Neuromythography

The Architecture of the Soul

Right-wing and Left-wing Are Mere Reflections of Our Brain Architecture, Part II

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This post is Part II of a series. Advance to Part III, or go back to Part I.

Flidais vs. Cernnunos: Left Amygdala vs. Right Amygdala

So far we have only talked about two neurotransmitters, oxytocin and vasopressin, and their receptors. These components are embedded in certain brain areas, that have roles of their own, whose behaviors the energies and receivers modify. Let’s now talk about the amygdala.

Flidais, the Left Amygdala

The left amygdala is assigned to Flidais, the Celtic deer goddess, protector and caretaker of innocents. The left amygdala is associated with the experience of predation fear, affective empathy, enjoyment of horror movies, openness to experience, sexual variety, vicarious emotions, reading others’ eyes, and fear biting.

In a celebrated case, a woman whose right amygdala was damaged (and therefore only had a functional left amygdala) was gifted with hyperempathy.

Her empathy seemed to transcend her body — the woman reported feeling physical effects along with her emotions, such as a “spin at the heart” or an “esophageal unpleasant feeling” when experiencing empathic sadness or anger. She reported these feelings when seeing people on TV, meeting people in person, or reading about characters in novels, the researchers said.

She also described an increased ability to decode others’ mental states, including their emotions, the researchers said. Her newly acquired ability to empathize was confirmed by her family, and she performed exceptionally well in psychological tests of empathy, the researchers said.

Live Science

The left amygdala is the locale of the “High Priestess” type of mystic who can reach into people’s souls by staring deeply into their eyes.

Cernnunos, the Right Amygdala

The right amygdala, is conservative, righteous, contemptuous, suspicious, visual, brooding, but emotionally-restrained. To the right amgydala we assign the archetype Cernnunos, the wild horned Celtic nature deity who tamed beasts and protected them.

The right amygdala tends to develop over the course of one’s life and suppress the left amygdala’s tendency to lose its composure. Early life stress tends to accelerate this development; perhaps this is a correlate of ‘toughening up’.

The right amygdala appears to play a central role in the ‘conservative’ political orientation. The neuroscience literature often characterizes the right amygdala as being sensitive to ‘threat’ and ‘disgust’, and this has been used to portray the ‘conservative mind’ as primitive, irrationally fearful of threats, and sensitive to disgust. This is an unfortunate consequence of the political bias in the academic research community. A more careful reading of the literature establishes the right amygdala as being oriented towards pre-emptively acting against a threat (vs. the left amygdala’s inclination to experience threat), and that the right amygdala is a substrate for contempt rather than disgust (a subtle distinction that this study explored).

Male emotional experience is right amygdala-biased, while female emotional experience is left amygdala-biased (Canli et al., 2002Cahill et al., 2004). Testosterone amplifies the right amygdala shift in males, while estrogen amplifies a right amygdala shift in females.

The right amygdala makes fast assessments of fear in others’ faces, while the left amygdala more thoroughly analyzes others’ faces to identify emotions.

The Energies and Receivers of the Amygdala

The right amygdala (Cernnunos) is more heavily innervated by vasopressin (Sancus) fibers, while the left amygdala (Flidais) is more heavily innervated by oxytocin (Guanyin) fibers. The right amygdala is also higher in v1a (Morrigan) receptors, while the left amygdala is higher in OTRs (Tara).

So although these three-and-a-half dimensions (left/right amygdala, oxytocin/vasopressin, v1b/v1a x OTR) are independent, they tend to cluster together. The average person observes this clustering as left/right and female/male average attitudes.

8BM vs. vmPFC: Control of Right and Left Amygdala

Another interesting story is that the medial frontal lobe has right amygdala- and left amygdala-aligned areas. These areas are not simply oriented towards the same right/left sides, but rather the lower part (vmPFC) controls the left amygdala, while the upper part (dmPFC) controls the right amygdala.

Right amygdala seed functional connectivity. The statistical map... |  Download Scientific Diagram
Activation of right 8BM with right amygdala seed during contempt

In this study of the neural correlates of contempt, seeding the right amygdala identified a functionally-connected region within the dmPFC called 8BM. In the Neuromythograph, left 8BM is assigned Aedos, the Greek god of reverence, modesty, honor, and respect. Right 8BM is assigned Diomedes, the Greek warrior from the Illiad who demonstrated the greatest honor and independence of mind. Right 8BM appears to be a seat of ‘free will’, and is engaged when an individual goes against the consensus view. 8BM highly expresses androgen (testosterone) receptors, indicating that testosterone ‘amplifies its voice’.

Aedos/Diomedes (8BM) complements Cernnunos (right amygdala), by holding him to honor codes, but activating him when honor demands it.

The Inner Child vs. The Base

The Inner Child

The striatum is a zone of the brain that neuromythography calls the Inner Child. It has several main subdivisions:

  • Caudate nucleus, head
    • Left: Zelus, the Greek god that personifies dedication, emulation, eager rivalry, envy, jealousy, and zeal
    • Right: Entheos, a Greek term meaning “the God within”, and the root word of ‘enthusiasm’. Deified for neuromythography.
  • Putamen
    • Left: Hestia, the Greek goddess of the hearth, comfort, habit
      • Left ventral: Menoitios, the Greek god of rashness
    • Right: Hephaestus, the Greek god of smithing and mechanical construction
      • Right ventral: Thrasos, the Greek god of boldness
  • Ventral striatum

The Base

The pallidum is a zone of the brain that neuromythography calls The Base. It has several components:

  • Globus pallidus external: Horme, the Greek god personifying energetic activity, impulse or effort (to do a thing), eagerness, setting oneself in motion, and starting an action
  • Globus pallidus internal: Atlas, the Greek Titan who tirelessly holds up the world
  • Ventral pallidum: Tanha, the Buddhist term for desires and wants
    • VPr: Erysichthon, a mythical Greek king whose addictive behaviors resulted in him eating himself in hunger
    • VPp: Nectar, the mythical sweet drink of the Greek gods
    • VPdl: Oya, the Yoruban goddess of changing desires
    • VPvm: Jugatinus, the Roman god who yokes couples in marriage

Striatum vs. Pallidum

The globus pallidus internal (GPi) gates the initiation of actions, sustains continuing actions and shows up in “conservative” resistance to risky actions. The GPi is assigned the archetype of Atlas, the Greek Titan who tirelessly holds up the world. Left/right distinctions for GPi have not been made yet, so Atlas is assigned both sides until they can be differentiated.

The striatum (Inner Child) and the GPi (Atlas) play out in the lifespan of all people. The Inner Child is enthusiastic, stubborn, idealistic, impulsive, and creative. It mediates early romantic love and enthusiasm for new lovers. Atlas is downstream of the Inner Child, and ultimately chooses what actions to take and stick with them. Atlas, in conjunction with vasopressin, has been found to be the key player in promoting pair-bonding for life in prairie voles and other species.

In the context of this essay, the head of caudate nucleus is aligned with the Spirit of Community, while the globus pallidus (including Atlas and the external component, Horme) is aligned to the Spirit of Dominion. This is because the “idealistic” caudate nucleus dominates the mind of the young, while the habitual putamen and the globus pallidus are more dominant by adulthood. This dichotomy shows up in the public space as intergenerational conflict.

This post is Part II of a series. Advance to Part III, or go back to Part I.

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