Parts of the brain and what each does

Early Brain Development:

-A baby's brain is a work in progress! The brain that eventually takes shape is the result of interaction between the child's genetic inheritance and the culturally constructed environments of childhood. -There is no nature/nurture controversy- it is a dance between the two!

Synapses:

At birth 50 trillion At 1 year 1000 trillion At age 20 500 trillion

Corpus callosum

Bundle of axons, connects the two hemispheres

Cerebellum

Coordination of movement, balance, posture

Dopamine • Norepinephrine - Responsible for stimulatory processes in body - Causes anxiety at elevated excretion levels • Also causes mood dampening effects - Low levels are associated with low energy and decreased focus • Epinephrine - Reflective of stress - Often elevated when ADHD symptoms are present - Long term stress or insomnia can deplete - Regulates heart rate and blood pressure

Excitatory NTs

Two Types of neural plasticity

Functional Plasticity: Refers to the brain's ability to move functions from a damaged area of the brain to other undamaged areas. • Structural Plasticity: Refers to the brain's ability to actually change its physical structure as a result of learning.

Serotonin - Can be depleted by caffeine or stimulants - Regulates sleep, pain, digestion - Needed for stable mood as it balances any excitatory NTs • GABA - Nature's valium • Dopamine - Main focus NT - Responsible for motivation - Stimulating dopamine consistently can cause depletion

Inhibitory NTs

Hippocampus (limbic system)

Learning and memory

Brain's ability to change and adapt as a result of experience • Brain continues to create new neural pathways and alter existing ones in order to adapt to new experiences, learn new things, and create new memories

Neural Plasticity

By about six months, a baby's brain has made about twice as many connections as it actually needs. The next step is to start pruning these thickets. In fact, the synapses compete against each other to find which is the best placed for the job of processing the world. The ones that are lucky enough to be in the right position to do useful work will survive. But inactive synapses wither. As a result, neural connections start to disappear at the rate of a quarter million each second. From this pruning, the original mish-mash of wiring is slimmed down to a set of cortical pathways that actually work.

Neural Pruning...

Parietal Lobe (cerebral cortex)

Orientation, recognition, perception

Hypothalamus (limbic system)

Produces ADH, regulates homeostasis, thirst, hunger, temp, auto nervous system, controls pituitary

Frontal Lobe (cerebral cortex)

Reasoning, planning, problem solving

Hippocampus

Receives, registers. Provides context

Temporal Lobe (cerebral cortex)

Recognition of auditory stimuli, memory, speech

Partial lobes

Spatial relationships, passage of time, semiconcepts

THE PARTS OF A NEURON (Soma)

The cell body contains the basic biological machinery that keeps the cell alive

Neural Synaptic Connection

The junction across which a nerve impulse passes from an axon terminal to a neuron, muscle cell, or gland cell.

Occipital Lobe (cerebral cortex)

Visual processing

Temporal lobes

aural sensation and production

Brainstem

breathing, metabolism, innate reactions

Cortex and neocortex

connects , comprehends, plans, and provides nuance

Amygdala

emotions

stimulate the brain

excitatory

calm the brain and create balance, especially mood. ____ are depleted when excitatory NTs are overactive

inhibitory

Two kinds of Neurotransmitters

inhibitory and excitatory

THE PARTS OF A NEURON (Myelin)

is a fatty sheath that allows the neuron to transmit information more rapidly

Medulla

maintains vital body functions (ie breathing and heart rate)

The real work of your brain goes on in individual cells. An adult brain contains about 100 billion nerve cells, or neurons, with branches that connect at more than 100 trillion points. Scientists call this dense, branching network. Signals traveling through the ____form the basis of memories, thoughts, and feelings.

neuron forest

THE PARTS OF A NEURON (Dendrites)

receive input from many thousands of other neurons

Thalamus

regulator

THE PARTS OF A NEURON (Axons)

send information to the other neurons

Frontal lobes

symbolic thinking, speech

Occipital lobes

visual sensation, integrative thinking, language of metaphor

pre-frontal lobes

working memory

Neurotransmitters

• Brain chemicals that serve as a message service through brain and body. • Relay signals between neurons. • Effect physical systems and can influence mood, sleep, concentration, etc. • Can be depleted and cause many adverse symptoms when out of balance.

The Developing Brain: Early Stress on Brain Function

• We have had new scientific evidence for the negative impact of early stress on brain function. • A child's social environment can activate hormones in ways that adversely affect brain function, including learning and memory. • Disengaged, irritable, or impatient mothers had babies with sad brains, i.e., their brains showed reduced activity in the left frontal lobe. • The effects may be permanent.