The dawn of Emo-Logic



The ventromedial prefrontal cortex

 "Emotions have taught mankind to reason."  Marquis De Vauvenargues

Until recently, I was suffering under the (perhaps common) misapprehension that emotions and logic occupy two very separate domains.  The Human Brain Colouring Book highlighted my error, as the anatomical region for deductive logic is in fact the site of some of our most implicit human responses.

The right ventromedial prefrontal cortex houses the part of our brain associated with the regulation of the interaction between cognition and affect in the production of empathic responses.  There is also evidence that hedonic, or pleasure responses emanate from this area of our grey matter, which seems to be of central significance to our capacity to assess whether we like or dislike something, a key role in the construction one's self.  It is here that we store our 'somatic markers' - emotional associations, or associations between mental objects and visceral (bodily) feedback, which we use in natural decision making.

....Just goes to show, there's method in the madness some would ascribe to therapy. 

"A mind all logic is like a knife all blade.  It makes the hand bleed that uses it."

Rabindranath Tagore