A Clockwork Orange

In high school, I managed to read A Clockwork Orange.  For those of you who haven't attempted this, be warned that it's  like reading a foreign language.  The author uses words from Russian, Spanish, English, and Japanese to create a very unique street dialect.  The first few chapters are spent trying to figure out what the hell the main character (whose point of view the reader shares) means.  Pretty soon though, you pick up what's going on and you start to realize how truly creepy this futuristic world is.

But it took me watching the 1971 film to start to wonder about the neurological implications of the movie.

One of the key plot points (*SPOILERS*) is that Alex, the protagonist, is brain-washed to feel sick every time that he sees sex or violence or considers doing either of the two.  In the movie, he's portrayed as gagging and nearly throwing up after his "treatment".  I know that the idea behind his brainwashing is that they give him a drug that activates a particular center in his brain and they correlate this with horrific videos of sex and violence to make Alex associate the two.

I suppose this could be considered a form of classical conditioning.  Like Pavlov with his dogs, Alex is trained to match a physiological response with an external stimulus.  So Pavlov's dogs were trained to salivate when they heard a bell.  Alex was trained to feel sick whenever he witnessed or thought about "evil impulses" of violence (and sex).  They even give an example of generalization where the subject is not trained to differentiate to one particular stimulus.  In Alex's case, he was accidentally also trained against Beethoven's 9th.

Not exactly a hero but definitely the protagonist.

But the question I have, is what part of the brain were they activating for revulsion?  I know the amygdala is activated for fear and that can modulate emotions and memories.  But I don't know where the center of revulsion is.  Anyone have a suggestion on what Alex's doctors were activating?

In any case, I do suggest you read this classic novel.  (Yes, it's 50 years old so it's officially a classic.)  It's disturbing and confusing at times but the political messages it contains shouldn't be ignored.  And if you're too lazy to read the book, the movie is on netflix instant play.