‘Good’ and ‘Bad’

LeDoux showed that mammalian brains are arranged so that incoming sen-
sory information collected at the thalamus goes through the lower brain
structure in the limbic system, called the amygdala, first before reaching the
neocortex — long considered the seat of conscious, cognitive reasoning. The
amygdala, which is strongly associated with emotion, renders initial good/
bad, approach/avoid responses and triggers an autonomic response when it
perceives a threat. This initial response, however, can be overridden by the
neocortex’s cognitive processing.
Antonio Damasio believes that the human brain seems to have evolved
to favor quick, intuitive judgment first, followed only afterwards by slower,
cognitive, conscious processing. There are, in fact, two amygdalae in your
brain, one inside the left brain and the other inside the right brain. Each
brain hemisphere, therefore, has its own amygdala switch.
For the adult mind it is generally very difficult to suspend the discrimi-
nating activity of consciousness, and to be just aware; meditation may pro-
vide a condition in which this pre-conscious awareness can be recovered,
Dehning says.