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Rereading\xa0The Hungry Brain, I notice\xa0my review\xa0missed one of my favorite parts: the description of the motivational system. It starts with studies of lampreys, horrible little primitive parasitic fish:

How does the lamprey decide what to do? Within the lamprey basal ganglia lies a key structure called the striatum, which is the portion of the basal ganglia that receives most of the incoming signals from other parts of the brain. The striatum receives \u201cbids\u201d from other brain regions, each of which represents a specific action. A little piece of the lamprey\u2019s brain is whispering \u201cmate\u201d to the striatum, while another piece is shouting \u201cflee the predator\u201d and so on.