The Brain

1. The Workings of the Mind and Body

2.  Nervous system controls your emotions,
movement, thinking and behavior
 2 parts:
 central nervous system (CNS)- the brain and
spinal cord
 peripheral nervous system (PNS)-consists of
smaller branches of nerves that reach other parts
of the body

3. CENTRAL NERVOUS PERIPHERAL NERVOUS
SYSTEM SYSTEM

4.  Long, thin cells of nerve tissue that send
messages to and from the brain; they fire on
an “all-or-nothing” principle
 Parts of a neuron- cell body, dendrites, axon
 Cell body-nucleus; produces energy to fuel
activity
 Dendrites-short, thin fibers that receive impulses
 Axon- long fiber that carries impulses towards the
dendrites of the next neuron

6. Will Explain Why We FEEL……
Strong Nervous
Pain Sick

8. Neuron Structure
Neurons do NOT touch each other- the
space in between is call the synapse.

9.  Neurons transmits impulses by releasing
chemicals- neurotransmitters that excite or
inhibit
 Norepinephrin- involved with memory and
learning (undersupply = depression)
 Endorphin- inhibits pain
 Ecetylcholine- movement and memory (paralysis
and Alzheimer’s)
 Dopamine- involved in learning, emotional
arousal, and movement (oversupply =
schizophrenia, undersupply = Parkinson’s)

10. Its function is motor movement
and maybe memory.
To much and you will….
Not enough and you will….
Lack of ACH has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

11. Its function is motor movement
and alertness.
Lack of dopamine is associated with
Parkinson’s disease.
Overabundance is associated with
schizophrenia.

12. Function deals with pain control.
We become addicted to endorphin causing
feelings.

13. Function deals with mood control.
Lack of serotonin
has been linked to
depression.

14. It is an electrochemical process
Electrical inside the neuron
Chemical outside the neuron (in
the synapse in the form of a
neurotransmitter).
The firing is call Action
Potential.

15.  The idea that
either the
neuron fires or
it does not- no
part way firing.
 Like a gun

16. How Neurons Communicate

17. Sensory Neurons
Motor Neurons
Inter Neurons

18. Take information from the
senses to the brain.

19. Take information from brain
to the rest of the body.

20.  Takemessages
from Sensory
Neurons to
other parts of
the brain or to
Motor Neurons.

21. Divisions of the Nervous
System

22.  Somatic nervous system (SNS)- controls
voluntary activities- movement of skeletal
muscles

23.  Autonomic nervous system (ANS)- controls
involuntary activities such as heartbeat and
stomach activity
 Sypathetic N.S.- “fight or flight”

24. Flight or Fight Response - prepares body for
dealing with emergencies or strenuous
activity

25.  works to conserve energy and enhance the body’s
ability to recover from strenuous activity

27. A Simple Reflex

28. A Simplified Neural
Network as a team.
Neurons that learn to work together

29.  Accidents
 Lesions
 CAT Scan
 PET Scan
 MRI
 Functional MRI

30.  Hindbrain- rear base of skull; most basic
processes of life
 Cerebellum- helps control posture, balance and
voluntary movements
 Medulla- breathing, heart rate and reflexes
 The pons- bridge between spinal cord and brain;
produces chemicals for sleep
 Midbrain- small part above the pons; integrates
sensory info and relays it upward
 RAS- reticular activation system- alerts the rest of
brain to incoming signals

31.  Cerebrum consists of 2 hemispheres connected by a
band of fibers- corpus callosum
 Cerebral cortex is divided into 4 lobes
 Occipital lobe- processes visual signals
 Parietal lobe- processes info from senses from all over the
body
 Temporal lobe- hearing, memory, emotion and speaking
 Frontal lobe- organization, planning and creative thinking
 Somatosensory cortex- receives info from touch
sensors
 Motor cortex- controls fine movement

32. 1. Hindbrain
2. Midbrain
3. Forebrain
-Cerebral
Cortex (part
or forebrain)

33. Structures on top of our spinal cord.
 Controls basic biological structures.
The brain in
purple makes up
the hindbrain.

34.  Located just above
the spinal cord.
Involved in control of
 blood pressure
 heart rate
 Breathing
 Reflexes

35.  Located just above
the medulla.
 Connects hindbrain
with midbrain and
forebrain.
 Involved in facial
expressions,
produces chemicals
for sleep

36.  Bottom rear of
the brain.
 “little brain”
 Coordinates fine
muscle
movements –
posture, balance

38. If stimulated
 Coordinates simple
movements with
sensory information -
RAS- reticular activation
system- alerts the rest of
brain to incoming signals
 controls arousal and
ability to focus our
attention (important!)
If Destroyed

39.  What makes us
human.
 Largest part of
the brain – central
core
.

40.  Maybe most
important structure
in the brain.
Controls and regulates
 Body temperature
 Sexual Arousal
The most powerful structure in the brain.  Hunger
 Thirst
 Endocrine System

41.  Switchboard of the
brain.
 Receives sensory
signals from the
spinal cord and sends
them to other parts
of the forebrain.
 Every sense except
smell.

42.  Made up of densely
packed neurons we call
“gray matter”
 Glial Cells: support
brain cells.
 Wrinkles are called
fissures.
 outer layer; ability to
learn and store
complex and abstract
info and to project
thinking into the
future

43. The Cerebral Cortex is made up
of four Lobes.

44.  Abstract thought and
emotional control.
 Contains Motor Cortex: sends
signals to our body controlling
muscle movements.
 Contains Broca’s Area:
responsible for controlling
muscles that produce speech.
 Damage to Broca’s Area is
called Broca’s Aphasia: unable
to make movements to talk.

45. Motor and Sensory Cortexes

46.  Contain Sensory
Cortex: receives
incoming touch
sensations from rest
of the body.
 Most of the Parietal
Where would this girl feel the most
pain from her sunburn? Lobes are made up of
Association Areas.

47.  Any area not associated with receiving
sensory information or coordinating muscle
movements.

48. Motor and Sensory Cortexes

49.  Deals with vision.
 Contains Visual
Cortex: interprets
messages from our
eyes into images
we can understand.

51.  Process sound sensed
by our ears.
 Interpreted in
Auditory Cortex.
 NOT LATERALIZED.
 Contains Wernike's
Area: interprets
written and spoken
speech.
 Wernike's Aphasia:
unable to understand
language: the syntax

52. Specialization and Integration in Language

53. Brain Activity when Hearing, Seeing, and
Speaking Words

54. The Limbic System

55.  Involvedin the
processing and
storage of
memories.

56.  Involved in how
we process
memory.
 More involved in
volatile emotions
like anger.
The emotion of anger has not changed much
throughout evolution.

57. Pituitary Gland
•“master gland”
•Key hormone is the growth
hormone.
•Overproduction may result in
gigantism.
•Major growth in hands, feet, and chin.

58. Divides the 2
hemispheres.

59. Divided into to
hemispheres.
 Contralateral control:
right controls left and
vice versa.
In general,
Left Hemisphere: logic
and sequential tasks.
Right Hemisphere:
spatial and creative
tasks.

60.  The idea that the
brain, when
damaged, will
attempt to find
news ways to
reroute messages.
 Children’s brains
are more plastic
than adults.

61. Left hemisphere Right hemisphere
 Controls right side of  Controls left side of
body body
 Verbal  Nonverbal
 Mathematical  Spatial/visual
 Analytical  Holistic
 logic  Perception, patterns
 Creativity/intuition

62. •19 men and 19 women asked to determine if two nonsense words rhymed.
•All 19 men had left frontal lobe light up
•11 of 19 women had that plus lighting behind right eyebrow
•Left brain (reason) Right brain (feelings)
•Thus women draw on feelings as well as reason when they use words.

63. University of Pennsylvania
•37 men and 24 women told to think of nothing while linked to a PET
machine
•Men-reported being fixated on sex and football
•Women-fixated on stringing words together, such as “How much
longer?”, “Why are we doing this?”

64. Found that the women’s corpus callosum to be 23% larger than
men’s. This may be the reason for more hemispheric chit chat. Also
may help explain why women have better intuition.

65. Baby’s Brain
Genetics make up basic wiring of
the brain. Experience makes up
the majority. “Live” language
boosts
vocabulary. The downside to a baby’s brain is that it is very vulnerable to trauma.
Stress produces a hormone called cortisol, which acts like an acid on the brain.

66. Those who dues to epilepsy,
have their corpus callosum
removed.

67.  The 2 hemispheres communicate through the
corpus callosum
 Sometimes necessary to disconnect the 2
sides- severe seizures
 Split brain people have difficulty verbalizing
objects in the left hand
 Injuries to the specific areas of the brain
cause personality changes, emotional
changes, speech and memory issues, etc.

68. Testing the Divided Brain

69. Decreasing Left-handers

70.  Phineas Gage- railroad foreman had temping
iron puncture his skull; changed his
personality- more aggressive
 Lesions- experiments with animals;
destroying temporal lobe in rhesus monkeys
gave them violent tendencies
 Broca’s area- left side of cortex was damaged
in his patient- could not produce speech

71.  Electroencephalograph (EEG)- machine used to
record electrical activity of the brain
 Computerized axial tomography (CAT)- uses x-ray
beams (radiation) to study the brain to pinpoint
injuries and brain deterioration
 Positron emission tomography (PET)- uses
radioactive solution to see which brain areas are
activated while performing tasks
 Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)- passes non-
harmful radio frequencies through the brain to
study structure and activity
 FMRI- functional MRI uses blood oxygen level

72. A system of glands that secrete
hormones.
Similar to nervous system, except
hormones work a lot slower than
neurotransmitters.
Hormones
Neurotransmitters

73. The Major Endocrine Glands

74.  Sends chemical messages (hormones) to and
from the brain
 Hormones- chemical substances - carry
messages through the body in blood;
-growth of muscles and bones,
metabolic processes, energy, moods, and
drives

76. Neurotransmitters - Send rapid and
specific messages
Hormones - Send slow, widespread
communication

77.  Nature v. nurture
 Flower analogy- genes establish what you
could be and environment defines the final
product
 Studies done on identical twins raised apart
help to show how much of our personality is
from genetics and from environment

79.  Consciousness- a state of awareness
Sleep Cycles
Stage 1- pulse slows, irregular brain wave activity;
drifting; approx. 10 minutes
Stage 2- high amplitude, low frequency waves
Stage 3- after 30 minutes; large amplitude delta waves
Stage 4- deepest sleep; large delta waves
75% of sleep time is spent in stages 1-4
REM sleep- rapid eye movement; high level of brain
activity with deep relaxation of muscles and dreams;
lasts 15-45 minutes; run through cycles every 90
minutes

80.  Circadian rhythm- biological clock genetically
programmed to regulate physiological responses
within 24 hours
 How much sleep do you need?
 Newborns- 16 hrs
 Teens- 10-11 hrs
 College age- 8 hrs
 70 year olds- 5 hours
 Lucid dreaming- you are aware that you are
dreaming; day dreaming

81. Insomnia Sleep apnea Narcolepsy Nightmares Night terrors Sleep-
walking
Failure to get Person has Sudden Unpleasant Sleep Walking or
enough sleep trouble falling asleep dreams disruptions carrying out
breathing or feeling during REM during stage 4 behaviors
while asleep; sleepy during sleep; vivid involving while
affects 1 in the day dreams screaming, sleeping; no
100 panic or memory of
Americans confusion; no doing so
memory of
night terror
Causes- Causes- Causes-
anxiety, enlarged stress,
depression, tonsils, fatigue,
alcohol or infections of sedative
drug abuse throat/middle medicines,
ear, obesity genetics

83.  Hypnosis- altered consciousness due to
narrowed focus; people are highly
suggestible to changes in behavior and
thought
 Franz Anton Mesmer- 1st hypnotist
 Neodissociation theory- “hidden observer”
part of the personality watches and reports
what happens to the hypnotized person

84.  Posthypnotic suggestion- a suggestion made
during hypnosis that influences behavior
afterward; helpful with unwanted behaviors such
as smoking and over eating
 Hypnotic analgesia- hypnosis used to reduce pain
 Biofeedback- learning to control bodily states with
the help of monitoring machines; control
brainwaves, heart rate, blood pressure, skin
temperature; feedback makes learning possible

85.  Meditation- focusing attention to clear one’s mind
and produce relaxation
 Transcendental meditation- mental repetition of
a mantra; eyes closed 15-20 minutes a day
 Mindful meditation- Buddhist tradition; focus on
present movement
 Breath meditation- concentration on inhaling and
exhaling
 Meditation has been found to help lower blood
pressure, heart rate and respiration rate

86.  How drugs work-
 Carried by the blood, work like neurotransmitters
at the end of nerve cells to send their own
messages
 Psychoactive drugs- interact with nervous
system and alter consciousness, mood,
perception & behavior (caffeine, alcohol,
marijuana, LSD)

87.  Marijuana- most often used illegal drug
 THC- active ingredient
 Effects vary from person to person- intensifies
sensory experiences, distorts perception of time,
intensifies unpleasant feelings, impairs learning,
disrupts memory formation
 Psychologically addicting
 Causes lung damage

88.  Hallucinations- perceptions that have no direct
external cause
 Hallucinogens/psychedelics- drugs that often
produce hallucinations; create a loss of contact
with reality (LSD)
 Opiates/narcotics (opium, morphine, heroin); they
produce analgesia- pain reduction, euphoria and
constipation; leads to physical addiction; overdose
results in loss of control of breathing
 Alcohol- most widely used/abused drug;
depressant that inhibits brain’s normal functions

89. Drug category examples effects Negative effects
stimulants Nicotine, caffeine, Increases alertness Anxiety, restlessness,
amphetamines, and energy, irritability,
crystal meth excitation, euphoria, sleeplessness,
confidence aggressiveness,
feelings of panic
depressants alcohol Relaxation Relieves inhibitions;
impairs memory and
judgment
tranquilizers Valium, Xanax, Relieves anxiety, Impaired
barbiturates relaxes muscles, coordination,
induces sleep depression, lethargy,
drowsiness
opiates/narcotics Morphine, heroin, Euphoria, less Lethargy, nausea,
opium, codeine, sensitivity to pain, impaired
vicodin coordination,
unpleasant
withdrawal effects
hallucinogens LSD, mescaline Euphoria, changed Nausea, paranoia,
perception, insightful panic, jumbled
moments thoughts

90.  Why do people abuse drugs?
 What are the dangers?
 How can we treat drug abuse?
 How can we prevent drug use?

92.  Stimulus- any aspect of or change in the
environment to which an organism responds
 Sensation- what occurs when a stimulus activates
a receptor
 Perception- the organization of sensory
information into meaningful experiences
 Psychophysics- the study of the relationship
between stimuli and sensory experiences

93.  Absolute threshold- the weakest amount of a
stimulus required to produce a sensation
 Difference threshold- smallest change in a
physical stimulus that can be detected between
two stimuli
 Just Noticeable Difference (JND)- smallest
increase or decrease in the intensity of a stimulus
that a person is able to detect
 Weber’s Law- the larger or stronger a stimulus, the
larger the change required for a person to notice

94.  Signal-detection theory- humans can
choose what stimuli to attend to and block
out surrounding stimuli
 Sensory adaptation- we respond to and
adapt to changes in our environment
 The Stroop Effect-

95.  7 senses- vision, hearing, taste, smell, touch,
vestibular (balance) & kinesthetic (movement
& body position)

97.  Objects look the color of light they reflect; they
absorb all other light colors
 Blind spot- where optic nerve exits the eye
 Color deficient- when cones don’t function
properly
 Binocular vision- combining images from each
eye into a single image
 Retinal disparity- the differences between the
images which is essential to depth perception
 Near sightedness and far sightedness

99.  Loudness- determined by amplitude (height of
wave)
 Decibel- measure of loudness (sound pressure
energy)
 Pitch- depends on frequency
 Deafness- 2 types
 Conduction-problems with outer or middle ear when
physical motion is hindered; can be helped with hearing
aids
 Sensorineural- damage to cochlea, hair cells, or neurons

100.  Regulated by vestibular system in the inner
ear (fluid)
 3 semicircular canals
 Stimuli for responses- spinning, falling, tilting
head

101.  Gaseous molecules must come into contact
with smell receptors in nose
 Olfactory nerve carries impulses from nose to
the brain

102.  Liquid chemicals stimulate taste bud receptors
 4 senses
 Sour
 Salty
 Bitter
 Sweet
 Flavor is a combination of taste, smell and
tactile sensations

103.  Receptors responsible for info about pressure,
warmth, cold & pain
 2 kinds of pain
 Sharp and localized
 Dull and generalized
 Gate control theory of pain- can lessen pain
by shifting attention away from pain impulses
or by sending competing signals

104.  Sense of movement and body position
 Receptors in muscles, tendons, and joints
 It coordinates movement

105.  Gestalt- organizing bits & pieces of
information into meaningful wholes
 Proximity Similarity
 Closure Continuity
 simplicity

106.  Figure-ground perception- ability to
discriminate between a figure and its
background
 Perceptual inference- filling in gaps in what
our senses tell us
 Subliminal messages- brief auditory or visual
messages presented below the absolute
threshold

107.  Motion parallax- the apparent movement of
stationary objects relative to one another that
occurs when the observer changes position
 Constancy- tendency to perceive objects in the
same way regardless of changing angle, distance,
or lighting
 Illusions- perceptions that misrepresent physical
stimuli
 Extra sensory perception (ESP)- ability to gain
information by some means other than ordinary
senses