Thalamus and Hypothalamus

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Thalamus and Hypothalamus

• Deep in the forebrain
• Vision, hearing, taste, and touch all pass
  through this small structure. Injury to the
  thalamus can cause deafness, blindness, or loss
  of any other sense, except smell.

• Size of a small grape.
• The master control center for emotion and basic
  motives.
• Affects behaviors as diverse as sex, rage,
  temperature control, hormone release, eating and
  drinking, sleep, waking, and emotion.
• Connects many areas of the brain. Also the final
  pathway for many kinds of behavior (it is the
  last place many behaviors are organized or
  decided on before messages leave the brain,
  causing the body to react.)