Subcortical mechanisms in emotional behavior: affective changes following septal forebrain lesions in the albino rat.

Abstract

During the past two decades numerous investigators have been concerned with the role of subcortical mechanisms in emotional behavior. Durable changes in affective behavior have been described for animal preparations with transection of the brain stem at the intercollicular level (Sherringtonian decerebra-tion), neocortical ablation, lesions of the hypothalamus, lesions of the amygdaloid complex, and lesions in various parts of the thalamus (4, 11). Surprisingly little attention has been paid, however, to the behavioral effects of lesions in the septum.