The limbic system is responsible for the four Fs

The four Fs consist of:

1. Feeding
2. Fleeing
3. Fighting
4. Sex

The limbic system controls vocalizations that are not language. Thus, swearing might have had an evolutionary purpose to trigger fight or flight, prepare us for danger, help us control pain, and vent our emotions.

parts of the limbic system

amygdala

Used for processing emotions, especially fear and aggression. Works with the hippocampus to map emotions to memories.

basal ganglia

Used to control impulses and form habits. It initiates and inhibits motor movements and behaviors.

hippocampus

Deals with memory.

evidence of limbic system role in swearing

• Electrodermal skin conductance tests
  • Taboo words cause higher autonomic skin response than neutral words
  • Can be used to gauge tabooness
  • L2 swears have lower skin conductivity than L1
• Memory tests
  • Taboo words remembered more easily than neutral words (and with additional context)
  • Triggers emotional response
    • Amygdala enhances memory for these words
      • Patients with damaged amygdalas don’t remember taboo words better
• Stroop effect
  • “Name the color the word is printed in”
  • Reading is automatic
    • Additional brain processing required to overcome meaning
  • Taboo stroop effect
    • Mixing swear words in
    • Automatic response to seeing it
      • Attentional blink
    • Color processing takes longer for taboo words than neutral