Chapter 7 Prefrontal cortical control of the autonomic nervous system: Anatomical and physiological observations

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This chapter focuses on the prefrontal autonomic control of the viscera. It also describes the significance of prefrontal cortical control of the autonomic nervous system. Lesion experiments show that the medial, anterior cingulate prefrontal region is necessary for the expression of the normal, sympathetically mediated increase in heart rate during stress. It is necessary for the production of gastric ulcers that develop in rats under restraint stress. The cortex is needed to maintain the normal, resting level of the gain of the cardiac component of the baroreflex response. The identity between the cortex and the organism implies that there is no region of cortex, not even those concerned with the highest processes, which is not also a representation of some part of the organism. Because visceral function and emotion are closely associated, the relationship of the prefrontal cortex to emotion is also reviewed in the chapter. The visceral regions of prefrontal cortex are likely to be brain areas whose activity contributes to psychosomatic disease.

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