One of the three brains in the 'Triune Brain' model. The reptilian brain is the oldest and largest of the three brains and still retains a parietal eye, known as the third eye or scientifically as the pineal gland. (Some lizards still have a parietal eye today.)
The reptilian brain regulates the bodily functions, and is responsible for fight or flight, feeding, reproduction, automatic behaviours and survival instincts. It governs the language of the body via sensations and impulse.
The other two brains which rest on top of it are the mammalian brain which is responsible for our emotions, feelings and unconscious memory. And at the very top, the homo sapien brain which is responsible for executive functioning, thought and verbal communication.
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a sort of intense evolutionary trinity
👍
🦎
Art endeavouring to meet science. My own blog, tries to tie music in with science (it is both art and science 😄).
This also reminds me of Salvador Dali (the concept, not the style, that's your own, Richie; Dali, S, 1904-1989). Leda Atomica, I think, was one of his (probably, around the 1950's - Dali 'soaked up' what was happening in the world around him, Freud in the 1920's and 30's, Atomic weaponry and the discovery of the DNA double helix (Watson and Crick, 1953) in the 1940's and 50's. In the 60's, it was hardly surprising that he went psychedelic or in the 70's, he went to discos!
Your work this time, is more intense, as always, colourful, the intensity is reflective, I thought, of the fact that (my own, for instance) homo sapien brain, in my hat size of 7 and five eighths, probably contains, more than 86 billion neurons. At this point, I feel compelled to refer to mammals that have a much greater number of neurons, 🐘 🐳
Thank you for informing me of something I didn't know about, the reptilian parietal eye. You've evoked personal memories of standing in front of 'that' pet shop window (today, I have mixed feelings about pet shops - though I love many and respect all, species - something else I may have in common with Buddhists) being fascinated by an iguana, back in the 60's (Durrell-esque). Along with birds, of course, they remind us of the age of the dinosaurs. In my home town, there were two pet shops, the larger one (now both gone - although I haven't seen my home town, since my Mum's funeral, more than two years ago) used to 'house' a macaw, actually he was high up in that shop, and all the visitors, were probably good for a bird with that sort of intelligence...🐦
Thank you Richie,
Very best,
J.
addendum
My (Freudian) super-ego, compels me to say something about the pineal gland (or the third eye), particularly as two of my former OU modules were SDK100 and SK299 (latterly, Human biology). The pineal also makes sense of the 'third eye', because of its role in the production of the hormone, melatonin (helps the natural body clock cycles, discerns the lower light levels of dusk, then night, as time for sleep).
As you may not have read this before, and because I have mentioned the trinity (albeit with a lower case 't'), I also feel a compulsion to balance this out, with a reminder of something once said (on TV), by Professor Richard Dawkins. This was to the effect (if not in the precise wording), that;
The humble bramble is our cousin, containing 50% of the same DNA, as ourselves.
Back to TMA 01 on my fourth module (I am pleased that I have the comfort margin of being nearly a fortnight ahead with it, at least, for the moment).
I wish all, a lovely weekend.
J.
erratum
I have actually started my fifth OU module (not my fourth), though its my fourth year of (part time) study.
Time to maintain physical homeostasis, with a 30 minute brisk walk before lunch, I am happy to have started the second of my answers (of 4) on my first TMA on S290...
All the best,
J.
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I read somewhere that plants have a third more complex DNA than we do. This is due to plants being pharmacological experts, and they also have an intelligence and ability to sense the world that works completely different to our nervous system. The complexity of DNA in a plant compared to human DNA is the equavilent of how much more complex our DNA is compared to a roundworm. So in a sense, plants are higher beings than humans, and not so humble (-: