If you are interested in emotional intelligence, then the amygdala and the limbic system are probably terms that are within your vocabulary and that you feel comfortable to use. You may even think in terms of the reptilian and triune brain. But do you really understand how the brain controls emotion, and what this might mean for our understanding of emotional intelligence?
Our understanding of how the brain perceives and regulates our emotional responses is expanding rapidly, and this new information often takes some time to find its way into the applied literature. Some of the more recent advances certainly challenge the common wisdom of those working in the field of emotional intelligence. For instance, while the amygdala is clearly important in perception of emotion, and in our emotional memories, it is appears to be more important in scanning for threat in the environment than for detecting the more positive emotions. So there must be another part of the brain that controls these – and this seems to be the insula. A recent collaboration between researchers at Ohio State University (Gary Bernston and Greg Norman), University of Southern California (Antoine Bechera and Joel Bruss), University of Iowa (Daniel Tranel), and University of Southern California (John Cacioppo) compared groups of people that had strokes which affected either the insula, the amygdalae or other parts of their brain not connected with emotion. They showed these people emotional pictures and asked them to score their emotional reaction on two scales: whether it was negative or positive (emotional valence), and whether it was strong or weak (emotional intensity). The people who had damage to their amygdala judged the valence of the pictures in the same way as those with damage to other parts of the brain (so they could recognise what the appropriate response should be), but they rated their response to the negative pictures (but not the positive pictures) as less intense than those with damage to other regions of the brain. This confirms the idea that the amygdala might be more important in negative than positive emotions.
In comparison, the people with damage to their insula rated the pictures as less negative and less positive, and as less intense (whether negative or positive) suggesting that the insula is more generally involved in judging both whether an event is negative or positive, and the intensity with which we feel the event.
Both the insula and the amygdala are part of the limbic system, so when we talk in general terms about the limbic system, we would not be incorrect in saying that these parts of the brain control our emotional responses. Where I have sometimes heard less accurate statements is in the idea that our primitive responses are controlled by our reptilian brain. The reptilian brain contains the areas of the human brain referred to as the brainstem. Neither the amygdala nor the insula are part of this system – they are both found in the basal ganglia, a part of the forebrain (along with the cerebral cortex). So, the suggestion that primitive emotions are controlled by the reptilian brain cannot be justified.
Why does this matter? Well, the way that the different brain regions interact to produce and regulate our emotions has very important implications for our emotional intelligence, and what we can do to take control of our own emotions. While our automatic emotional responses are controlled by the insula and amygdala, these are not the only parts of the brain involved. If all our emotional responses were controlled by the insula and amygdala, we would be less able to CHOOSE our response to different emotional events. Control of our emotions (emotional regulation) seems to be the function of areas of the brain in the frontal cortex. These areas bring emotion to our conscious attention.
This is important this knowledge has the potential to help us to consciously train our brains to override the more primitive parts of the brain, leaving us more in control of our emotional responses. Additionally, demonstrating an understanding of the mechanisms behind these processes is likely to increase credibility when talking about emotional intelligence in training workshops. This is true of many other areas of training including learning, memory, motivation and reward.
So, watch this space for more updates on how your amazing brain works.
Thought you’d like to add Daniel Goleman’s latest research on the brain and EI to your discussion: http://www.morethansound.net/store/cat_37.html
Thanks Mike – great idea. Will add something about this soon – watch this space!
Trish