Lecture1.docx

REAL LECTURE: Chapter 1, 12 and 13 HOW the nervous system works  The nervous system: the central and the peripheral nervous system  CENTRAL: spinal cord and brain (CNS)  PERIPHRAL: all the other nerves; brings info from the outside to the brain, nerves from the spinal cord and brain that go all over the body (PNS)  Slide2: we will spend time on the CNS(brain and spinal cord) we’ll talk about the brain more  Slide3: there isn’t a dividing line between the brain and spinal cord… it’s a gradual change and transition  Slide4: the brain looks like the cerebral cortex and the cerebellum, there are a lot more things going on  Slide5: the overall organization is similar: the very back of the is the spinal cord(from right to left) forebrain, hind brain and mid brain(these are general terms) o The HIND brain: the orangish/golden colour: the base of the brain is pretty small, it’s like a “stem” which is called the “brain stem” MEDULLA and CEREBELLUM are the two major areas (slide4) the purply part right by the stem…the cerebellum: sensory motor integration, it allows you to stand up on two feet, gives you balance, keeps you from falling, most of us don’t stagger because the cerebellum keeps us up/erect…(it’s very complicated), it’s pretty rare for animals to stand o MEDULLA: basic life processes like the heart rate, respiration, keeps you alive at the basic level, BAD to have a stroke or tumour there, the medulla is VERY critical to keep you living RETICULAR FORMATION: you wind up in a coma if the brain doesn’t wake you up. The reticular formation controls the circadian rhythms (sleep/wakefulness cycles) ***Need to know the anterior (toward the front) and posterior (toward the back) *** FORE BRAIN: is HUGE in humans, the central part is THALAMUS (pinkish on slide5)  the HYPOTHALAMUS (hypo=under). The thalamus is a relay centre in humans and larger mammals; info from all over the body stops at the thalamus and goes to the destination. HYPOTHALAMUS: life functions like hormones, keeps the species alive. Controls: thirst, hunger, territoriality and sexual behaviour. Anything that feels good i.e.: sex the four F’s: finding, fighting, feeling and sexual behaviour (fucking) LYMBIC SYSTEM: olfactory, hippocampus slide6: human brain. Slide7: AMYGDALA: controls emotion. HIPPOCAMPUS: also deals with emotions, and feels emotions…being happy, angry falling in love….dogs have a large limbic system. Slide5: most anterior portion: the CEREBRAL CORTEX: the very front of the brain, it curves backit looks like it IS everything, it covers everything. Cerebral cortex is AKA as NEOCORTEX (slide8). Slide9 takes everything apart; the spinal cord moves up into the brain, you see the cerebellum, the midbrain and then the cortex The CORTEX: is involved in HIGHER brain functions. It is most of the human brain! It involves: speech, intelligence, and reasoning. Humans have a serious vocal communication pathwayit includes processing, planning… HOW DID THE BRAIN GET HERE? THROUGH EVOLUTION:  Slide10: shows a number of diff species brains’. Shows some animals that didn’t change much like reptiles. DOGFISH,TURTLE, GOLFISH,RAT and HUMAN: dogfish and goldfishbrains look pretty simple  as animals develop, there are more ways and techniques to distinguish the environment and this helps the chances of their survivalnuclei were developed bumps that is a pathway(i.e. sensation, sight..) whichever animal had more nuclei survived longer  turtle: forebrain is bigger, rat: even bigger and HUMANS have a very big forebrain as we evolved we have evolved to have a larger cerebral cortex, elephants have a larger cerebral cortex (the more intelligent more highly evolved the larger the cer