Reaction, Memory : Personality, Emotion

Molly Esp
Biology/Psychology: The Feeling Brain
2 March 2008



This week's readings shared a similar theme with last week in the reiteration that memories are inextricably tied to emotion. This idea is proven through the two case studies in which individuals are shown images as their brain activity is monitored, looking to find a concentration of activity in certain areas, in the hopes of revealing emotional or cognitive thought.

Reminding me of last week's discussion of various forms of amnesia, McGaugh explains that memory is "without doubt, our most important possession, our most critical capacity. We are, after all, our memories. It is our memory that enables us to value everything else we possess. Lacking memory, we would have no ability to be concerned about our hearts, hair, lungs, libido, loved ones, enemies, achievements, falures, incomes or income taxes. Our memory provides us with an autobiographical record and enables us to understand and react appropriately to changing experiences" (2). I found this point to be very relevant to the reoccuring theme of defining emotion and determining what is or is not an emotion. From this, it can be concluded that emotion is a reaction influenced by one's memory. Without his or her "autobiographical record," one would assumably react differently to certain stimuli. However, can it be said that one would in turn exhibit a different emotion or degree of emotion? Does studying amnesia allow us to answer this question?

As for the biological aspects of the readings, I find LeDoux's method of explanation to be the easiest to understand and digest, perhaps because there is often a visual to accompany the words. Page 164's figure 6-13 clarified the process in a way that the language of the other readings made confusing. The diagrams on page 190 (figure 7.2) also worked to make the biology less abstract by illuminating the locations of the amygdala and hippocampus. For me, it is very difficult to understand these very real aspects of human biology without an image. Maybe this need for pictoral support in order to understand and internalize further supports memory and the power of images?