Editing Triune brain (section)

{{debate|date=June 2022}}
{{pro and con list|date=June 2022}}
{{Short description|Model of evolutionary neurology proposed by Paul McLean}}
[[File:Triune brain.png|thumb|Model of MacLean's Triune Brain hypothesis.]]
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
The '''triune brain''' was a once popular, now proven false,<ref name=Steffen2022>{{Cite journal |last1=Steffen |first1=Patrick R |last2=Hedges |first2=Dawson |last3=Matheson |first3=Rebekka |date=2022-04-01 |title=The Brain Is Adaptive Not Triune: How the Brain Responds to Threat, Challenge, and Change |journal=Frontiers in Psychiatry |language=en |volume=13 |doi=10.3389/fpsyt.2022.802606 |doi-access=free |pmid=35432041 |pmc=9010774 }}</ref><ref name=Cesario2020>{{Cite journal |last1=Cesario |first1=Joseph |last2=Johnson |first2=David J. |last3=Eisthen |first3=Heather L. |date=June 2020 |title=Your Brain Is Not an Onion With a Tiny Reptile Inside |journal=Current Directions in Psychological Science |language=en |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=255–260 |doi=10.1177/0963721420917687 |issn=0963-7214 |s2cid=218960531 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Barrett |first=Lisa Feldman |date=2020 |title=Seven and a half lessons about the brain |url=https://cmc.marmot.org/OverdriveCMC/ODN0005116236 |access-date=2025-02-05 |website=cmc.marmot.org |ref=Barrett, L. F. (2020). "Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain"}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Doty |first=Robert W |date=June 2005 |title=<i>Principles of Brain Evolution</i>. <i>By </i>Georg F Striedter<i>. Sunderland (Massachusetts): Sinauer Associates.</i> $59.95. xii + 436 p; ill.; index. ISBN: 0-87893-820-6. 2005. |url=https://doi.org/10.1086/433134 |journal=The Quarterly Review of Biology |volume=80 |issue=2 |pages=264 |doi=10.1086/433134 |issn=0033-5770|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=LeDoux |first=Joseph |date=March 2012 |title=Rethinking the Emotional Brain |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2012.02.018 |journal=Neuron |volume=73 |issue=5 |pages=653–676 |doi=10.1016/j.neuron.2012.02.018 |pmid=22365542 |pmc=3625946 |issn=0896-6273}}</ref> model of the [[evolution]] of the [[vertebrate]] [[forebrain]] and behavior, proposed by the American physician and [[neuroscientist]] [[Paul D. MacLean]] in the 1960s. The triune brain consists of the reptilian complex ([[basal ganglia]]), the paleomammalian complex ([[limbic system]]), and the neomammalian complex ([[neocortex]]), viewed each as independently conscious, and as structures sequentially added to the forebrain in the course of evolution. According to the model, the basal ganglia are in charge of primal instincts, the limbic system is in charge of emotions, and the neocortex is responsible for objective or rational thoughts.

Since the 1970s, the concept of the triune brain has been subject to criticism in evolutionary and developmental neuroscience<ref name=Cesario2020 /> and is regarded as a myth.<ref>{{cite book |author=Georg F. Striedter |title=Principles of Brain Evolution |location=Sunderland, MA |publisher=Sinauer Associates |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-87893-820-9 }}{{page needed|date=November 2020}}</ref> Although it overlaps in some respects with contemporary understanding of the brain,<ref>Panksepp, J. (2003). Foreword to Cory, G. and Gardner, R. (2002) ''The Evolutionary Neuroethology of Paul MacLean: Convergences and Frontiers''. {{ISBN|978-0-275-97219-6}}{{page needed|date=November 2020}}</ref> the triune brain hypothesis is no longer espoused by comparative neuroscientists in the post-2000 era<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kiverstein |first1=Julian |last2=Miller |first2=Mark |title=The embodied brain: towards a radical embodied cognitive neuroscience |journal=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |date=6 May 2015 |volume=9 |page=237 |doi=10.3389/fnhum.2015.00237 |pmid=25999836 |pmc=4422034 |s2cid=17811190 |doi-access=free }}</ref> due to harsh criticism against it.<ref>Reiner, A. (1990). The triune brain in evolution: Role in paleocerebral functions. Science, 250(4978), 303-306.</ref>

MacLean originally formulated his model in the 1960s and propounded it at length in his 1990 book ''The Triune Brain in Evolution''. The triune brain hypothesis became familiar to a broad popular audience through [[Carl Sagan]]'s [[Pulitzer Prize]] winning 1977 book ''[[The Dragons of Eden]]''.