The Animal Brain and Behavior
Link to 2007 Revised Jan 15th 2012
| Animals demonstrate aspects of our own personality that are hidden from us. Our behavior goes back to distant ancestors that had to decide to act or not to act. Tunicate larva, the baby sea squirts, swim around in the sea and then attach themselves to a solid object, loose their ability to swim and become a big sack of digestive organs that filters food out of the sea. The Greeks had a myth that on Mount Olympus, there were pairs of gods and goddesses that sat around a great table. One pair was Artemis and Apollo, god of the sun and goddess of the moon. Apollo liked to be seen and was a god of wisdom and music. Artemis did not like to be seen. She was a goddess of nature and the night. In this pairing we see some of the basic behavioral tendencies of animals. Some feed at night and others in the day. Some will hide and others will display themselves. The ancient polarity between swimming off in the sea and settling down is repeated over and over again in various ways, between Ares the god of fighting and Aphrodite, the goddess of love, between Poseidon, god of sea voyages and Demeter, goddess of the home village fields, between Hermes, the god that talks and carries messages, and Hestia the goddess that stays at home and listens by the hearth, between Zeus, the ruling god that roams looking for love, and Hera who tries to undo his roaming ways, between Athena who thinks and teaches and plans and Hephaestus who carries out his plans in making clever things. These behavior polarities are reflected in polar tendencies in the nervous system itself: between central nervous system and autonomic nervous system (viscera), between stimulus (monitored by sensory areas in the posterior cerebral cortex and in the parietal sensory strip along the central sulcus) and response (motor area of the cerebrum), between parasympathetic and sympathetic parts of the autonomic nervous system, between fight and flight, rest and excitation, pleasure and pain, motor facilitation and motor inhibition, sleep and wakefulness. Some of these polarities are reflected in structural differences: right hemisphere of the cerebrum against left hemisphere, motor cortex against somatosensory, frontal lobes against posterior lobes, parietal lobes against temporal lobes, motor areas against neighboring inhibition areas, etc.. Our mythology reflects these polarities. As we move forward in the signs of the Zodiac, we move from Cancer (ruled by the Moon), to Leo (ruled by the Sun) to Virgo (ruled by Mercury) to Libra (ruled by Venus), to Scorpio (ruled by Mars and Pluto), to Sagittarius (ruled by Jupiter) to Capricorn (ruled by Saturn) to Aquarius (ruled by Uranus) to Pisces (ruled by Neptune) to Aries (ruled by Mars and Pluto). This symbolizes the move from physiological functions controlled by lower brain stem and autonomic nervous system (Moon) to sensory monitoring functions controlled by the reticulate system, thalamus, and upper central nervous system (Sun) to communication monitoring listening systems in the left temporal lobe (Mercury), sensory monitoring systems in the left parietal (Venus), response monitoring motor areas in the left motor regions (Mars), and planning activities controlling these motor responses in the frontal lobes (Jupiter), inhibition and evaluation of plans in prefrontal areas (Saturn), decision making functions and sense of self in the underlying cingulate lobes (Uranus), memory and life story records in hippocampus and associated temporal lobes (Neptune) and emotional reactions in associated amygdala (Pluto). In respect to animal behavior, we have the polarity between the invertebrate (Moon) and the vertebrate (Sun), between the touch based sensitive skin of the amphibian (Venus) and the instant motor response of the reptile (Mars), between the fear based response of the lower mammal (Saturn) and the tool making explorations of the great ape (Jupiter). The deep hidden aspects of the motor response in reptile and bird (amygdala and basal ganglia) are symbolized by Pluto. The polar opposite is found in Neptune, the monotreme, the platypus and the exploration of its watery world (hippocampus and rhinencephalon). Uranus, right brain sense of self and independence in the cingulate is opposed to a left verbal complement in Mercury, the tree shrew becomes the monkey (Saturn), the ape (Jupiter), the savage (Mars), the tool maker (Venus) and finally the talker (Mercury). The Zodiac, the heavenly animals, the star symbols behind the moving planets, almost seem to be inspired by the ancestral animals that provided the genetic information making possible the genetic complexity of the animal brain, invertebrate to vertebrate, as manifest in the symbol systems of the human form of that brain. Cancer, the crab, is the lunar tides of the sea, and the autonomic nervous system as the primal base, the home of the deep unconscious brain functions. Next to Cancer is Leo, the lion, as the emergence of the deep autonomic unconscious into the waking central nervous system, recticulate activation, thalamus, cerebral mediated consciousness. Beyond Leo lies Virgo, the virgin, the listening, the temporal lobe aspect of Mercury. In Virgo consciousness listens, hears verbal communication and becomes aware, begins to become human. But cats and dogs, even bats have acute hearing and are able to analyze their environment within their own sensory and behavioral systems. If Leo is the primitive fish, perhaps a shark, Virgo is the development of the sensory intelligence of the fish and its ability to school, to communicate with other fish. There are polarities from deep inside to outer surface: Moon, Artemis, autonomic nervous system, visceral intelligence to Sun, Apollo, central nervous system, cerebral intelligence, Venus, parasympathetic autonomic functions of rest and digestion and reproduction to Mars, sympathetic autonomic functions of muscle readiness and preparation to attack, Jupiter, frontal lobe plans for movement, Saturn, retreat, second thoughts, frontal lobe motor inhibition, Moon's North Node, fortune, pleasure, Moon's South Node, misfortune, suffering, pain, Pluto, instinctive response, basal ganglia, striated bodies, Mercury, learning, communication, Left Cerebral areas, temporal lobe, Broca's area, Neptune, Hippocampus, right temporal lobe, rhinencephalon, linear journey, Uranus, cingulate, sense of independent self, basal ganglia and frontal lobes, clever actions. But, there polarities seem to trace a magic circle of relationships around the cerebrum and its lobes and hemispheres. Begin with Cancer and the Moon and the right hemisphere occipital lobe and its connections to the right parietal cortex and its sense of place. Move to the left hemisphere occipital lobe and its connections to left hemisphere association areas that provide an analysis of environmental sights and sounds. Here Leo begins to generate its imperial sense of reality ruled by the Sun supplemented by neighboring Virgo in the left temporal lobes where Mercury begins its rule over sound and language and all forms of communication. Move forward into left parietal lobe sense of touch and somatosenory information. This region belongs to Libra and Venus. Move forward still into the nearby motor functions along the frontal lobes. This belongs to Scorpio and Mars and its connections to the underlying basal ganglia and striated functions, belonging to Pluto. Just forward lies left hemisphere frontal lobe functions that plan and facilitate motor movements. This region belongs to Sagittarius and the planet Jupiter. Forward from areas controlling motor facilitation lie portions of the frontal lobes that inhibit action, that control memory, evaluation, caution, this belongs to Capricorn and the planet Saturn. Moving forward and downward and to the right, we enter the right frontal lobe and the cingulate areas on the right. This is the region where the young brain begins to develop its sense of self in early infancy. This region belongs to Aquarius and the planet Uranus. Even deeper down and further along the circle of the cerebral zodiac we come to the deep rhinencephalon and primitive regions governing the sense of smell. Here we find primitive linear thinking, the sense of time and space, where connection of the temporal lobes and the hippocampus store the memory of the journey of our life. These deep regions in the right cerebral cortex belong to Neptune and Pisces. Moving back upward to the motor areas of the right hemisphere frontal lobe and its connections to the cingulate, we find an area ruled by Mars and Aries, just forward lies the right somatosensory area along the right central sulcus. Here, and in the parietal lobe beyond, lies the realm of Taurus and the matching realm of Venus of the right hemisphere of the brain. Just behind it lies the upper temporal lobes and their association with other areas of the cerebrum in both right and left hemisphere, allowing the two hemisphere to function as an integrated whole, here we find another realm ruled by communication, by Mercury and Gemini. Now we have traced the full animal sign circle, returning to the crab and the lion, Cancer and Leo. Humans tend to center their behavior in Jupiter and Mercury, in Gemini, Virgo, and Sagittarius and examine it under the light of Leo and Apollo. Humans are social creatures that communicate through visual and auditory signals, through signs and sounds. Dogs are social creatures also. But, their communication belongs to the realm of Neptune, Pluto, and the Moon. They use their noses much more than us. They depend upon their instincts much more than we do. They are deeper into themselves than we are. It is easy for us to loose ourselves, so high up in the Mount Olympus of the brain that we forget our roots, lose track of our hearts, do not know our own feelings. Cats are very much in touch with the deeper aspects of the frontal lobe control of actions, with the cingulate and limbic areas of their brains and associated basal ganglia. Cats know how they feel and are much more in touch with it. They depend on Saturn and Capricorn and Aquarius in ways the we seem unable to do. They control the Uranus, the independent boundary of their lives, far better than we do. Birds live in the realm of Libra and Scorpio, of action and balance. Everything in its right time and place is what bird life is all about. Accurate matching of response to stimulus, and effective acting out of response patterns, the things ruled by Mars, Venus, and Pluto and rooted in striated bodies and basal ganglia is a key to bird intelligence. But, the bird is visual. There is a lot of Apollo and Leo in the sense of sunlight as the sign of visual stimuli and the bird is capable of a great deal of Apollo like display if appropriate, at the right time and place. Birds can also use sound to communicate, they can be Apollo in the sense of the singer in league with the Gemini and Virgo ruled Mercury of left and right temporal lobes and its connections with motor response that involve vocalization, calls, songs, noises that say "I am here and this is my place." |
| Look at my Nose Brain will you! I am very smart at smelling! |
| This is the source of many tactile sensations on my somatosensory strip! |
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