Neuroscience

Our brain controls everything we do. It controls all of our cognitive processes,
everything that makes us human! Neuroscience is the scientific study of the brain
and nervous system. The brain is resposible for perception, consciousness, memory,
language and intelligence. So it constitutes the material basis of our psychological life.
It contains about 100 billion nerve cells that are called neurons. These receive trillions
of information from each other.

-The cells that transmit information within the nervous system are called neurons.
The building blocks of a neuron are;
-The dendrites that receive information from other neurons and pass it on to the cell
body.
-The cell body which contains neuron’s nucleus and keeps the cell alive, decides
whether or not to pass the information on to other neurons.
-If the cell body decides to pass on the information, then an electric impulse is
generated and travels down to the axon (the long fiber road that carries the impulse
to axon terminals)
-When the impulse reaches the axon terminals, neurotransmitter molecules are
released.

The neurotransmitters that impact our behavior and mental processes are;
Acetylcholine (is involved in learning, memory and muscle movement),
Dopamine (is involved in arousal and mood states and thought
processes)
Seretonin and norepinephrine (are involved in levels of arousal and
mood, sleeping and eating),
GABA (Gamma-aminobutyric acid is involved in lowering arousal and
anxiety and regulating movement),
glutamate (is involved in memory storage, pain perception, strokes and
underactivity may lead to shizophrenia)
endorphine (is involved in pain relief and feelings of pleasure)

These molecules travel across the microscopic gap (the synaptic gap)
between the neurons and carry messages to other neurons,
 It is the chemical communication between the neurons that transmits
and integrates information within the nervous system and give us our
perceptions, feelings, memories, thoughts and the ability to move.

Drugs and poisons affect neurotransmitters by changing their activity level in

either agonistic (increasing the level of neurotransmitter activity) or antagonistic
(decreasing) ways.
For eg. L-dopa drug works for the lack of dopamine in Parkinson’s disease.
Prozac, paxil and zoloft work for depression.
Valium and librium work for anxiety.

The nervous system communicates information by using neurotransmitters

(produced by neurons) and an accompanying system called the endocrine system
that communicates by using slower-acting hormones (chemical messages produced
by endocrine glands).
The endocrine system is not part of the nervous system,but the 2 systems work
together for normal functioning. This sys. plays role in eating, metabolism, growth
and reproduction.

The constitutive parts of the nervous system

The nervous system has 2 main building blocks:
a. the central nervous system (brain and the spinal cord)
b. the peripheral nervous system (links the centr. ner. sys. with the body’s
sensory receptors, muscles and glands).

The central nervous system

a. Between the spinal cord and the cerebral hemispheres there are 2 sets of brain
structures:
i) The central core is made up of;
Medulla (regulates breathing, blood pressure),
Pons (a bridge between cerebellum and the rest of the brain),
 Reticular formation (controlls levels of arousal and awareness),
Cerebellum (coordinates movement and motor learning),
Thalamus (station for incoming sensory information)
Basal ganglia (works for the initiation and execution of physical
movements)
ii) The limbic system plays role in our survival, memory and emotions. It
consists of;
Hypothalamus (regulates basic drives such as eating)
Hippocampus (is involved in the formation of memories)
Amygdala (is involved in emotions by influencing aggression, anger, fear
and the interpretation of emotional expressions in others).
The top cortical layer of the the cerebral hemispheres gives us abilities
such as language, perception and decision making. Each cerebral hemis.
is divided into 4 lobes. About 70% of the cortex is called the association
cortex and all the higher-level cognitive processing (perception,
decision making) occurs here.
The frontal lobes of the brain play major role in planning, reasoning,
impulse control and personality, esp. in emotional aspects.
The left hemisphere specializes in speech, language, mathematical skills
and logic, the right specializes in spatial perception, face recognition
and drawing. These areas work together.
The peripheral nervous system
b. The peripheral ner. sys. has 2 parts that work in
concert with each other.
-the somatic ner.sys. carries sensory information to the central n.s. and
takes commands from the c.n.s. to skeletal muscles to control their
movement.
-the automatic ner. sys. regulates the functioning of our internal
environment ie. The heart, lungs etc. It again has 2 parts:
i) the sympathatic n.s. (expands energy and is in control during
emergencies for defensive action, ie. fight or flight system)
ii) the parasympathetic n.s. (conserves energy and returns us to normal
state, ie. rest and digest system).