NEUROSCIENCE BEHIND ‘EQ’

Anatomy of 'Emotional Brain'

  Amygdala : (Greek – almond – shape ) Emotional Brain

  Thalamus : Does the translation into the language of the brain

  Neocortex/Cortex : Thinking Brain. Signals are put together into objects as we   perceived them

  Limbic System / Brain : Provides the appropriate response

  Hippocampus : Memory brain

  Joseph LeDoux, a neuroscientist at New York University was the first to discover the   key role the amygdala in the emotional brain. His findings was revealed in his book   "Sensory Systems and Emotion, Integrative Psychiatry, (1986)" and "Emotion and the   Limbic System Concept, Concepts in Neuroscience, (1992).

  Le Doux research (1992) is revolutionary for understanding emotional life because it is   the first to work out neural pathways for feelings that bypass the neocortex , leading   to the wellknown concept of ‘EMOTIONAL HIGHJACKING’ ( mentioned in Daniel Golman’s   writings in 1995).This circuit does much to explain the power of emotion to overwhelm   rationality.