The And Its Effects On The Human Brain

A fresh human brain does not resemble the stereotypical fixated human brain typically seen in textbooks or diagrams. Instead, a fresh human brain is rich in vasculature, extending across the entire surface of the brain. The brain, in a sense, is greedy, requiring twenty percent of the oxygen coming from the lungs and twenty percent of the blood pumped by the heart. Recently, the brain’s greediness has led to advances in medical brain imaging technology. The PET scan maps the amount blood flow through specific areas of the brain, allowing researchers to localize particular functions to precise areas of the brain. In the TED talk, Dr. Allen explains the function of the cerebellum, temporal cortex, and frontal lobe – areas of the brain whose functions were determined using PET scan.

“A cat-scan computer generated x-ray pictures of the human brain, exposing the secrets that lay hidden within the skull.” (Ch8, pg38)

67) The frontal lobes are described as the brain’s “orchestra leader” (Martin, 1998, p. 190), which would place them at the reins of controlling effective behaviour. Damage to the frontal lobes encompasses a wide range of symptoms including deficits in executive functioning, changes in personality, emotional expression and social interaction. This includes apathy and lack of spontaneity, inability to plan and modify the sequencing of behaviour and inappropriate behaviour. 2

My best friends invited me over for pizza and a friendly game of cards and the Broca’s area, which deals with language and speech; the hippocampus, that plays a crucial part in memory; the hypothalamus, partly controlling my body’s endocrine and hormone- producing system and the occipital lobe allowing me to see all that goes on around me, all are parts of my brain which was involved during the evening of eating pizza, socializing, and playing cards with my friends.

In the article titled, “Secrets of the Brain” published in the February 2014 issue of National Geographic, we learn that there have been many advances in understanding the inner workings of our brains. One of the leading scentists, Van Weeden, is working hard to understand the connections that occur within our heads.

The progress of neuroscience has been significant in the past 500 years. and with the advance of technology, there is yet a multitude of chapters left to write in the history books of neuroscience. The book The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons: written by Sam Kean was an engrossing and captivating read. It gives the reader a better appreciation for the growing pains of neuroscience and provides an educational, albeit entertaining overview of the anatomy and physiology of the brain and nervous system. From the early life and discoveries of Santiago Ramón y Cajal and his fascination with Golgi’s method la razione nera, which allowed Cajal to deduct after observing

I read the article, “Secrets of the Brain”, found in the February 2014 issue of National Geographic written by Carl Zimmer. I chose this subject because I have been fascinated with the brain and how it works. The research of the brain has been ongoing for many centuries now. The history in this article is interesting. It explained how scientists used to understand the brain and its inner workings. For example, “in the ancient world physicians believed that the brain was made of phlegm. Aristotle looked on it as a refrigerator, cooling of the fiery heart. From his time through the Renaissance, anatomists declared with great authority that our perceptions, emotions, reasoning, and actions were all the result of “animal spirits”—mysterious, unknowable vapors that swirled through cavities in our head and traveled through our bodies.” (Zimmer, p. 38)

The nineteenth century saw an explosion in knowledge regarding the brain unlike any before. For centuries, the brain had been considered the seat of human intelligence. However, the brain of the classics was a singular organ of

My short assignment four best demonstrates this outcome. In this assignment, I explored the field of biopsychology, the study of the brain and behavior, by attending a lecture of biopsychology class here at the University of Washington. Dr. Lauren Graham spoke on the topic of the nervous system

The limbic system was first recognized due to Franz Josef Gall (LeDoux, J., 1996). Franz Joseph Gall developed the idea of “phrenology” that focused on the study of the different variations of bumps on the human skull to be related to differences in behavioral and emotional functioning. The limbic system’s main function in the brain is to control emotional behaviors and certain forms of memories that are infused with emotion (amygdala). The amygdala is a part of the brain that forms the tail end of the basal ganglia within the rostral temporal lobe and is located near the hippocampus (Lambert, K.G. & Kinsley, C .H., 2005). The amygdala, as defined by the text, is an almond-shaped structure that functions as a part of the limbic system involved in regulation of emotion and sexual urges (Lambert, K.G. & Kinsley, C .H., 2005). In addition, the amygdala is comprised of a dozen or more sub regions that are not all involved in fear conditioning (LeDoux, J., 1996).

This, I led me too a love of psychology. How wonderful was it that there was a whole science devoted just to that one mystical organ? Studying the brain, we can unlock the doors to human

The importance of the amygdala in social cognitions has been examined in both primate and human studies. Use of primates to study the social brain suggests that the amygdala contributes to social cognition. Kluver and Bucy made large bilateral lesions in monkey brains made across the amygdala, temporal neocortex, and surrounding structure. After the lesion, the animals engaged in hypersexual behaviors, unusual tameness, and a lack of knowledge about emotional stimuli. Lesions exclusively targeting the monkey’s amygdala resulted in similar, but more subtle impairments. This suggest that the amygdala may play a role in emotions elicited by social cues. Studies of the amygdala’s role in human social cognition suggest that the temporal lobes process socially relevant facial information from humans. Emotions from facial expressions, in particular fear are projected to the amygdala. Studies using FMRI to examine typical subjects and subjects with amygdala damage support this theory. Individuals with amygdala damage have difficulty recognizing facial expressions, specifically negative emotions such as fear.

Title: Evaluate experimental and brain-imaging techniques and consider what they tell us about the brain and cognitive behaviour in typical and atypical individuals.

Franz Joseph Gall created the first comprehensive theory of brain localization in 1796. Phrenology is a pseudoscientific theory that asserts an individual’s personality and mental capacities can be determined by the shape of their skull (Cooter, 1984). “Organology” was the original term that Gall used to describe his science; it was Gall’s follower, T.I.M Forster, who coined the term phrenology (Van Wyhe, 1999). Gall’s contemporary, Joseph Franz Spurzheim, was responsible for the dissemination of Gall’s ideas to the United Kingdom and the United States (Selby, 1993). Gall inspired many “egotistical” men to promulgate phrenology, and it “attracted such men because of its promise of superlative intellectual authority with minimal effort” (Van Wyhe, 1999). Phrenology

The human brain is a mystery that has been studied for centuries in attempt to understand how it functions. Scientists first thought that the brain was a structure that functioned a whole. It was in the early 1600’s where the first ideas of localisation of function in the brain started. At this time Rene Descartes discovered a tiny structure called the pineal