Brain anatomy & methods

to study the brain

HUL261
Introduction to Psychology, Semester II, 2023-24
Module II
Lecture 4
January 11, 2024
 Outline of today’s lecture
• Recap of previous lecture
• Main divisions and functions of different parts of the brain
• Methods of studying the brain
• Conclusion

37
 Recap of previous lecture
• The nervous system has two main divisions – CNS and PNS and has two main types of
cells – neurons and glia
• Neurons are the basic signaling unit while glia play a more supporting role
• Neurons receive inputs at dendrites and send outputs via axons
• The resting membrane potential results from the unequal distribution of ions, and the
selective permeability of the membrane
• Action potential is generated when the threshold potential is reached and requires
voltage-gated Na+ and K+ channels
• Myelin greatly speeds up action potential conduction
• Synapses are specialized structures where two neurons come into close contact and its
transmission can be chemical or electrical
• Electrical synapses require structures called connexons while chemical synapses require
a sequence of events involving ion channels, neurotransmitters, and receptors
38
39
 Audience poll
• From studying 94 brains in the general Danish population: The average
numbers of neocortical neurons were 19 billion in female brains and 23
billion in male brains, a 16% difference (Pakkenberg and Gundersen, 1997)
• A meta-analysis observed that men have larger overall brain dimensions
compared to women (Ruigrok et al, 2014)
• However, women brains are more folded!
• This implies that an increase in surface area may offset any size difference
(Luders et al., 2004)
• NOTE: Even among humans, the link between brain size and intelligence is
not well established

40
 Grey and white matter
• “When his brain died, all of the memories held in his gray
matter, along with all of the knowledge he had acquired,
would simply evaporate in a flood of chemical reactions.”
(Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol)
• Parts of the nervous system that have high concentrations
of neuronal cell bodies appear grey in colour (grey matter)
• Parts of the nervous system that have high concentrations
of myelinated axons appear white in colour (white matter) https://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.ahd-
https://cdn-
cfpnp.nitrocdn.com/CzhqckxwXkMSGajRdsdeuJeoGMEvyyqY/assets/static/optimize
d/human-memory.net/wp-
VoV3O2VA1NBmcJm3dgHaLj&pid=Api content/uploads/2019/10/b5e82548c2c2ebf05fbddbe8d61c2276.Gray-Matter.jpg

• In the brain, grey matter lies on the outside and white

matter in the inside
• The brain also have groups of neurons clumped together
embedded in white matter (nuclei)
• In the spinal cord, white matter lies on the outside and grey
matter in the inside
https://t1.daumcdn.net/cfile/blog/216B524652BD782729
43
 Major divisions of the cortex
Touch,
movement
Emotions, music
Higher-order
cognition,
cognitive
decision making,
functions,
etc.
movement

Vision

Hearing,
language,
memory

44
 Main divisions in the brain
Required for all our cognitive functions and voluntary
actions
White matter connecting the two cerebral hemispheres
Contains the thalamus, hypothalamus (endocrine
functions)
Deals with motor control, vision and audition
Deals with sleep, respiration, swallowing, bladder
control, hearing, equilibrium, taste, eye movements,
facial expressions, facial sensation, and posture
Primarily deals with motor control and posture control
Deals with involuntary functions, ranging from
respiration, heart beat, vomiting, sneezing, and sleep
wake cycle
Deals with transmission of impulses from the brain and
also controls reflexes
Kandel
45
 The Ventricular System
• The brain is covered by protective layers called
meninges (external to internal) – dura mater,
arachnoid matter, and pia mater
• Cerebrospinal fluid flows between arachnoid and pia
mater
• CSF is a clear liquid that acts as a shock absorber,
provides basic immunological protection to the CNS,
and removes metabolic waste
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-

• CSF also flows in the ‘hollow’ spaces in the brain, i.e.

JPkbL0REYBw/XgxXaXXCKrI/AAAAAA
AAPiw/5cxx_amd9iEG8FGKQ2O025M
9rzOpdQGVgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/157

the ventricles (the two lateral ventricles, the third, and

7867104923993-0.png

the fourth ventricle)

• Read: “Brain washed’ during sleep
https://www.bu.edu/articles/2019/cerebrospinal-fluid- https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2019-

washing-in-brain-during-sleep/ 11/brain_fluid_600.gif

https://w 7.pngw ing.com /pngs/51/936/png-transparent-electrical-synapse-neuron-chem ical-

synapse-gap-junction-chem ical-synapse-text-branch-chem ical.png

46
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owFnH01SD-s
47
 Interim summary
• Main divisions and functions of different parts of the brain
• In the brain, grey matter lies on the outside and white matter inside. This is reversed
in the spinal cord
• There are 4 main lobe of the cerebrum – it is important for many cognitive functions
• Cerebrospinal fluid flows between arachnoid and pia mater of the meninges and in
the ventricles
• Methods of studying the brain
• Behavioral studies
• EEG
• fMRI
• Neural recordings
• TMS

48
The brain investigating The Brain

Spatial resolution

Temporal resolution
 Behavioural studies
• Behavioural investigations of healthy human participants
can tell us a lot about the structure and function of the
human brain Goldstein. Cognitive Psychology

• We present a stimulus and see how individuals respond

• For e.g., Donders reaction time experiment where he
observed that we take ~0.1s to make simple decisions
• Another example is the attentional blink task which can
be used to study how our ‘attention’ works
• Such behavioral studies have been used to test the
development of our ability to control or inhibit ourselves
• This inhibitory control ability is poor in children, improves
with age and becomes poorer with old age
Williams et al, 1999 50
 Electroencephalography (EEG)
• EEG is a method to record the electrical activity by Electrodes
monitoring voltage changes on the scalp
Gel is used
• EEG measures the voltage fluctuations resulting from to increase
the ionic currents of the surface layer of the underlying conductivity
brain region (postsynaptic potentials & possibly some between
scalp &
action potentials) electrode
• The main advantages of EEG are its high temporal
Bell & Cuevas, 2012

resolution, its relatively low cost, its noninvasiveness,

and its ability to provide a continuous measure of
processing
• The drawback of the EEG is that it represents a mixed
up conglomeration of hundreds of different neural
sources of activity – poor spatial resolution
• EEG can be used to test when children’s brain activity
becomes ‘adult-like’ 51
 Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
• MRI uses a strong magnetic field and brief radio frequency pulse to
measure the distribution of H+ in the brain
• The distribution of water largely determines the hydrogen proton
distribution, enabling MRI to clearly distinguish the brain’s gray matter,
white matter, and ventricles
• With fMRI, the ratio of oxygenated to deoxygenated hemoglobin, is the
focus of the imaging
• Deoxygenated hemoglobin is paramagnetic, whereas oxygenated
hemoglobin is not. This value is referred to as the blood oxygen level–
dependent (BOLD) effect
• When neurons fire, the blood supply to that region increases to meet the
demand for oxygen. Functional MRI studies measure the time course of
this process
• fMRI has good spatial but poor temporal resolution
• Different scanning techniques can also be used to study different aspects
of brain changes, e.g. changes in gray and white matter
53
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B10pc0Kizsc
 Interim summary
• Main divisions and functions of different parts of the brain
• In the brain, grey matter lies on the outside and white matter inside. This is reversed in the
spinal cord
• There are 4 main lobe of the cerebrum – it is important for many cognitive functions
• Cerebrospinal fluid flows between arachnoid and pia mater of the meninges and in the
ventricles
• Methods of studying the brain
• Behavioral studies – Investigations of healthy human participants
• EEG – Recording the electrical activity by monitoring voltage changes on the scalp
• fMRI – Measuring the ratio of oxygenated to deoxygenated Hb in brain’s blood supply
• Neural recordings
• TMS

55
 Single- and multi-unit electrophysiology
• In single-cell recording, the action potentials produced by
individual neurons in living animals can be recorded
• During this, a thin electrode is inserted through a surgical
opening in the skull into the cortex or deeper brain
structures. When the electrode is near a neuronal
membrane, changes in electrical activity can be measured
• Usually, the electrode will record the activity of a small set
of neurons (multi-unit)
• Computer algorithms can differentiate this pooled activity
into the contributions from individual neurons

56
 In 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcz-Hq1NP98
 Electrocorticography (ECoG)
• In ECoG, a grid or strip of electrodes is placed directly on the
surface of the brain, either outside the dura or beneath it,
and the activity of populations of neurons is recorded for a
sustained amount of time (often to locate sites of abnormal
brain activity)
• Unlike those in single-cell neurophysiology, ECoG electrodes
are quite large (2-3 mm), meaning that the method is always
based on measurement of the activity of populations of
neurons
• The spatial and temporal resolution of ECoG is excellent
because the electrodes sit directly on the brain, resulting in
minimal attenuation or distortion
Dubey & Ray (2019) https://www.jneurosci.org/content/39/22/4299.long 59
 Meanwhile in 2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogBX18maUiM
 Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
• TMS is a device that generates a powerful magnetic field that
penetrates the skull and is capable of inducing a small electric
current in the underlying brain tissue
• Depending on the protocol (frequency and intensity of
stimulation), the effects of stimulation may either inhibit or
enhance neural activity and thus change behaviour
• Most stimulation protocols have no long-lasting harmful effects
• The exact mechanism causing the change in neuronal
discharge is not well understood – either the current leads to
the generation of action potentials in the neuronal cell body or
directly stimulates axons
• TMS is also used clinically, for e.g. to treat depression

Valero-Cabré et al (2017) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.10.006

Hallett (2007) DOI 10.1016/j.neuron.2007.06.026 62
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOkISlxST38
 Conclusion
• Main divisions and functions of different parts of the brain
• In the brain, grey matter lies on the outside and white matter inside. This is reversed
in the spinal cord
• There are 4 main lobe of the cerebrum – it is important for many cognitive functions
• Cerebrospinal fluid flows between arachnoid and pia mater of the meninges and in
the ventricles
• Methods of studying the brain
• Behavioral studies – Investigations of healthy human participants
• EEG – Recording the electrical activity by monitoring voltage changes on the scalp
• fMRI – Measuring the ratio of oxygenated to deoxygenated Hb in brain’s blood supply
• Neural recordings – Recording neural activity directly from the brain
• TMS – Can stimulate the brain from over the skull

64