Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
cases, our emotions give direction to our behavior, without us knowing
it, but we can explore them. We can have a slight feeling of anxiety
and not know what is causing it (Damasio, 1995).
Consciousness
Modern brain
Emotional brain
Basic brain
Most of the activities of the modern brain even act on a noncon-
scious level. When we plan how to drive from one destination to
another, we quickly define a route. We can do this consciously when a
new route is unfamiliar or nonconsciously when we have driven this
route many times before.
Case 2
In case of driving a car, we can become conscious of a familiar route
again when we are faced with an unusual traffic jam due to an acci-
dent. The modern brain is then needed to define a new route. The
emotional brain might be involved on a conscious level when we
remember that we recently received a fine because we forgot to adjust
our speed to the new limit.
2.8 WHERE IN THE BRAIN?
Readers who are not interested in neuropsychology can skip the fol-
lowing parts without missing crucial arguments for understanding the
total message.
We have seen now how three systems of the brain have been devel-
oped. Each of the three brain systems is involved in almost every
action we perform today (MacLean, 1990). The locus of control can
shift from one part of the brain to another, depending on the situation
or the task. In very stressful situations, we will easily fall back on our
basic brain and act in a primitive way. If everything is under control,
we can rely more on the input of our modern brain and actions will
