He exists in three tenses – past, present and future – and at three levels of consciousness -- unconscious, pre-conscious and conscious. In his psychosexual development, he undergoes three phases – oral, anal and genital – his mind is divided into three parts – Id, Ego and Superego – and he has three brains that function autonomously and differently within one another, like a three-doll matryoshka.
The concept of the three brains or the triune brain was formulated by American neuroscientist Paul MacLean (1960s) who proposed that the stages of the evolution of life in different animal species to self-awareness in humans had repercussions on the origin and evolution of our brain.
The triune brain and the evolution of species
The human brain is a recapitulation of evolution, that is, it includes within it all the contents of previous evolutionary phases; our first brain is reptilian, from the time when reptiles dominated the Earth. After this came the reign of mammals, thus our second brain is the mammalian or limbic brain. From among the mammals came the primates, our ancestors, and with them, our third brain – the human brain or neocortex.
From invertebrates to reptiles
The first living organism on our planet was a unicellular microorganism, that is, it was composed of a single cell, like the present day amoebae. When multicellular organisms appeared, cells had to develop mechanisms to communicate with one another. These mechanisms occurred either by electrical impulses or chemical signals, and so neurons were born, cells specialized in transmitting messages.
These cells began to clump together near the eye and mouth of the organism and the first brains were formed like those found in mollusks and insects, which came before the first vertebrates, fish and reptiles. It is believed that this type of brain first appeared 750 million years ago.
The brains of invertebrates (mollusks and insects) are very different from those of vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) in that they are more like pre-brains as not all vital function controls are packed inside of them. For example, many insects can survive for days without a head because their main survival functions are not all concentrated in the brain. The first type of brain to control all vital functions of an animal was the reptilian brain, common to all vertebrates mentioned above, including primates and humans.
From reptiles to mammals
“Better to be alone than in bad company” – Reptiles do not create affective ties with anything or any animal. For a reptile, all living beings besides itself are either enemies or food, or both. Reptiles are solitary animals that do not live with their own kind or even with their young which are hatched alone from eggs that were previously laid and hidden.
“Unity is Strength” – Mammals, unlike reptiles, are intrinsically social animals. They give birth to live young with whom they maintain a strong bond for some time even after birth. The young are fed and taken care of by the mother or father and relate with their equals for the rest of their lives. Contrary to the reptiles that look with indifference at their offspring, among mammals, parents nurture their young physically and affectively, protecting them from the hostile world to the point of risking and sometimes even losing their lives in the process. Such a different life has to be based on a more complex brain which assumes, integrates and encompasses the reptilian brain but going far beyond it.
Contrary to the reptilian brain that lacks the mechanism to develop relationships, the mammalian or limbic brain has developed motivations and emotions that regulate relationships that are established between animals of the same species and those not of the same species. If for reptiles, survival comes down to eating and fleeing or attacking the enemy, for mammals, survival, not excluding what it means for reptiles, goes further and involves pain and pleasure.
A mammal is not content with just surviving, it wants to be happy and therefore it seeks pleasure and avoids pain. It records both pleasant experiences that it repeats again and again, and painful experiences that it always tries to avoid: “Scalded cat fear cold water”. Happiness, comfort, and feeling good are goals and motivations of our mammalian or limbic emotional brain and not of the neocortex.
From mammals to primates and human beings
If we observe the figure that illustrates this text, we see that most of our brain is made up of the neocortex, that is, the human brain. There is a great qualitative and quantitative leap between mammals and primates, and still another leap between primates and human beings.
In the last 2 million years, the human brain has tripled in size and weight: “What makes a great man is not the size of his body”. In the animal world including humans, the brain size is not proportional to a species’ body size, but to its intellect. An elephant may be much larger than a human yet it is not very intelligent in comparison.
Chimpanzees, the closest animals to us in the evolutionary scale, have never abandoned their environment, the savannah. Homo sapiens, on the other hand, have emigrated to places of varying climates and topographies. This effort to adapt to their environment, as well as the relationships between counterparts in terms of mutual aid in the struggle for survival in hostile environments led to the development of language and abstract and scientific thinking. A brain made up of emotions alone was not enough to advance in the evolutionary scale and was forced to evolve to overcome them.
The evolution of Homo sapiens and their cultures and civilizations took place side by side. The creation of language seems to have been the great evolutionary leap that made the human brain grow considerably in size and intelligence. If we evaluate intelligence by the number of synapses or connections between networked neurons, language likewise reflects a greater connection of concepts between one another.
To this we add human curiosity, which makes us want to know more, and creativity, the complexity of social structures, abstract thinking and self-consciousness. All of these things are what distinguish the human brain from its ancestral counterpart, the limbic brain.
Infant – child – adult
Although an infant already has these three brains at birth, and in adulthood he never loses the blueprint of the earlier stages of development and may even regress to them, greater emphasis is placed on one brain over the other two, depending on age.
During the early part of his life, an infant draws all his information from the reptilian brain with his sole preoccupation being to be fed, to sleep and to ensure that all his basic needs are met. He lives for himself alone, ties are not important. It is at this stage that he is so similar to the reptiles that he even moves like them, by crawling.
During childhood, the child develops a blind faith in his parents and so stops being concerned about his own survival and safety, taking them for granted and devoting his full attention to the ties he develops with his parents, teachers, siblings, friends and peers. Before the age of seven, he is unaware of himself and therefore lives fully in his mammalian or limbic brain. It is the idyllic time of emotions, during which to love and to be loved, to be accepted or rejected affectively, is more important than to survive.
From the age of seven, through adolescence and adulthood, not forgetting the earlier ages, the focus shifts away from creating ties and concentrates more on seeking one’s own identity. The pursuit of this need is so strong and important that a person can even antagonize the ones he loves the most: his parents – and even break ties with them.
This is what happened to St. Francis of Assisi when his father told him in public that even the clothes on his back were not his own; in response, Francis stripped off his clothes in public to give them back to his father, and walked away naked. At this time, the search for the meaning of life and his vocation or place in the world were more important than his feelings and emotions; the latter are often sacrificed when the individual pursues the meaning and vocation of his life.
Three in one, one in three
As in the evolution of species, the higher animal species did not eliminate the lower ones; that is, when certain reptiles evolved into birds and mammals, reptiles continued to exist. Similarly, certain amphibians have become exclusively terrestrial animals, without the amphibians disappearing. When certain primates evolved into Homo sapiens, others continued to exist – chimpanzees and gorillas.
This is the case with the three brains – each of them represents a stage of evolution of species, progressively closer to human beings, from reptiles to mammals to primates. The later brain assimilated the earlier one, in other words, built upon the earlier one without eliminating it, adding functions and capabilities to the existing one. A human being despite being human does not cease to be an animal and has much in common with them.
These three brains function in an unconnected or poorly integrated way, as each has a degree of autonomy over the other two. This autonomous functioning is necessary and is positive because it frees us from great difficulties and can save our lives in emergencies. But it can also cause us great social turmoil because the visceral or reptilian brain influences the limbic or emotional brain and the two, together or independently, influence the rational brain.
However, according to what science tells us (and this is a bit frightening) the opposite does not happen; in other words, the rational brain has no ability to influence/alter/transform the limbic or the visceral brain. My daily experiences prove this: for as much as I know that cockroaches are harmless, I will always be afraid of seeing let alone touching them.
Although the neocortex, largest in volume, is responsible for more functions and commands than the other two which do not disappear but maintain the same functions as always since the neocortex does not bother them: they are sovereign in their own right. The neocortex is the seat of reason, the limbic the seat of emotion and the reptilian the seat of instinct.
For this reason, when faced with a new situation, the reptilian brain signals fear and asks itself if the situation is safe, the mammalian asks if it’ll result in pleasure or pain, if it’ll be loved or hated, and the neocortex wonders about its meaning, what can it learn, and to what extent can it be useful.
The neocortex can become confused, stressed, anxious, and not sure what to do; the mammalian can become depressed, unmotivated and unwilling to do anything; the reptilian is always active, always alert and always knows what to do: “in times of war, you cannot clean your weapon”. The reptilian brain is never confused, never depressed and is always prepared for action in defence of life, to protect and defend itself. However, if the neocortex decides to commit suicide, the reptilian brain can do nothing about it. The neocortex which sits on the other two, literally on top of them, is the Supreme Court with no possibility of appeal.
The reptilian brain
This is common to all vertebrates, that is, to all animals with a backbone and spinal cord. It lies precisely at the top of the spine. It occupies 5% of our brain mass and its job is to react to environmental stimuli. A snake, for example, is basically a spinal column that crawls on the ground, with a small brain at the top of this column that formed about 500 million years ago. The reptilian brain is composed of four distinct parts:
Basal Ganglia – these are found in the deepest part of the cerebral cortex, and they process information regarding our body movement, adjusting it to different situations.
Reticular activating system – located in the brain-stem which is continuous with the spinal cord. It regulates the state of sleep and wakefulness and filters information that arrive from the five senses, separating what matters from what does not matter which does not even reach the level of consciousness.
Cerebellum – is extremely compact and ancient organ located in the posterior part of the skull and its function is to maintain balance, posture and muscle coordination.
Brain-stem – is located in the posterior part of the brain, continuous with the spinal cord, formed by four distinct areas linked to the diencephalon. It serves as a circulation pathway for all sensory mechanisms, with the exception of smell and vision.
Overall, the reptilian brain is small and relatively simple but highly functional and efficient. The other two brains may be dysfunctional and even get sick – the mammalian or limbic brain may become depressed, the human or neocortex may become confused, neurotic, schizophrenic or psychotic. The reptilian brain, however, never stops working, never gets sick, is always alert, and watches over us when we sleep. Only death deactivates it.
There is only the here and now
The reptilian brain does not have a memory of the past nor does it project into the future. It exists only in the here and now. It does not learn from past experience nor does it need to, because it is 100% regulated by instinct that in itself follows the law of nature, and is immutable and deterministic, not subject to change with time.
In constant fight for survival
Internally – it never tires, never sleeps, never disconnects; it regulates the automatic, routine, habitual and unconscious functions of our body, such as the heartbeat, respiration, blood pressure, body temperature, and wound healing.
Externally – it also stays alert, except when sleeping or in lethargy or hibernation. In alertness, it has reflexes that act through a simple and immediate mechanism called stimulus reaction. In cases of emergency, it is this brain that saves us.
If we accidentally touch a very hot surface, this mechanism triggers the quick and unconscious withdrawal reaction that does not come from a conscious decision of the neocortex, as it is too slow. The instant decision comes from the reptilian brain that watches over the defence of life in all situations.
“Word out of your mouth is like a stone out of your hand” – when we speak without thinking, we are behaving reactively; all our reactive behaviour comes from this brain. Proactive behaviour comes from the emotional or rational brain because it requires time. But when we respond or act without thinking, we do so from our reptilian brain that, rightly or wrongly, judges the situation as dangerous.
Seek the satisfaction of basic needs
Its sole preoccupation is to meet the basic survival and self-preservation needs of the individual. To this end, it is concerned with breathing, drinking, eating, sleeping, and also with survival and preservation of its kind. For this reason, it seeks to mate in order to reproduce.
The so-called “love at first sight”, precisely because it is so sudden, is instinctive, devoid of any emotion; it is pure sexual attraction that comes from the reptilian brain which motivates sexual instinct and conduct for the purpose of preserving the species.
The territorial instinct
The simplistic reptilian brain has only three types of action or reaction to the environment in which it finds itself: fight/flight/freeze (or hide). For the reptile, all living beings are classified into only two categories: predator or prey. Faced with another living being, the reptile decides in a millionth of a second whether it is a prey or a predator. If it is a predator, it will be eaten and attacked, therefore it takes flight or hides; if it is a prey, it will eat the prey and, therefore, attacks.
We sometimes see a sign in the field indicating a private hunt reserve: humans also have a territorial instinct. We could take the borders between countries as one manifestation of this instinct.
This survival mechanism makes much more sense in animals starting with the reptiles because they need a certain amount of land to sustain themselves, grow and reproduce. Once the territory is demarcated by their own urine, as mammals do, they defend it tooth and nail, and spend the day patrolling it, from north to south, east to west.
When triggered by fear, becomes aggressive
We know from psychology that anger or rage is a secondary emotion, it is a reaction or response to a situation that inspires a primary emotion: almost always it is fear. It is true that in the context of the reptilian brain, fear cannot be an emotion, but a perception of danger that triggers one of the three actions: fight, flight or hide.
The reptilian brain is not aggressive by nature, it does not hate, does not take revenge, does not hold grudges because it has no memory of the past. In other words, it does not keep past experiences to compare with the current ones so to respond adequately, like the mammalian brain; it does not attack anyone if it is not threatened; unlike the limbic brain, the reptilian brain has no friends nor enemies a priori.
The visceral or instinctive character
As we will see in a later article, from the psychological point of view human personalities can be classified under visceral/instinctive, emotional or cerebral.
The person with a visceral or instinctive character, similar to reptiles, is a loner, he does not need nor is attracted to social relationships or establishing affective ties. He is more action oriented, to carry out tasks and to do things. Probably only looks for his own kind in order to mate; everything else is antagonistic.
He forgives easily because he does not keep memories of past offences. He has a very selective memory and only memorizes what interests him; past offences are not part of this interest; he can be vindictive at the moment, but if he lets time pass, he loses interest in seeking revenge as he easily turns the page, not wasting energy in keeping grudges.
He is peaceful, content to be by himself in his own corner, but he is territorial, does not want to bother nor be bothered, and responds aggressively if threatened or provoked.
In the face of danger, the instinctive person is more likely to get out of it alive because he keeps his cool, does not allow himself to be influenced by the negative emotions of the limbic brain, or by the anxiety, worries and stress of the rational brain, not panicking and preserving the calm and frigidity of the instinct that is rarely deceived. Many of those who drown at sea are oftentimes good swimmers, but as they were emotional or cerebral, panicked and died of a heart attack prior to drowning; if they were visceral, they would not have drowned.
“Better known evil than good yet to be known” – the reptilian brain is not given much to change, is friendly to routines and is lost when faced with fast changes. Because of this, it tends to be conservative and reject all kinds of innovation, since it fears changes as it is unable to cope with new situations and adapt to them.
The mammalian brain (limbic system)
It is present in lower mammals and incipient in birds. It is the size of a lemon, and was formed 150 million years ago consisting of the following structures:
Hypothalamus – means that it is below the thalamus; it is so small that it represents only 1% of the entire brain, about the size of a pea. Although small, it regulates many important functions in our body. With respect to emotions, it triggers the secretion of hormones such as adrenaline.
Amygdala – we have two, one on each side of the brain; the amygdala is the centre of aggression, fear as emotion and anxiety. It associates emotions to memories, so that the most traumatic memories are not remembered.
Thalamus – is divided into two main parts, the ventral and the dorsal, and is responsible for four senses with the exception of smell. It plays a role in the sensation of pain, temperature, and pressure from the surrounding registered by the ears. Its importance in emotion is clear since without the five senses there are no signals for emotions to arise.
Hippocampus – plays a crucial role in the formation of new memories; it converts short-term memories into long-term memories which can invoke emotions.
Creating ties
One of the most expressive characteristics of mammals relative to reptiles is their tendency to live in groups. For the sake of survival, these animals evolutionarily tend to stick together, so that they can more easily sustain themselves, ward off predators and ensure the continuity of the species.
For example, the plant-eating mammals tend to stick together and often manage to ward off predators due to strength in numbers; on the other hand, many meat-eating mammals do not hunt alone, but in groups, such as a pride of lions or a pack of wolves, because they have a better chance of catching the prey.
The mammalian brain reflects this evolution, creating mechanisms of acceptance, rejection and expulsion from the group with its specific emotions. The role of the mother and the relationship it establishes with her offspring is important for their survival; in fact, sometimes mothers reject their offspring, and they die. I myself saw in a flock of sheep a rejected calf that had to be bottle-fed by the shepherd to survive. Whenever it tried to get close to its mother, it was rejected, and as an adult it always grazed alone, outside the flock, because if its mother rejected it, so too would the other sheep in the flock.
Seat of emotions
The mammalian brain is the seat of emotions over which we have no control. We do not decide to be angry or to feel love or hate. Emotions did not come out of nowhere, they were somehow already latent in the instincts of the reptiles; emotions are longer lasting than instincts, they are comparable to prolonged instincts with historical memory.
Love comes from the sex instinct, which first brought two beings to unite, using each other as objects of pleasure and only later developing the feeling of affection for each other. This still happens today between people who have one night stand and end up spending the rest of their lives together. After the sexual act, the unconditional love for the offspring, so typical of the mammals, appears.
Fear with the perception of danger provokes flight; but as an emotion, it accompanies and arises out of the act of flight, hiding, immobilizing or camouflaging. Anger accompanies and arises out of the act of attacking the prey. Emotion is a mental state that flows autonomously in the nervous system and can be positive or negative, because it is linked to a need being met or not met. Therefore, it is negative if the need is not met and positive when it is. Instinct is an innate and inherent disposition of a living being, it is a reaction to a particular stimulus.
Learning and keeping memory
With respect to habitat, mammals are also one of the most adaptable groups of animals. Reptiles stay confined to hot and moderate climates, hibernating during winter; mammals, on the other hand, exist in all climates because they are able to modify their behaviour to suit their environment. They have learning ability due to their brain’s short-term and long-term memory centers. Reptiles do not learn, and therefore they need an environment that does not change, as they lack the ability to adapt.
Runs away from suffering, seeks pleasure
If we compare a cat to a snake, we see that the cat has a set of emotions and emotional responses, which are absent in the snake. The cat has a brain that allows it to seek pleasure and avoid pain, having more freedom than the snake because it can learn because it has memory, can keep experiences that caused pain or pleasure, and know in the future what to repeat to get pleasure and what not to do to avoid pain.
The emotional character
As we have seen, reptiles are usually solitary, not coexisting; mammals, in contrast, establish ties with members of their own species that are important for their survival from birth. Therefore, great emphasis is placed on moods and feelings of others in order to preserve their sense of being connected to them.
More than other types, the emotional character depends on the approval and recognition of other individuals to preserve his self-esteem and the feeling of being loved. For an emotional person, to ensure this recognition and approval, he will even create an image of himself that will make others accept and see him as an amiable person.
The human brain (neocortex)
It is the outermost layer of the brain, wrapped around the mammalian brain. It is the final phase of our brain development. Formed 3 million years ago, it represents 76% of all gray matter and is present in all primates, such as gorillas and chimpanzees, as well as in higher mammals, such as whales and dolphins. However, humans have the most developed and unique version. The human being is in fact the only mammal that has such a high concentration of neurons in such a small space.
The human brain is divided into two hemispheres: the left hemisphere which is associated with logical reasoning, analysis and decomposition of a whole into parts and language, and the right hemisphere which is associated with creativity, imagination, global associative processes, processing of emotions and spatial relations.
Parietal lobe – there is one in each hemisphere of the brain and its function is to receive external sensory stimuli and interpret them cognitively with the help of memory of past perceptions. It is important for the attention and development of mental maps.
Occipital lobe – there is also one in each hemisphere. It processes visual stimuli in a permanent way, analyzing distances, shapes, colors and movements.
Frontal lobe – there is also one in each hemisphere. It is the motor area of the brain, it controls all the functions of movement. It is also in the dominant hemisphere of the frontal lobe that the Broca’s area is found, which is responsible for language in all its forms, spoken or written.
Prefrontal lobe – it is one of the most interesting and decisive areas to understand our abstract thoughts and even our self-consciousness. It is also in charge of executive processes, decision making and different aspects related to the regulation of emotions.
Temporal lobe – there is also one in each hemisphere. It has various functions, without specializing concretely in any; it is for this reason that it is “polisensorial”, because it integrates auditory, sensory, visual and limbic neural pathways.
Language and logic
This brain is much larger than the other two and much more complex. It works in the field of logic and reasoning: it processes information, has a language and expresses itself through speech, and body and written language. It lives in the present, but has access to memories of the past that serves as a database, and draws upon the future by projecting it through conjectures, anticipating and preparing for it, setting objectives and goals.
Abstract reasoning
It has to do with the creation of innovative ideas, starting with finding connections between apparently different concepts without any logical connection. It is a thought that is disconnected from reality, from facts and also from the here and now. It works with general concepts and not with specific things. It is the thought of the philosopher and some scientists.
Curiosity and creativity
It uses the past as a database for the present and for projecting into the future, but it is not dependent on it. It can also ignore it and be 100% creative and innovative, and can face new challenges in a creative way, without the need to refer back to past experiences. “Necessity is the mother of all invention”, when it truly needs something, creativity is stimulated. In general, man is curious, and has an insatiable thirst for knowledge.
Self-consciousness and decision-making power
Self-awareness is the great qualitative leap between man and the rest of the animal kingdom. Human beings are aware of their surroundings, themselves and their processes, and have power over their own life, even to end it if they so choose. They have the power to make decisions and to orient their life towards an objective or an ideal, according to their vocation or talent.
In relation to animals, man lives while animals are only alive, since they are not masters of their own destiny. They are symbiotically connected to nature, obeying it without the possibility of rebelling. Man does not depend on nature in a symbiotic and uncritical way, and even has the power to adapt it to his own designs and needs.
Projection for the future
He has the ability to identify a problem and find a solution to it; he is far more creative than other mammals, and therefore has a much greater capacity to adapt to the environment. More than adapting, Homo sapiens adapts the environment to himself, something no animal can do.
Since, unlike other animals, man has the power over his own life, he can program, project and make plans for the future. And to a great extent he is right, using the analysis of past experiences and his increasing knowledge of nature, things and his own human nature.
The cerebral character
A person with the cerebral character tends to perceive the world through the cognitive filter of mental faculties. The goals of this strategy are to minimize anxiety, deal with potentially painful situations and acquire a sense of certainty through mental processes of analysis, conception, imagination and planning.
He retracts from reality when there is a chance of losing and takes refuge in the world of ideas where everything obeys parameters and paradigms, where everything is predictable, accountable and qualifiable. When faced with emotional experiences, he uses subterfuge or defence mechanisms such as rationalization and denial.
Trapped in the reptilian and mammalian brains
The mammalian brain has no concept of time, past, present or future; it lives in an eternal present; a dog can greet you in the same way in 3 minutes as in 3 months or in 3 years, as it has no concept of time.
This phenomenon also helps to explain how the trauma mechanism works. Trauma is always an emotionally negative experience that belong fundamentally to the mammalian brain since the reptilian brain has no traumas because it lacks memory.
It may seem that traumatized people have been trapped in the past. For them, something that happened 50 years ago is felt as if it is happening now. When something similar to their traumatic experience, or of the same nature, happens in the present, it triggers the same reaction that the person had in the past. It is not easy to convince our brain that, as Heraclitus says, “no man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man”.
A good example would be the young man who panics every time he pulls a turtleneck over his head; eventually he discovers that during labour, his mother’s pelvis did not dilate enough and his head got stuck in the birth canal for some time. Now every time a similar situation passes by, he feels what he felt then.
Neuromarketing
It is said that 95% of our purchasing or voting decisions are irrational. That is why those who sell products or run political campaigns do not appeal to the rational brain or neocortex; they appeal to the other two, over which as we have already said, we exercise less control.
Commercial advertising
Logically, it makes more sense to advertise a car using a famous Formula 1 driver than a beautiful, sexy and attractive woman; however, this is what happens in most advertising car campaigns, even when it is commonly thought that women are not good drivers.
Political advertising
Europe is being invaded by populist parties that use both fear and disproportionate unrealistic optimism to sway votes. Pessimists and realists do not win elections, however. The people do not want to hear the truth, but prefer a convenient lie, a lie that by repetition begins to sound like the truth, not the true reality, but an alternative reality. Easy solutions to complex problems.
The political propaganda of our days has a lot of Machiavellian, irrational appeals to the reptilian and mammalian brains. Democracy is being perverted because we are being dominated without even realizing it.
Conclusion
The three guests of our soul – reason, instinct and emotion – are not only different in nature, but also come from different brains; among them, coexistence is not always fraternal, decisions are not always made by consensus, and reason is not always the determining factor in our behaviour. As Pascal said, the heart has reasons that reason does not know.
Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC
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