Understanding Our Brain and Behaviors

In the quest of understanding the world around us, humans have explored innumerable areas of physical sciences and have progressed in innovation and conceptualization of the information we know about the universe today.

While the remarkable work continues in the understanding of our external world, our 'being' drives us to think about what makes up our internal world.

The Thinker, one of the most well-known sculptures by French artist Auguste Rodin

We spend a lot of time thinking about our individual experiences, responses, emotional states, needs and desires. We extend the same faculty to thinking about other's internal processes, as individuals and communities. We raise questions about racism and war, think about the origins of language, reflect at the things created by man and look for ways to cope better with our realities. Many schools of thought have emerged to answer the plethora of questions regarding the anatomical, social and functional evolution of the mind.

Through most of history, many philosophers found it inconceivable that cognition (thought process) could be made up of a physical substance such as brain tissue (that is neurons and synapses). The most straightforward scientific evidence of a strong relationship between the physical brain matter and the mind is the impact of physical alterations to the brain ( such as brain injury or drug use) on the mind.

As early as 1796, a German physician Franz Joseph Gall introduced phrenology as an attempt to correlate mental functions with specific parts of the brain. Although the idea has a basis in reality, phrenology soon departed from science and led to controversial social and political ramifications. Development on this idea over the years has led to our ever-growing understanding of the matter that is our brain.

In the 1960s, Neuroscientist Paul McLean proposed the triune brain is a model of the evolution of the vertebrate brain. Based on the functionality and evolutionary origins, the vertebrate brain can be categorized into three types - Reptilian, Mammalian and New Brain

The Instinctive Brain (Reptilian Brain)

Reptiles don’t have emotions, and function on the survival instinct, to the extent that they eat their young to regulate themselves. This should give us an idea of the role of instinctive brain in influencing human behaviour.

The Instinctive Brain, termed as the Reptilian brain, was the first brain to evolve, consisting of the brain stem, basal ganglia, cerebellum and spinal cord (demarcated in red in the figure below). It functions on an automatic, unconscious and involuntary principle. Involuntary functions like heartbeat, breathing, temperature and homeostasis find its basis in the Reptilian Brain. Instinctual or survival reflexes like the fight or flight response, feeding and reproduction are located in this region.

Many of these involuntary, as well as some voluntary behaviours, are out of our conscious awareness.

Automatic behaviours are habits and rituals which are part of our daily lives. For example, when we drive from work to home we don’t remember the street lights we saw or the intersections we came across, as if we put ourselves on autopilot mode. These automatic behaviours are taken care of by the reptilian brain so as to reduce cognitive load on the human brain or prefrontal cortex which can be used for other important activities.

The reptilian brain is very rigid and display fixed patterns of behaviour. It follows rituals and doesn’t learn from experience, unlike the human brain or neocortex. That’s why when we’re hungry we become impulsive and can’t think straight. Also in Dementia when cognitive faculties have declined, we act on a spinal level, become disinhibited and have stereotypical rigid behaviours.

An anti-lockdown protestor stopped by a medical professional

The Emotional Brain (Mammalian Brain)

Mammals are social beings with a wide range of emotional responses. They nurture their young thus they have attachment and bonding behaviours. They hunt in packs and share their kill, for example, wolves, lions, tigers. They communicate, play, imprint and follow social hierarchies.

Mammalian Brain or Emotional Brain (demarcated in violet in the figure below) also known as the Limbic system - consists of amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus, thalamus, cingulate cortex, was the second brain to evolve. It regulates emotions, helps in socialisation, and forms memories of the events. Sexual longing, fear, arousal, anxiety, motivation all are regulated in this part of the brain.

Not only does the biological makeup of a person is involved in the experience of a traumatic event, but the experience has an effect on the brain areas. Studies have found that patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) show smaller hippocampal and anterior cingulate volumes, increased amygdala function, and decreased medial prefrontal/anterior cingulate function (Bremner, 2006). Additionally, the emotional brain lacks logic and sense of time. That’s why past trauma is felt as if it’s happening in the present moment, for example, bullying, breakup or loss.

The reminders of the trauma affect our emotional state to a large extent too. For example, we associate certain songs and places to our ex-partners and it brings back memories which can cause emotional pain to the person.

Emotions help us to move towards something or away from something. They’re never neutral and are susceptible to pleasure and pain. We move towards pleasure and away from pain.

Thus, when we’re sad or anxious we move away from the painful stimuli and during addictions, we exhibit compulsive and dependant behaviours. Our consumer behaviours are driven by the emotional principle and are seen in patterns of diet, spending and everyday decisions.

The Analytic Brain (New Brain)

Human brain or neocortex (demarcated in blue in the figure below) is the conscious part of the brain. It helps in learning from experience, problem-solving, and forecasting future consequences, manipulating language, logic and symbols. It is involved in performing meta functions like thinking of feelings as we feel them and thinking about the thoughts that we have.

It can be affected by something that is not happening at the moment but by something imaginary, like a movie.

While reptilian brain reacts to a stimulus (fight or flight reflex), neocortex helps us to pause and reflect which may not be useful in emergency situations but definitely can help to draw greater cognitive resources towards the day to day problems. As mammalian brain gravitates towards pleasure and away from pain, thus indulging itself in addictions, the human brain helps in delaying gratification and focus on the long term pleasure.

But this doesn’t mean we have to act totally in service of the human brain and wield total control over the other parts of the brain, thus becoming like a robot. Instead, we should pay more close attention to those unconscious parts which guide us in particular directions. For example, the reptilian brain may share some gut instinct which may point towards something that we should or shouldn’t do. And the emotional brain can help us in making decisions and give ‘why’ for our actions which is the reason why leaders and successful people are not the ones with the highest general intelligence but they’re the ones with highest emotional intelligence.

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Authors

Dr. Sujay V Prabhugaonkar

MBBS, DPM

Dr Sujay is a consultant Psychiatrist, practising for the last 10 years. His expertise lies in general psychiatry and is highly interested in fitness and learning about the arts. He is an empathetic psychiatrist who believes that everything is an experience to help us grow. Dr Sujay is attached to Bhaktivedanta hospital, Mira Road and Holy Spirit hospital, Andheri and has a private clinic in Dahisar, Mumbai. To book appointments with him, visit our website.

Ms. Sanober Memon

Master's in Clinical Psychology

She is a Psychologist and the founder of Breather Psychological Services. Being a passionate artist, Sanober uses art as a perceptive tool to understand the subtleties of turmoil and growth. She is an explorer of the inner beauties of life and regards travelling as a trusted way to learn about oneself. To book appointments with him, visit our website.