Your Amazing Brain

• Receives information – within a fraction of

a second, too minuscule to measure
• Acts on the external universe – allows you
to cry, walk, play a musical instrument
• Utilizes language – one of your most
advanced functions
• Possesses emotions – creates your affective
universe
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 Your Amazing Brain
• Thinks –is responsible for your memory,
intelligence, your thoughts
• Controls your autonomic functions – heart
rate, breathing, homeostasis
• Controls your immune system – protects
you from viruses

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 Peripheral Nervous System
• Handles the CNS’s input and output.
• Contains all the portions of the NS outside
of the brain and spinal cord.
• Contains sensory nerves and motor nerves
• Divided into autonomic nervous system
and somatic nervous system.

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 Peripheral Nervous System
• Sensory
Motor Nerves
Nerves
(from
(to thethe
brain)
brain)
Carry orders
messages
from
from
CNSspecial
to muscles,
reporters
glands
in the
to
skin, muscles,
contract and produce
and other
chemical
internalmessengers
and
external sense organs to the spinal cord and
then to the brain

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 Peripheral Nervous System
• Somatic
Autonomic NSNS
Consiststhe
Permits of nerves
involuntary
connected
functioning
to sensory
of blood
receptorsglands,
vessels, and skeletal
and internal
musclesorgans such as
the bladder,
Permits stomach
voluntary actionand heart your name)
(writing

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 Autonomic Nervous System
• Sympathetic
Parasympathetic NS NS
Like the brakes
accelerator
in your
of your
car car
Mobilized
Slows the body
the body
down fortoaction
keep its rhythm
Increasesthe
Enables heart
body
rate
to conserve and store energy
Elevates blood pressure

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 Sympathetic NS
and Emotion
• You perceive the sensory stimulus.
• The adrenal gland sends two hormones:
epinephrine and norepinephrine.
• They activate the sympathetic nervous system.
• That produces a state of arousal or alertness that
provides the body with the energy to act (the
pupils dilate, the heart beats faster, and breathing
speeds up).

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 Central Nervous System
• The Spinal Cord

• The Brain

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 The Spinal Cord
• Protected by a column of bones
• Produces some behaviors of its own without
the help of the brain
• These spinal reflexes are automatic,
requesting no conscience effort
• Sometimes they are influenced by thought
and emotion
• Example: touching a hot iron
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 The Brain
• Areas of the Brain

• The Four Lobes of the Brain

• Lateralization
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 The Hind Brain
• Medulla – breathing, heart rate
• Pons – sleeping, walking, dreaming
• Riticular Activating System – alertness,
attention
• Cerebellum – balance, coordination for the
muscles

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 The Forebrain
• Thalamus
Direct sensory messages to higher centers in
the brain
The sight of sunset is directed to a visual area
The only sense that completely bypasses the
thalamus is the sense of smell, which has its
private switching station, the olfactory
bulb
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 The Forebrain
The Hypothalamus
It is involved with drives associated with
survival such as hunger, thirst, emotion,
sex, and reproduction

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 The Forebrain
The Limbic System
• The Amygdala
Responsible for evaluating sensory information
It determines its emotional importance
It makes the decision to approach or to withdraw
Its initial response may be overridden by the
appraisal of the cerebral cortex
• The Hippocampus
The gate way to memory

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 The Forebrain
• The Cerebrum
Higher forms of thinking take place in it
It is divided into two halves called the
cerebral hemispheres that are connected
by a large band of fibers called the corpus
callosum
They have different tasks (lateralization)

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 The Forebrain
• The Cerebral Cortex
The cerebrum is covered by several thin
layers of densely packed cells known as the
cerebral cortex
On each cerebral hemisphere, deep fissures
divide the cortex into 4 lobes

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 The Four Lobes of the
Cerebral Cortex
Occipital Parietal Temporal Frontal
Lobes Lobe Lobes Lobes
-at the back -at the top -at the sides -toward the
of the head of the brain of the brain front of the
-Visual -Somato- -Auditory brain
cortex sensory cortex -Motor
cortex -memory, cortex
-pressure, perception, -voluntary
touch, pain emotion, movement
language of muscles
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 Functions of the Cortex
Motor Cortex – an area of the frontal lobes
that controls voluntary movements.
It sends messages out to the body.
When stimulating, specific parts of the
region in the left or right hemisphere,
specific body parts moved on the opposite
side of the body.

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 Functions of the Cortex
Sensory Cortex – the area at the front of the parietal
lobes that receives, registers, and processes body
sensations.
Association Functions – areas of the cerebral cortex
that are not involved in primary motor or sensory
functions; rather, they are involved in higher
mental functions such as learning, remembering,
thinking, and speaking.

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 Functions of the Cortex
Language
1- Broca’s Area – an area of the frontal
lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that
directs the muscle movements involved in
speech
2- Wernicke’s Area – a brain area involved
in language comprehension and expression;
usually in the left temporal lobe.

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 Specialization and Integration in
Language
1- Visual cortex – receives written words as visual
stimulation.
2- Angular gyrus – transforms visual representations
into an auditory code.
3- Wernicke’s area – interprets auditory code.
4- Broca’s area – controls speech muscles via the
motor cortex.
5- Motor cortex – word is pronounced.

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 Lateralization
RightHemisphere
Left Hemisphere
Verbal competence
Nonverbal areas
Speaking, reading,
Comprehension, spatial
thinking
relationships,
& reasoning
drawing,info
Processes music, emotion
in sequence
Processes
One piece info. As at
of data a whole
a time
intuitive
logical

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 Emotion and Lateralization
RightHemisphere
Left Hemisphere
• Important for the expression of negative
positive emotion
emotion
• Damage to the R.H.
L.H. leads
may make
to losspeople
of theeuphoric.
capacity of joy.
• Activation in the L.H. leads to tendencies to approach
• other people.
Activation in the R.H. leads to tendencies to withdraw
from people.

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 Neurons
• The NS is made up in part of neurons
• They are held in place by glial cells
• The Function of Glial Cells:
– Provide neurons with nutrients
– Insulate neurons
– Remove cellular debris when neurons die

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 The Structure of the Neuron
• 1- Dendrites
Act like antennas receiving messages
• 2- The Cell Body
Contains the biochemical machinery to keep
the neuron alive
• 3- The Axon
Transmits messages away from the cell body
to other neurons
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 Myelin Sheath
• Surrounds the axons
• A layer of fatty material, which is derived
from glial cells
• There are 2 purposes of the myelin sheath:
– To prevent signals from adjacent cells from
interfering with each other
– To speed up the production of neural impulses

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 Stop!
• Is the brain
capable of
reorganizing
itself if
damaged?

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 Plasticity
• When one brain area is damaged, other areas may
in time reorganize and take over some of its
functions.
• If neurons are destroyed, nearby neurons may
partly compensate for the damage by making new
connections that replace the lost ones.
• Examples: How the sense of touch in blind men
invades the visual part of the brain.
How the brain struggles to recover from a minor
stroke.

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 Stop!
• Could damaged
neurons in the
central nervous
system multiply
and grow back?

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 Precursor Cells
(Immature Cells)
• Precursor cells can give birth to new
neurons when immersed in a growth-
promotion protein
• Physical and mental exercise promote the
survival and the production of new
precursor cells
• Stress can prohibit the production of new
cells
• Nicotine can kill precursor cells 37
How Neurons Communicate

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Chemical Messengers in the NS
• Neurotransmitters

• Endorphins

• Hormones

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 Neurotransmitters
• Neurotransmitters travel from one neuron to
another. Changes occur in the receiving
neuron’s membrane,
• The ultimate effect is either:
– Excitatory: the probability that the receiving
neuron will fire increases
– Inhibitory: the probability that the receiving
neuron will fire decreases
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 Neurotransmitters
Serotonin
Sleep, appetite, sensory perception, temperature
regulation, pain suppression, and mood
Dopamine
Voluntary movement, learning, memory, and
emotion
Acetylcholine
Muscle action, cognitive functioning, memory, and
emotion

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 Neurotransmitters
Norepinephrine
Increased heart rate and the slowing of intestinal
activity during stress, learning, memory,
dreaming, waking from sleep, and emotion
GABA
(gama-aminobutyic acid)
The major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the
brain
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 Neurotransmitters & Hormones
Acetylcholine
Shortage in acetylcholine may be associated with
Alzheimer’s disease
Dopamine
The degeneration of brain cells that produce and use
another neurotransmitter, dopamine, appears to
cause symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
Low levels of dopamine may cause ADHD

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 Neurotransmitters & Hormones
Serotonin
Decrease in norepinephrine and serotonin is
associated with depression. Elevated levels along
with other biochemical and brain abnormalities
have been implicated in childhood autism.
Norepinephrine
Norepinephrine, epinephrine, and adrenaline are
associated with excitement and stress.

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 Neurotransmitters & Hormones
Cortisol
Cortisol is associated with stress. Increase in cortisol
damages the brain and may be associated with
posttraumatic stress.
GABA
Abnormal GABA levels have between implicated in sleep
and eating disorders and in compulsive disorders.
Glutamate
Glutamate, serotonin, and high levels of dopamine have been
associated with schizophrenia

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