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Beneath the Neocortex
Beneath the neocortex are subcortical structures — evolutionarily older regions, each with a precise role.
Subcortical structures — the brain beneath the surface
• Hippocampus → Memory formation and spatial navigation ("where am I? what happened?")
• Amygdala → Fear processing and emotion ("is this dangerous?")
• Thalamus → Sensory gateway — almost all signals pass through here
• Hypothalamus → Regulates body functions and motivates behavior
• Cerebellum → Movement coordination and timing
• Basal ganglia → Action selection and reward learning
💡 Knowing which region does what is not enough to understand the brain. To understand how it works, we need to zoom in to the cells — and that means neurons.