The limbic system, sometimes called “the emotional brain”, controls many of the complex emotional behaviors we think of as instinct. Different areas of the limbic system have a strong control over emotions such as pleasure, pain, anger, fear, sadness, sexual feelings and affection. It is an important system in animals which have a less developed intellectual ability than humans.
Structures of the limbic system include the thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala, septum and hippocampus.
The amygdala is involved with strong feelings of rage or aggression.
The hippocampus helps control the transferring of present experiences into permanent memories. People with hippocampal damage can not remember recent events for very long and can not create new long term memories. The only long term memories they have is of what happened before their injury.
