The Cerebral Cortex

When it comes to the topic of having a growth mindset, most of us will readily agree that students who are praised are motivated to learn. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of how they are praised. Whereas some are convinced that praising students for their intelligence will motivate them to learn, others maintain that encouraging them for their efforts has a better impact on their motivation.

While on patrol, I was parked in the entrance to Mansard's plaza, facing E Ridge Rd, monitoring traffic. A female in a silver pickup truck pulled into the lot and flagged me down. The female pointed towards a white and maroon Corvette traveling east on Ridge Rd and stated that she believes the driver may be intoxicated. I immediately pulled onto Ridge Rd and got behind the Corvette. As I was following the Corvette east on Ridge, another vehicle with a male driver pulled up to the side of me and shouted out the window, "That guy is drunk". I then observed the Corvette to weave from the outside lane to the center lane, without signaling. The vehicle then abruptly swerved back into the outside lane, without signaling. The vehicle then came to

The brain stem or the medulla is the closest to the spinal cord. The brainstem is responsible for most of the human bodily functions. The brain stem is critical for human survival and normal human functions. The brain stem is also responsible for information of pain and touch from the head and neck; it is also responsible for the inputs from the face and the mouth. Reticular formation is a group of neurons, nuclei, that are important for sleep and wakefulness. In reticular formation there is nuclei that are a major source of neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin is important for regulating mood and activities.

The frontal lobe contains two key structures that have a great impact on mood, behavior and judgment. These structures are located in the outer area of the cerebrum towards the front of the skull (Carlson, 2013). This paper will discuss the function and structure of the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex (including the orbitofrontal cortex) and the Dorsolateral Cortex.

The brains left and right hemisphere are filled mainly with axons connecting the cortex to the brains other regions

The brain is a unique organ, it allows us as humans, for example to imagine, speak and perform a lot more complex functions. To function well as a complex organ, the brain has a lot of cells. The brain consists of neurones and glia cells. Neurones observe changes from the environment, communicate these changes to other neurones and issue commands to the body to react on these changes. Glia cells give the neurones among other things protection and support. Neurones are really small cells composed of two parts: the soma, which contain the cell nucleus and neurites, which are projections from the soma. There are two different types of neurites, the axon and the dendrite. Dendrites receive signals to transfer to the neurones and axons carry the output of the neurones. Figure 1 gives a schematic overview of a neuron and shows the dendrites, cell body and axon. This essay will discuss the structure of neurones and the different types of neurones further in detail. It will start with the structure of a typical structure of a neuron and then the different types of neurones, the sensory-, motor- and interneurones. (Bear, M.F. et al. (2007))

The personality trait anxiousness seems to have a genetic component, because individuals with that have different biological and behavioral variations of the serotonin-transporter-linked-promotor region (5HTTLPR) genotypes indicate that it’s the cause of differential biological stress reactivity. “Susceptibility to stress may have biological roots, especially in the serotonergic system” (Petersen). Different people becoming anxious and reacting to stress differently because of a genotype shows that there’s a strong nature component. One of the parts of the brain that anxiousness can affect is the amygdala, which signals aggression and fear. “Cognitively changing the meaning of emotional stimuli effects evoked responses in the amygdala and other brain areas” (Mocaiber). So trait-anxious individuals sometimes unconsciously change the meaning of a stimulus to an anxious context. Not only are they succeptible to making stimuli a threat, Mocaiber also claims that they can be “abnormally sensitive to threat-related stimuli.” This makes sense that anxious people see more things as threats and can spot an actual threat very easily.

Memory is both an essential, yet complex, psychological process that relies on numerous neuroanatomical structures, including parts of the prefrontal cortex, cerebral cortex, temporal lobe, amygdala, cerebellum, basal ganglia, and the hippocampus, just to name a few. However, almost all areas of the human brain are connected to the systematic functioning of memory. According to Okano, Hirano, & Balaban (2000), differentiation between the process of memory and the process of learning is important in order understanding the neurobiological aspects of memory, although both are very closely connected. The researchers define memory as a behavioral modification resulting from innate experiences, while the act of learning is more of a process for

This essay will attempt to offer a balanced review of the use of brain imaging technologies in investigating the relationships between biological factors and behavior. The different types of brain imaging technologies are PET: Positron Emission Topography, MRI: Magnetic Resonance Imaging, fMRI: functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, EEG: Electroencephalogram, and lastly CAT: Computerized Axial Tomography (Demitri, 2007). Brain imaging technologies are methods used in psychology to examine and further understand the human brain. While each of the differing methods has qualities that are beneficial in general it is important

The brain has a part called the cerebral cortex(gray matter) which is made up of 3 to 6 layers of neurons.[7] A neuron has three parts namely axon, dendrites and cell body.[6] Neurons are classified as principal(projection) neurons and interneurons. Principal neurons transmit information to other neurons in the brain and form excitatory synapses. Interneurons in the CNS transmit impulses locally and form inhibitory synapse.[7] Two common types of pathways for these neurons include recurrent feedback pathways and feed-forward pathways.[9](Figure 2)

These outcomes show that the classification specificity of reactions in Ventral Temporal Cortex isn't confined exclusively to locales that react maximally to specific boosts, along these lines bringing up the issue of whether the portrayal of countenances and questions in this cortex has a Topographic association that exists with a better spatial determination than that characterized by such

I decided to write my literature after going through one of the textbooks in my physiological psychology course and remembered about the cerebral hemispheres, which receives sensory information from opposite sides of the body. This got interested in the topic of cerebral hemispheres and sensory information after a split brain operation. The split brain procedure is a surgical operation that’s used for people that have severe epilepsy that can’t be controlled by the drugs they take. In the brains of people with severe epilepsy, the nerve cells on one side of the brain are overactive and the overactivity is relayed to the other side by the corpus callosum, a bundle of nerve cells that connect certain parts of one side of the brain to the other. The corpus callosum enables the left and right side of the brain to share information so that both sides knows what the other is doing and perceiving. Both sides of the brain engage in out of control activity that stimulate each other, causing stereotypical seizures that recur throughout the day preventing the person from living a normal life. Neurosurgeons have discovered that severing the corpus callosum greatly reduces the often recurring seizures.

The cerebral cortex accounts for roughly 40% of the total brain mass. This tissue consists of neuron cell bodies, dendrites and unmyelinated axons. This layer is normally only 2 – 4 mm thick, but due to the sulci and gyri has a large surface area. The cerebral cortex contains three areas: i) motor areas; ii) sensory areas; and iii) association areas. Motor areas control voluntary motor functions, sensory areas provide conscious awareness of sensation, and association areas act to integrate diverse information for action (Marieb, 1998). Located below the grey matter in the cerebral cortex is the cerebral white matter. The role of the white matter is to provide communication between cerebral areas, the cerebral cortex and lower central nervous

Located at the base of the brain, the cerebellum connects to the spinal cord and coordinates voluntary movements. There are three parts to the cerebellum but in the interests of answering this question, the focus will concentrate on the vestibulocerebellum. The vestibulocerebellum is a complex system controlling balance due to its connection to the vestibular canals of the inner ear (Knierim, 1997). The specialised nerve endings inside these structures detect the position and movement of the head as well as changes in position. This input is vital to the brain’s ability to affect muscle tone and coordinate the muscles that maintain balance in standing and walking, as well as controlling extraocular muscles (Purves, Augustine & Fitzpatrick,

You live and you learn, from the moment that we breathe our first breath, we are assimilating and are acquiring information. Life changing and profound learning experiences happen before we can even speak, as children our learning process is grandiose. Harvard University published a series of summaries on Child development. One of these articles mentions that “The basic architecture of the brain is constructed through an ongoing process that begins before birth and continues into adulthood.” ("InBrief: The Science of Early Childhood Development," n.d.).