Who Needs Emotions? The Brain Meets the Robot

organization of motivational–emotional systems 45
Figure 3.4. Immunostained sections of rat brain show expression of the
immediate early gene zif268, which has been implicated in cellular plasticity.
The zif268 gene is regulated by dopamine and glutamate and may mediate
long-term alterations underlying learning and memory. Each black dot
represents nuclear staining in a cell. Note strong expression in cortical,
hippocampal, striatal, and amygdalar areas (A, B, C) and much weaker
expression in diencephalic areas (D). This gene and others like it may be
preferentially expressed in corticolimbic and striatal circuits, which play a
major role in plasticity. BLA, Basolateral amygdala; cg, cingulum; CP,
caudate-putamaten; CX, cortex; ec, external capsule; f, fornix; HP, hippocampus;
LH, lateral hypothalamus; mt; mammillothalamic tract.
mark paper “From Motivation to Action.” Actions occur when the motor
outputs of these systems are signaled, whether via autonomic output (heart
rate, blood pressure), visceroendocrine output (cortisol, adrenaline, release of
sex hormones), or somatomotor output (locomotion, instrumental behavior,
facial/oral responses, defensive or mating postures). During coordinated expression
of context-dependent motivated behaviors, various combinations of these
effector systems are utilized. Indeed, all the behavioral control columns project
directly to these motor effector routes. However, in mammals, conscious,