MODULE 13 - SECTION 4 - THE SEPTAL NUCLEI
Try to watch the Rose/Kandel Episode 7 The Emotional and Vulnerable Brain. This episode deals with reward systems, addiction and the role of dopamine neurons. If you don't have time to see all of it, start to download it and dial forward to minute 16 for the anatomy; then continue to minute 18 for a description of the famous "Olds and Milner" self stimulation experiments, which first focused attention on the septum. NOTE: As of 10/22/2014 access to Episodes 6 and 7 (on YouTube) is blocked. We continue to list them here, in the hope the blocks will be removed.
THE LIMBIC SYSTEM
as seen in a LATERAL VIEW
of the FOREBRAIN
A look at this viewand the next one shows that the septal nuclei seem to be a focal point, where many pathways of the Limbic System originate or terminate. This is a remarkable but poorly understood region of the brain. In a classic series of experiments James Olds implanted electodes in the septal region in animals and hooked the wires up to an electrical pulse generator in such a way that the animals could deliver stimuli to their own brains by pressing a pedal in their cage. The animals loved it, pressing the pedal for hours on end; hungry animals preferred the stimulus over food. So, some call this a pleasure center.
THE LIMBIC SYSTEM
as seen in a view of the FOREBRAIN
"from above"
