a very small part of the pons, at the base of the brain. Axons leave the LC for almost every part of the brain, including the spinal cord. LC cells seem to be involved in attention, arousal and sleep-wake cycles, learning and memory, anxiety and pain, mood, brain metabolism. It looks like the LC arouses the brain when there are interesting external events to attend to. It likely increases the speed at which information is processed and makes sensory and motor systems more efficient.