Anatomy and Physiology of Human Emotion: Vertical Integration of Brain Stem, Limbic, and Cortical Systems

The neural organization of human emotion spans multiple levels of the brain, from the elementary adaptive reflexes of the lower brain stem, to the complex visceral and somatic integration of the hypothalamus and thalamus, to the control of memory and cognition in corticolimbic networks. At each level, there are implications not only for the experience and expression of emotion but also for the effective motivation of behaviour.