PSYCH 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Substance Abuse, Acetylcholine, Pragmatism
Document Summary
How does the brain work? (neurons and neurotransmitters: compared to a computing device, extraordinarily complex. If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn"t emerson m. pugh the biological origin of. Neurons: unit of analysis that demonstrates how brain operates, 86 billion cells that communicate in networks communication sending signals (turning on or off neurons/signals) receive neurotransmitters, dendrites. Branches that receive neurotransmitter (many different types) Enough chemical change to trigger action potential down the axon shielded by the myelin sheath. Modern methods, levels of analysis, and brain maps: vasculature. Primary auditory processing: non-uniformly distributed neurons, astrocytes glia support cells, hippocampus. Sending messages up to 10,000 other neurons in brain. Related to function: can scan through genome and find a similar fingerprint. Find better drug targets (affect protein function) Get clues about common pathways due to similar gene activation: there"s so much to learn about how the brain works.