Control of Complex Conation and Emotion in the Neocortex by the Limbic Entorhinal, Subicular, and Cingulate Cortices and the Hypothalamus, Mammillary Body, and Thalamus

Abstract

The neocortex appears to contain columnar neuron populations that function as unitary information structures. The interactions between these structures, and the sensorimotor relationships they process, are regulated by subcortical regions. The reticular formation, hypothalamus, thalamus and basal ganglia have been proposed as a hierarchical control system that regulates the processing carried out by hierarchies of the cortical information structures in basic behavioral states. The regulation is carried out by means of operations on conative information components that circulate through the subcortical-neocortical system. It is proposed that in complex behavioral states, composite modalities of conative information are formed. These are processed in a complex-state system that involves parts of the limbic lobe and related nuclei: the entorhinal cortex, subiculum, mammillary body, thalamus, and posterior and anterior cingulate cortices. This system can accommodate new modalities of conation, including those relating to social behavior. Genetic specification of engrams in the system provides for evolution of conative and emotional states, matching increases in sophistication of cognitive processing.