Figure - PMC

Skip to main content

An official website of the United States government

Here's how you know

Here's how you know

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

View full-text article in PMC

. 2021 Apr 16;15:625490. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2021.625490

Search in PMC
Search in PubMed
View in NLM Catalog
Add to search

Copyright © 2021 Harricharan, McKinnon and Lanius.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

PMC Copyright notice

Brainstem sensory processing. The brainstem is responsible for receiving incoming exteroceptive sensations from the external environment (ES) and simultaneous interoceptive affective sensations stemming from within the body (IS). If an individual feels safe (A), it is thought that sensory information can be effectively relayed to areas of the cortex, including the insula and the prefrontal cortex, for advanced processing. However, if an individual feels unsafe (B), incoming sensory information may cause fluctuations in arousal that evoke survival-based active and passive defensive responses, including fight-or-flight and emotional shutdown behaviors. IS (Internal Sensations), ES (External Sensations), SC/PAG (Superior Colliculus/Periaqueductal Gray), VN (Vestibular Nuclei), LC (Locus Coeruleus), Post Ins (Posterior Insula), Ant Ins (Anterior Insula), Sup Parietal (Superior Parietal Cortex), dlPFC (Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex).