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| Amygdala hijack is a term coined by Daniel Goleman in his 1996
book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ.
Drawing on the work of Joseph E. LeDoux, Goleman uses the term
to describe emotional responses from people which are immediate
and overwhelming, and out of measure with the actual stimulus
because it has triggered a much more significant emotional
threat. '"Anatomically the emotional system can act
independently of the neocortex," LeDoux told me. "Some emotional
reactions and emotional responses can be formed without any
conscious, cognitive participation...because the shortcut from
thalamus to amygdyla completely bypasses the neocortex"'. The
brain processes stimuli by having the thalamus direct sensory
information to the neocortex (the "thinking brain"). The cortex
then routes the signal to the amygdala (the "emotional brain")
for the proper emotional reaction.