complex of nervous structures included in the limbic system (the brain of a mammal, also known as the animal mind in humans - author's note) of the brain. The limbic system is formed by the most ancient structures of the middle, intermediate and forebrain. Impulses from external influence– stimuli enter the brain through two streams. One path goes to the corresponding areas of the cerebral cortex. Here the meaning and meaning of these impulses from the stimulus are deciphered in the form of sensations and perceptions. And the second stream comes to the subcortical formations (hypothalamus, temporal tonsils, etc.), where a direct relationship of these influences to the basic needs of the body, subjectively experienced in the form of emotions, is established. That is, in simple language, here the formation of an emotional reaction in response to a stimulus occurs.

In the hypothalamus, in the subcortical area, there are special nerve structures, which are centers of pleasure and suffering, aggression and calm. That is, the same emotional reactions that can be controlled using, for example, exposure to weak discharges electric current, causing excitation in the corresponding centers, which has been proven by numerous experiments. Emotions cause a number of vegetative reactions of the body (increase or decrease in heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, changes in muscle tone, etc.), which in turn leads to changes in the activity of the glands internal secretion. All this can be checked and recorded today using electroencephalograms, vocalograms (voice overtones), galvanic skin reactions (skin electrical conductivity), plethysmograms (changes in the lumen of blood vessels), miamograms (changes in muscle tone), etc.

From the point of view of official science, this is, in fact, man himself, descended from a monkey. However, in essence, what has been said explains absolutely nothing! This does not fit into the framework of our cranium. And there is a strong sense that there must be something more. And personally, I have a completely logical question: is it really that set of compensatory-adaptive reactions, emotions that spill out into the world that I am – a person? It's a rather limited and dubious assumption that the reflection observed in the mirror is me... isn't it?

AMYGDALA BODIES (ALMIDALINES) OF THE BRAIN

Let's add a little more specifics.

Scientists believe that formation of emotional reactions connected with increased work amygdala (lat. Corpus amygdoloideum) - subcortical structures of the limbic system in the depths of the temporal lobe of the brain as a result of their sensitivity to visual, auditory, interoceptive, olfactory, and skin stimuli. The amygdalae are essentially anatomically composed of several separately functioning nuclei, located close to each other and are responsible for defensive behavior, autonomic, motor reactions, emotional reactions, motivation of conditioned reflex behavior, that is, they encourage action. In fact, as official sources write, the cerebral cortex creates sensual (sensory) images, that is, to see, hear or feel something. The hippocampus, as part of the limbic system, which manages memory, stores this image and makes it possible to remember it over time. But the amygdala determines exactly what emotional feelings we experience towards the created sensory image. This is a version of official science that has no knowledge of the invisible energy structure of man. That is, in fact, according to generally accepted opinion, amygdala and there is the final link on which the emergence of emotions and subsequent reactions of the body is tied.

By expanding your knowledge, it would be possible to explain many processes occurring in the human body. For example, such a common phenomenon, when suddenly the mood changes for no reason, or without exchanging a word with a person, we suddenly feel aggression on his part, and this causes a response in us. Or we in some incomprehensible way feel the mood of a person, even sometimes completely unfamiliar to us, the emotions that he is now experiencing, although in his external behavior, facial expression, gestures and movements have not changed. How do people communicate? How do they predict, for example, events that have not yet happened? What is intuition? What is human thought? And why does she have such enormous power?

That is why I was interested in an excerpt from the description of the Chetverik meditation (in which one develops a sense of interaction with the 4 Essences of a person), where there is information about the reason for the emergence of emotions and the role of the amygdala in this process, and this really begins to explain a lot.

page 327

"Rigden: First, the meditator works with the Right Essence. During meditation, the energy "qi" comes from the hypothalamic region of the diencephalon through right amygdala, located deep in the temporal lobe of the brain. Then, through a point located above the right ear, the energy goes directly to the ball-center of the Right Essence. For those who do not know the structure of their brain, I note that in the human brain there are two amygdalae, located on the right and left sides. This is a very interesting subcortical brain structure that is associated with the formation various kinds emotions.

Anastasia: Yes, today science already knows that the amygdala is responsible for the ability to read information from the faces of people around us. Thus, a person subconsciously understands how these people feel in this moment. But the mechanism for reading information is not yet completely clear to scientists.

Rigden: Of course, this is reading like many others amygdala functions, is associated with the work of the lateral Aspects of a person in his energy structure. In the physical body the functions of the amygdala are associated with autonomic emotional reactions, ensuring defensive behavior, and motivating conditioned reflex behavior. Moreover, today it has already been scientifically established that damage to the amygdala can lead to partial disappearance of structures responsible for rage and aggression, as well as for the memory of danger. In other words, this can lead to a partial disappearance of fear in a person, thereby exposing him to constant danger of which he will not be aware. There have even been attempts in medicine to treat fears and uncontrolled outbreaks aggression through surgical destruction amygdala. I would like to note that the goal does not always justify the means to achieve it. Victory over yourself is much more important than anything surgical intervention. Moreover, a person still will not get rid of all his fears and manifestations of the Animal nature. Actually in human body, by and large, there are no “extra details”, so you shouldn’t remove anything from it unless absolutely necessary.

And a few more words about point above the ear. In this area there are also structures (energetically associated with the human structure) that are involved in the process of perception by a person in an altered state of consciousness of spatial relations... let's say more precisely, its orientation in spaces various measurements. The Four Essences are also involved in this process. Although there is a certain phenomenon here. For these Essences, space and time do not exist in the form in which a resident of a three-dimensional dimension perceives them. But it is precisely thanks to the work of the Essences that a person develops an intuitively accurate sense of orientation in time and space.

So how does it happen inner work with the center of the Right Essence. Usually a person in his Everyday life does not notice how any of his Aspects are activated, but he well senses the result of such a process. When the lateral Aspects begin to work, a person’s mood can suddenly change, and for no apparent reason. A person suddenly becomes despondent, or out of the blue a feeling of fear, disappointment, melancholy, apathy or, conversely, aggression comes over him, old grievances begin to surface, and so on. Why is this happening? Because the lateral Aspects are activated, in this case the Right Aspect. Next, the Essence provokes the formation of thoughts corresponding to this emotional outburst and captures the person’s attention with them. Like a skilled manipulator, he catches him in a state of heightened receptivity, so to speak, “offering” him a choice different variants doom, but in the same emotional tonality. In other words, when the Animal nature dominates in a person, the lateral Aspects in their usual mode of operation provoke the Personality into such emotional outbursts. What do such bursts mean for the brain? This is the same code that activates certain memory blocks that store the experience of similar mental experiences, emotions, and states. Having opened these “closets” of memory, capturing a person’s attention with their contents, the lateral Aspects thus introduce him into a negative state. Next, there is a process of strengthening the mood in this direction, as if looping around the same thoughts.”

INSTEAD OF CONCLUSION

So, we have the official opinion of science, which says that small areas of the brain are responsible for the emergence of emotions in a person - the amygdala, located in the ear area, and as if that’s all, then science is powerless to explain what actually happens is the reason for the activation of certain emotional states of a person. Scientists dug their heels in, came up with a bunch of explanations, and, apparently, put an end to it. However, any individual who has read the AllatRa book and tried the Quadruple meditation knows for certain that from the amygdala through the point above the ear, invisible energy channels go to the sides leading to the Lateral Animal Aspects(Right and Left), which actually provoke outbreaks of these emotionally unstable states in a person, by the way, the Right - aggression, despondency, fear, anxiety, greed, resentment, self-criticism, etc., and the Left - pride, deception, logic, temptation, cunning, deceit, lust for power and delusions of grandeur.

Summing up the interim results:

• Official science believes that the tonsils of the brain are somehow responsible for the emergence of human emotions;
• Official science should have long ago looked into the realm of the invisible, into the mysterious world of the senses, where, with the help of fairly simple exercises, in particular, the “Quad” meditation (described in the book "AllatRa" on page 320) , one can feel that the Lateral Animal Essences of a person are actually responsible for the emergence of emotions, since they are directly and directly connected with these very amygdala bodies of the brain;
• The existence of four Entities is also confirmed by the collected voluminous photo bank of historical artifacts (see the previous one);
• Finally, absolutely anyone can check this out with their own eyes! All you need to do is perform the “Four” practice correctly...

And finally, we admit that knowledge about the four Essences is still “alive” in certain elite circles, and they are regularly used in the process of manipulating public consciousness. Let us also assume that world science, in certain high hierarchical circles, may have some developments and ideas regarding a theory that is secret and unknown to the broad masses, but this theory is unknown because it is deliberately frozen, again, by the same single world conspiracy, about which we constantly mention in our publications. For what? Quite logically, ignorant. ignorant people are easier to control, the eternal question of power.

In conclusion, I would certainly like to remind you of the notorious human choice. By acquiring knowledge about the four Essences and the ability to control them, a person becomes truly Free. Rejecting the Primordial Knowledge, a person plunges back, not just into slavery, but into triple slavery:

• a slave to the global elite who controls him remotely;
• a slave to his Animal Aspects, who “feed on him” directly and live at his expense;
• a slave of the unified system of the Animal mind (about it some other time)...

The choice is always up to the individual!

Prepared by: Eva Kim (Russia) and Dato Gomarteli (Ukraine-Georgia)

Guilt and Shame: Temporal Lobes

It is easy for us to understand how memory or counting can be processes occurring in the brain. Feelings aren't quite so simple, however, partly because in speech we use phrases like "break my heart" to describe sadness or "blush" to describe shame. And yet, feelings are a phenomenon from the field of neurophysiology: a process that takes place in the tissues of the main organ of our nervous system. Today we can partially appreciate it thanks to neuroimaging technology.

As part of their research, Petra Michl and several of her colleagues at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich recently took a series of MRI scans. They sought to find areas of the brain that are responsible for our ability to feel guilty or ashamed. Scientists have found that shame and guilt seem to be neighbors on the block, although each of these feelings has its own anatomical region.

The researchers asked participants to imagine feeling guilty or ashamed, and in both cases it activated the temporal lobes of the brain. At the same time, shame involved in them the anterior cingulate cortex, which monitors external environment and informs a person about mistakes, and the parahippocampal gyrus, which is responsible for remembering scenes from the past. Vina, in turn, “included” the lateral occipitotemporal gyrus and the middle temporal gyrus - the center vestibular analyzer. In addition, the anterior and middle frontal gyri began to work in shamed people, and in those who felt guilty, the amygdala (tonsils) and insula became more active. The last two areas of the brain are part of the limbic system, which regulates our basic fight-or-flight emotions, work internal organs, blood pressure and other parameters.

Having compared MRI images of the brains of people of different sexes, scientists found that in women, guilt affected only the temporal lobes, while in men, the frontal lobes, occipital lobes and tonsils began to work in parallel - one of the most ancient elements of the brain, which are responsible for feelings of fear, anger, panic and pleasure.

Fear and Anger: The Amygdala

During intrauterine development of the embryo, the limbic system is formed immediately after the trunk, which organizes reflexes and connects the brain with the spinal cord. Her job is feelings and actions that are necessary for the survival of the species. Tonsils - important element limbic system. These areas are located near the hypothalamus, inside the temporal lobes, and are activated when we see food, sexual partners, rivals, crying children and so on. The body's various reactions to fear are also their work: if you feel like a stranger is following you at night in the park and your heart starts pounding, this is due to the activity of the tonsils. In the course of several independent studies conducted at various centers and universities, experts were able to find out that even artificial stimulation of these areas causes a person to feel that imminent danger is approaching.

Anger is largely also a function of the amygdala. However, it is strikingly different from fear, sadness and other negative emotions. The amazing thing about human anger is that it is similar to happiness: like joy and pleasure, it makes us move forward, while fear or grief forces us to withdraw. Like other emotions, anger, anger and rage cover the most different areas brain: after all, in order to realize their impulse, this organ needs to assess the situation, turn to memory and experience, regulate the production of hormones in the body and do much more.

Tenderness and comfort: somatosensory cortex

In many cultures, it is customary to hide sadness and shock: for example, in British English there is even an idiomatic expression “keep a stiff upper lip,” which means “not to show your feelings.” However, neuroscientists argue that from the point of view of brain physiology, a person simply needs the participation of other people. “Clinical experiments show that loneliness provokes stress more than any other factor,” says German scientist, author of the book “The Science of Happiness” Stefan Klein. “Loneliness is a burden on the brain and body. Its result is anxiety, confusion in thoughts and feelings (a consequence of the work of stress hormones) and weakening immune system. Isolation makes people sad and sick.”

Study after study shows that companionship is good for you physically and mentally. It prolongs life and improves its quality. “One touch from someone close to you and deserving of your trust eases sadness,” says Stefan. "This is a consequence of the neurotransmitters - oxytocin and opioids - that are released during moments of tenderness."

Recently, British researchers were able to confirm the theory of the usefulness of affection using computed tomography. They found that the touch of other people causes strong bursts of activity in the somatosensory cortex, which is already working constantly, tracking all our tactile sensations. Scientists have come to the conclusion that the impulses that arise if someone gently touches our body in difficult moments are associated with the process of isolating from the general flow of critical stimuli that can change everything for us. Experts also noticed that the experiment participants experienced grief more easily when a stranger held their hand, and much easier when their palm was touched by a loved one.

Joy and laughter: prefrontal cortex and hippocampus

When we experience joy, experience happiness, laugh or smile, many different areas of our brain light up. The process of creating and processing positive emotions involves the familiar amygdala, prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and anterior insula cortex, so that feelings of joy, like anger, sadness, or fear, pervade the entire brain.

In joyful moments, the right amygdala becomes much more active than the left. Today it is widely believed that left hemisphere Our brain is responsible for logic, and the right is for creativity. However, we have recently learned that this is not the case. The brain requires both parts to perform most functions, although hemispheric asymmetries exist: for example, the largest speech centers are located on the left, while processing of intonation and accents is more localized on the right.

The prefrontal cortex is several areas frontal lobes brain, which are located in the front of the hemispheres, just behind the frontal bone. They are associated with the limbic system and are responsible for our ability to set our goals, make plans, achieve desired results, change course and improvise. Research shows that during happy moments in women, the prefrontal cortex on the left hemisphere is more active than the same area on the right.

The hippocampi, which are located deep in the temporal lobes, together with the amygdala, help us separate important emotional events from unimportant ones so that the former can be stored in long-term memory and the latter can be discarded. In other words, the hippocampi evaluate happy events in terms of their significance for the archive. The anterior insula cortex helps them do this. It is also connected to the limbic system and is most active when a person remembers pleasant or sad events.

Lust and love: not emotions

Today human brain studied by thousands of neuroscientists around the world. However, science has not yet been able to accurately determine what emotion and feeling are. We know that many feelings are born in the limbic system - one of the most ancient elements of the brain. However, perhaps not everything we have traditionally recognized as an emotion actually is. For example, lust from the point of view of brain physiology is not similar to fear or joy. Its impulses are formed not in the tonsils, but in the ventral striatum, which is also called the “reward center.” This area is also activated during orgasm or eating tasty food. Some scientists even doubt that lust is a feeling.

However, lust differs from love, which activates the dorsal striatum. It is curious that the brain uses the same area if a person uses drugs and becomes dependent on them. However, we definitely experience happiness, fear, anger and sadness more often during periods of love than during calm periods - which means that love should perhaps be considered the sum of emotions, desires and impulses.

Icons: Pham Thi Dieu Linh

The identity of the 44-year-old mother of three, referred to as SM, has not been revealed. Rare genetic disorderUrbach-Wiethe disease - completely destroyedamygdala her brain playing important role in the formation of various kinds of emotions. In the experiments we are talking about told earlier , it was found that damage to the amygdala makes humans and mice less cautious and causes them to take risks.

The case of SM has been studied for about twenty years. It is known, for example, that this woman cannot recognize the expression of fear on a person’s face and draw scared face. In 1995, a simple experiment was conducted in which the appearance of a blue square on the screen is accompanied by loud sound; a common person begins to feel fear at the sight of this square, while SM remained calm. Last August in the magazine Nature Neuroscience another one appeared , which contained information that SM, when approaching very close to another person, feels quite comfortable, although she is familiar with the concept of personal space.

The patient, we note, has no problems with memory and mental development. The whole range of ordinary human emotions is available to her.

In his new job the authors tried to prove that SM still cannot experience fear. As part of the testing, the woman was shown fragments from The Silence of the Lambs, The Blair Witch Project, The Shining, The Ring and some other films; she noted that most people would probably find these fragments scary, but she herself was simply interested. SM was then taken to an abandoned tuberculosis sanatorium. Waverly Hills , where special performances are staged on All Hallows' Eve to frighten visitors. The methods used are the simplest, but most effective: according to the scientists’ description, the five women accompanying SM screamed in horror, but everything they saw did not make much of an impression on the subject.

SM also claimed that she hates snakes and spiders. In the pet store, however, she held one of the snakes for a long time and was ready to touch larger and more dangerous animals and tarantulas. When asked why she reacted so calmly to the reptiles she hated, the woman admitted that she was simply gripped by curiosity. “Without the amygdala, the brain's 'alarm' signal obviously doesn't go off,” says study participant Justin Feinstein, who represents University of Iowa . “This woman understands perfectly well what to watch out for, but she does not observe the prohibitions. It's amazing that she's still alive."

SM has indeed had a lot of unpleasant situations in her past: she lives in a poor area and has been threatened many times and was almost killed once. At the same time, her only memories associated with fear relate to early childhood- to the period when the amygdalae were not yet damaged.

Some experts consider the new data very unreliable, suggesting that SM may - consciously or not - adjust behavior and assessments of their emotions to meet the authors' expectations. According to the employee New York University Elizabeth Phelps, who also worked with people whose amygdala function was impaired, found that her patients retained the ability to experience fear. “I think colleagues are jumping to conclusions,” Ms. Phelps said. “However, the differences may be due to the fact that the amygdala fails at different ages.”

In addition, in SM, not only the amygdala is affected, but also several other areas of the brain. Perhaps this is what makes her case unique.

Amygdala (amygdala) of the brain

M brain indala, amygdala or m tonsil-shaped body (lat. Corpus amygdoloideum) - This is a subcortical structure of the limbic system, located deep in the temporal lobe of the brain.

"Wrong" tonsils - pharyngeal tonsils

The amygdala should not be confused with brain education, with other tonsils - pharyngeal!

Tonsils of the mouth (lat. tonsillae) - these are clusters lymphoid tissue located in the nasopharynx and oral cavity. They perform protective and hematopoietic functions, participate in the development of immunity - they are a first-line protective mechanism against inhaled and ingested foreign substances. harmful substances and antigens. The full immunological role of the tonsils still remains unclear. The commonly known term "tonsils" refers only to the palatine tonsils.

Both types of tonsils - cerebral and pharyngeal - act completely independently of each other and each in its own area, and the only thing they have in common is the same name.

And if you suddenly get deleted pharyngeal tonsils(tonsils), then do not be afraid that your brain activity will be disrupted in the same manner as in the unfortunate monkeys in experiments where their brain tonsils - amygdalae - were removed!

“Those same” tonsils - brain ones

So, amygdala - this is a cluster gray matter almond-shaped in the depths of the temporal lobe of the brain, measuring on average 10x8x5 mm.

The amygdala belongs to the basal ganglia of the brain and is part of the limbic system, which controls emotions.

There are two tonsils in total - one in each hemisphere. The neurons of the amygdala are diverse in form, function and neurochemical processes in them.

Functions of the amygdala

The functions of the amygdala are associated with the provision of defensive behavior, autonomic, motor, emotional reactions, and the motivation of conditioned reflex behavior.

Moreover, the main thing, apparently, is motivation, i.e. encouragement to action.

The cerebral cortex allows you to create sensory (sensory) images, i.e. see, hear or feel something. The hippocampus (part of the limbic system, which “manages” memory) makes it possible to store a sensory image and remember it after some time. But the amygdala determines exactly what emotional feelings we experience for a given sensory image.

The amygdala is actually several separately functioning nuclei, which anatomists unite together due to their proximity to each other. Among these nuclei, the key ones are: the basal-lateral complex, the central medial nuclei and the corticomedial nuclei.
The basal-lateral complex, necessary for the development of a conditioned fear reflex in rats, receives input signals from sensory systems.
The central-medial nuclei are the main output for the basal-lateral complex, and are included in emotional arousal in rats and cats.
The amygdala is connected to the rest of the nervous system and is strategically located, so it acts as a center for regulating emotions. It receives all the signals coming from the motor cortex, the primary sensory cortex, part of the association cortex, and the parietal and occipital lobes of your brain. In other words, from almost every available source. if you destroy it and look at the vegetative functions, nothing changes. But if it is irritated, a disruption occurs in the functioning of internal organs.
Axons emerging from the amygdala are concentrated in the reticular nuclei of the thalamus, which process signals from the sensory organs. Therefore, the amygdala can influence the work of the thalamus with sensory information: giving some information increased significance, and making others insignificant.

The amygdala reacts with many of its nuclei to visual, auditory, interoceptive, olfactory, and skin irritations, and all these irritations cause a change in the activity of any of the amygdala nuclei, i.e., the amygdala nuclei are polysensory. The reaction of the nucleus to external stimulation lasts, as a rule, up to 85 ms, i.e., significantly less than the reaction to similar stimulation of the neocortex.
The neurons of the amygdala have pronounced spontaneous activity, which can be enhanced or inhibited by sensory stimulation. Many neurons are multimodal and multisensory and fire synchronously with the theta rhythm.
If you destroy the amygdala and look at the autonomic functions, nothing changes. But if it is irritated, a disruption occurs in the functioning of internal organs. Irritation of the nuclei of the amygdala creates a pronounced parasympathetic effect on the activity of the cardiovascular, respiratory systems, leads to a decrease (rarely to an increase) blood pressure, reduction heart rate, disruption of the conduction of excitation through the conduction system of the heart, the occurrence of arrhythmias and extrasystoles. Wherein vascular tone may not change.
The slowdown in the rhythm of heart contractions when affecting the tonsils has a long latent period and has a long aftereffect.
Irritation of the tonsil nuclei causes respiratory depression and sometimes a cough reaction.
With artificial activation of the tonsil, reactions of sniffing, licking, chewing, swallowing, salivation, and changes in peristalsis appear. small intestine, and the effects occur with a long latent period (up to 30-45 s after stimulation). Stimulation of the tonsils against the background of active contractions of the stomach or intestines inhibits these contractions.
The various effects of irritation of the tonsils are due to their connection with the hypothalamus, which regulates the functioning of internal organs.
The amygdala provides emotional support for autonomic reactions. During an indicative reaction, when something new has arisen, as a rule, such a reaction is accompanied by a change in autonomic functions, such as a change in heart function, increased breathing, and a change in blood pressure. If the amygdala is destroyed, then this emotional accompaniment is absent, an indicative reaction occurs, but the autonomic nervous system does not turn on, and the autonomic reactions do not change. If you destroy the amygdala of a dominant male, then his career is over. The amygdala is responsible for recognizing a person by face. If scalerosis occurs in the temporal region, and the amygdala is located there, this especially often occurs with epilepsy, the disease prosopagnosia occurs, Prosop - face, agnosia - forget. As a result of this disease, a person does not even recognize himself in the mirror.
The amygdala has a low convulsive threshold; if an injury occurs in the amygdala, the focus of epilepsy very often occurs, the source of pathological impulses. The person develops post-traumatic amygdalar epilepsy, which is not related to glutamate or GABA. Pathological impulses arise in the amygdala and go to the cortex cerebral hemispheres arises there increased excitability from there to motor neurons spinal cord, and severe motor spasms occur. This happens often birth trauma. Damage to the amygdala in animals reduces adequate training autonomic nervous system to the organization and implementation of behavioral reactions, leads to hypersexuality, the disappearance of fear, calmness, inability to rage and aggression. Animals become gullible. For example, monkeys with a damaged amygdala calmly approach a viper that previously caused them horror,
escape. Apparently, in case of damage to the amygdala, some innate unconditioned reflexes that implement the memory of danger disappear.
In humans and other animals, this subcortical brain structure is involved in the formation of both negative (fear) and positive emotions (pleasure). Its size is positively correlated with aggressive behavior. In humans, this is the most sexually dimorphic brain structure - in men, after castration, it shrinks by more than 30%. Conditions such as anxiety, autism, depression, post-traumatic shock and phobias are thought to be associated with abnormal functioning of the amygdala.

Scheme of action of the amygdala
↙ ↘
With an intact tonsil With a damaged tonsil
Monkey + fire = fear, flight Monkey + fire = indifference

Fence

The fence (Claustrum) is an elongated plate up to 2 mm thick, the front part of which thickens. The medial edge of the plate is smooth, and along the lateral edge there are small protrusions of gray matter. Located under the cerebral cortex, deep in the white matter.
The deep localization and small size of the fence present certain difficulties for its physiological study. This structure contains polymorphic neurons different types. It forms connections primarily with the cerebral cortex.
Stimulation of the fence causes an indicative reaction, turning the head in the direction of irritation, chewing, swallowing, and sometimes vomiting movements. Irritation from the fence inhibits the conditioned reflex to light and has little effect on conditioned reflex to the sound. Stimulation of the fence during eating inhibits the process of eating food.
It is known that the thickness of the fence of the left hemisphere in humans is somewhat greater than that of the right; When the right hemisphere fence is damaged, speech disorders are observed.

In the studies of E.N. Panakhova (2006) found that the role of the amygdala is not limited to its regulation of perceptual and cognitive processes - it takes part in the control of the conduction of integrated information along the entire visual pathway of both channels of specific signals entering the visual cortex of the brain - retinogeniculocortical and retinocolliculogeniculocortical. By the nature of the influence on structures visual system two phylogenetically heterogeneous sections of the amygdala are in opposing relationships and have a phasic effect of opposite directions on these structures. It has been established that the basolateral amygdala (BLA) leads to the actualization visual signal, and the more ancient phylogenetically - corticomedial (CMA) - has an inhibitory effect on the transmission of visual information to the cortex along the main retinogeniculocortical pathway.