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Limbic System

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The brains of tetrapod vertebrates comprise a set of evolutionary conserved structures devoted to functions that are needed for the survival of the species. These functions involve emotion (e.g., aggression), motivation (e.g., feeding, defending, escaping, and mating), drive (e.g., hunger, thirst), reward (reinforcement), and learning (long-term memory). Basic structures of the limbic complex include olfactory bulb, septum, hippocampus (ventromedial pallium in anurans), amygdala, nucleus accumbens, anterior thalamic nucleus, hypothalamus, preoptic area, and pituitary gland.

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Correspondence to Jörg-Peter Ewert .

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© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Ewert, JP. (2013). Limbic System. In: Runehov, A.L.C., Oviedo, L. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8265-8_200151

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8265-8_200151

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-8264-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-8265-8

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