Notes & Queries 4th October 2013 – A Brief Overview of Hoph’s Vesicle

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image generated by Grok


To get down to the fundamentals of this question we must be prepared to probe the human brain; we need to really dig our fingers in there and pry it apart. It is for these reasons that I do not advise readers to attempt any such study at home, or on a living subject.

Hoph's Vesicle is a diminutive region of the brain that occupies the space between the amygdala and the lateral orbitofrontal cortex. It is unique in that certain external stimulus focusing around low level aggression, such as one might witness during an argument, cause it to become engorged and expand to as much as five-times its normal size. Possibly for these reasons, it is referred to by French neurobiologists as the “pénis du cerveau” (penis of the brain). The term was coined by Dufour (of course) and while one admires its lewd poetry, it is a rather fanciful description. In fact sexual arousal has been shown to have no effect upon this area of the human cerebrum.

As Hoph's Vesicle enlarges it encroaches upon other areas of the brain leading to a whole host of unusual behaviour patterns and quirks, all of which are of tremendous interest to neuroscientists such as myself. Typically it will affect hunger impulses. This explains the urge that one sometimes gets to acquire and consume popcorn while watching a couple fighting.

Hoph's Vesicle is more easily studied in its rampant form. To bring this to the fore in study subjects, my colleague Dr Phillip Roeman and I will perpetuate the illusion that we are a married couple who argue constantly about petty domestic issues, such as the division of household chores. Last year we took these semi-improvised routines on a brief tour of small provincial theatres where we won three comedy awards and were named the most “exciting improv duo to come along in the past decade” by The Southwold Bugle.

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