The Biology of the Mind

1. The Biology of the Mind Neuroscience and Behavior How does your brain work?

3. What are your neurons? How do they transmit information?

4. Why can I think? Ask yourself … • Neurons • Nerve cells • Basic building blocks of the body’s information processing system. • Made up of • Dendrites • Axons

5. Dendrites • Receive information

6. Axon fibers • Transmit information to other • Neurons • Muscles • Glands

7. Ask yourself … How do neurons communicate to other cells so I can think?

8. What is a synapse (Synaptic gap) • The junction between the sending and receiving neuron • Chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) bridge the gap

9. How does the environment effect your brain? • Rats in an enriched environment will increase their neurons and synapses.

10. What are neurotransmitters?How do they help me think? Think about … • Chemicals • Enable communication between neurons

11. What are endorphins? • Neurotransmitters (similar to morphine) • Reduces pain • E.g. Childbirth

12. Do you remember? • Can you draw and label the parts of a neuron? • Dendrites, body, axons • What is a synapse, and how do neurotransmitters aid neural communication? • What are endorphins?

13. What are the parts of my nervous system? Ask yourself … • What do these parts do?

14. What makes up my nervous system? Ask yourself … • Central nervous system • Brain and spinal column • Peripheral nervous system • Links central nervous system (spinal cord) to sense receptors, muscles and glands

15. What is my central Nervous system? Ask yourself … • Brain and spinal column • Severed spinal cord E.g. • E.g. -Sally - knee jerk reaction without sensation of a tap on the knee if spinal column is broken.

16. What is my peripheral Nervous System? Ask yourself … • Sympathetic nervous system (Arousing) • Increases heartbeat & blood pressure • Parasympathetic nervous system (Calming) “Sympathetic creates symptoms” “Para is peaceful”

17. What happens when I touch a hot stove? Think about … • Reflex • Simple reflex pathway • Knee-jerk reaction

18. Do you remember? • What is the difference between the central and peripheral nervous systems? • What is the difference between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems? • What is an example of a simple reflex pathway? • If the spinal cord is broken, how does that effect the perception of sensation?

19. Brain evolution • Brain stem • Limbic system • Cerebral cortex

20. What is my brain stem? Ask yourself … Brainstemthe oldest part of your brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells and enters your skull. Responsible for your automatic survival functions.

21. Brain Stem Medulla base of the brainstem, controls your heartbeat and breathing. Reticular Formationa nerve network in the brainstem that plays an important role in controlling your arousal.

22. What does my cerebellum do? Ask yourself… • Coordinates your movements • “A bell helps me be coordinated”

23. What is my limbic system? Ask yourself … • Between the brain stem and the Cerebral cortex • Includes: • Hippocampus • Memory • “Hippos can remember” • Amygdala • Emotion • Aggression & Fear • “Amy makes me mad” • Hypothalamus • Hunger, thirst, temperature, & sex

24. Amygdala Amygdala [ah-MIG-dah-la] two almond-shaped neural clusters linked to your emotion of fear and anger. What does Amy do? “Amy makes me mad.”

25. Hypothalamus Hypothalamus lies below (hypo) the thalamus; directs several maintenance activities like eating, drinking body temperature, and emotions. Helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland. “Thal maintains my body”

26. Internal brain Overview

27. Sensory & Motor cortex

28. Where is my visual & auditory cortex?

29. Do you remember? • What parts of your brain evolved first and last? • What makes up the limbic system? • What does each part focus on? • What does the cerebellum do?

30. How can my brain adjust if it is damaged? Think about … • Brain plasticity • Brain adjusts after damage • Blind learning to read brail • Think: “Your brain can bend like plastic”

31. Phineas gage • Damage to frontal lobe

32. How does information get from one side of my brain to the other? • Corpus Callosum “It can call the other side” • Sends information from one cerebral hemisphere to the other.

33. What is my cerebral cortex? Think about …

34. Cerebral cortex Remember, all thinking requires both sides of the brain. • Left = Logical (Math) • Right = Creative (Music)

35. Do you remember? • What characteristic of the brain allows it to adjust after damage? • How does information get from one side of your brain to the other?

36. How can we make pictures of my brainworking? Ask yourself… • EEG • CT scan • MRI scan • fMRI • MEG • PET scan

37. Electroencephalogram (EEG) • Brain waves – Amplifies and records electrical activity across the surface of the brain.

38. How can X-rays see my brain? Think about … • CT Scan • Computed tomography • X-ray photographs • “Scan the cat with X-rays.”

39. How can magnets and radio waves make pictures of my brain? Think about … • MRI Scan (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) • Magnetic fields and radio waves create images of the brain’s soft tissues.

40. How can you see my brain working in real time? Think about … • fMRI Scan (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) • Identifies specific brain areas during mental tasks

41. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) • Detects and amplifies magnetic fields generated by the electric current in neurons

42. How else can we see your brain working in real time? • PET Scan • Positron emission tomography scan • Radioactive glucose • “Feed your pet radioactive sugar.”

43. Do you remember? • What does an EEG measure? • What imaging method using radioactive glucose is used for identifying which of Lucy’s brain areas was most active when she talked? • What does a fMRI do? • How does magnetoencephalography (MEG) work?