Instinct is an impulse or powerful motivation from a subconscious source. For instance, if you were crossing the street and a car comes speeding towards you, you would try to jump out of the way before it even 'registers' with your conscious mind that a car is coming.

The part of your brain that is associated with these types of reactions is the amygdala. As you may know, different parts of the brain recieve different signals and make them consciously known. The auditory cortex, for example, is responsible for hearing. The amygdala has its own set of 'recievers' for sensory intake. In the aforementioned scenario, it will take in information from the surroundings, like the sight on the car coming at you, and make a decision on what to do before you consciously think about it.

While this response is very important for survival, it is very primitive. It's commonly called the fight or flight response, for obvious reasons. This response makes us "downshift" and use only our lower brain. That means we sometimes cannot think of a logical solution to a problem. Anger makes many people with anger control problems downshift. They cannot think of a moral solution, so they do something destructive. When you are downshifted you become less at efficient at less things. This is why a dangerous school environment keeps children from reaching their learning potential.

When it is in an environment where you feel safe and secure, the brain goes into "overdrive" mode. This means that the upper parts of the brain are used to think, so all decisions that are made are logical, thinking is more clear and memories are stronger.

Noise and distraction can keep your brain from going into overdrive mode. Someone who tries to study in a noisy room with distractions like a TV probably won't remember as much as someone who keeps himself from distractions. There are many methods of improving how much you remember, like using emotions and using music.

Do animals have emotion? Where did human emotions evolve from?
How are emotions created?
What role do emotions play in memory?
What is instinct and how is it important?
What is emotional intelligence?