PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT chemicals called neurotransmitters such as dopamine

LESSON 6: POWERS OF THE MINDS
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:
a. Match the self with the checklist of a left-brain and right-
brain learner;
b. Check what brain hemisphere is dominant in them
through brain
dominance self-test.
 The human brain is the center of the nervous
system.
 It centralized the control of all organ systems.
 As early as 1664 a British doctor Thomas Willis,
concluded that the brain is responsible for mental
functioning.
 In an extensive research on the brain by Dr. Jay
Giedd, he found out that the human brain has a natural
tendency to prune itself by slashing brain cells and
strengthening connections in the puberty stage the brain
jumps into a growth spurt and physical and mental
development where radical change in the brain happens
and teen’s brain is shaped by experiences and brain cells
rearranged themselves and neurons connecting each
other are strengthened.
(attention, memory and cognition) endorphins (to fight
stress and pains). By doing physical exercises it release
endorphins to help us feel good and relax after.
3. Brain Stem – connects the spinal cord and the brain. It
controls functions that keep people alive such as breathing,
heart rate, blood pressure and food digestion. Your vital
body functions such as heartbeat, respiration, body
temperature and digestion are monitored and controlled by
the brain stem.
Reticular Activating System – located in brain stem,
responsible for your brain’s alertness.
Limbic system - located above the brain stem and below the
cerebrum, composed of structures that have different
functions such as generation of emotion and processing of
emotional memories.

1. Thalamus – involved in many cognitive activities,

The brain has 3 major parts:
1. Cerebrum – is the largest of the three brain sections for
about 85 % of the brain’s weight and has four lobes. It is
responsible for most thinking and learning. Functions for
sensing, integrating and action.
including memory.
2. Hypothalamus – it moderates different body functions
which include sleep, feelings, body temperature, food
intake by controlling the release of some hormones.
3. Hippocampus – it consolidates learning and converts
information to the long-term storage regions.
4. Amygdala – take part in emotions especially fear and
regulating your interactions with your environment that
can help you survive such as whether you attack, escape,
mate or eat, emotional element of memory is stored.

2. Cerebellum – this region controls voluntary movement.

It is located just below the rear part of the cerebrum and
right behind the brain stem. It is highly organized brain
structure, coordinates movements and stores the memory
of automatic movements. It involved in mental rehearsal of
motor tasks and improved your performance and skills.

Neurons – are the basic functional units of the nervous

system. They are comprised of a nerve.
Cell body -contains the nucleus that manufactures
molecules that neurons need to survive and function.
Axon - responsible for receiving signals from the dendrites
and transmitting them to other neurons in the brain or in
other organs.
Dendrite - responsible for receiving messages from other
nerve cells, which looks like branches at the end of nerve
cells.

Neurons are formed through a process called

neurogenesis. The signal jumps from the end of the
dendrite on one cell across the space to the dendrite of
another cells is called synapses with the help of this