The anatomy of emotion

Emotion is seen as a function of an autonomic system which pervades the cerebrum as much as the rest of the body. An emotional centre, or organ of mood, seems to exist in the hypothalamus, at the upper end of a reticular core rising through the brainstem, which initiates and co-ordinates vital impulses. The reticular formation (which may be identical with the centrencephalic integrating system) appears to contain adrenergic and cholinergic fibres and these may be central nervous elements of the autonomic system. Supporting evidence for this whole concept is presented from findings in brain self stimulation reward, the syndrome of central pain, posture and movement accompanying mood change, epileptic convulsions and progressive refinements in pre-frontal leucotomy. The limbic system is considered to subserve "on going" memory rather than mood, which appears to reach consciousness in the lateral temporal convexity, as a rule independently of awareness of peripheral somatic accompaniments of emotion.