MODULE 6:

The Powers of the Mind

BRAINPOWER:
COMPLEX ORGAN CONTROLS
YOUR EVERY THOUGHT
AND MOVE
How did you get here?
No, no, no! It's not a question about your conception
or birth.
How did you get here? On this page. Reading this sto
ry.
The answer is a lot more complex than, "My teacher
told me to read it" or "I clicked on it by accident."
The answer involves thought, as in "I want to get on
the Internet"; movement -- pressing the computer's
power button and grasping a mouse; memory -- like
recalling how to use a browser or a search engine; an
d word recognition such as "Brainpower" and an und
erstanding of its meaning.
In short, the answer involves a wrinkled, pinkish-gr
ay, 3-pound organ that is primarily composed of fat
and water and goes by the name of brain.
You got to this article because that jelly-like mass to
pping off your spinal cord fired electrical signals to y
our hand telling it how to move. You got to this arti
cle because your brain stored information about usi
ng a computer and the definition of words that you
learned years ago. You got to this article because yo
ur brain is working.
Keep reading to find out how it functions, if it repair
s itself and if the effects of drug use are permanent.
The power to act
The brain has three major parts -- the cereb
rum, the cerebellum and the brain stem. Th
e brain stem connects the spinal cord and t
he brain. It controls functions that keep peo
ple alive such as breathing, heart rate, bloo
d pressure and food digestion. Those activi
ties occur without any thought. You aren't t
elling yourself, "Inhale.Exhale.Inhale." You'r
e just breathing.
Things are different in the cerebellum. That r
egion controls voluntary movement. When y
ou want to lift your fork, wave your hand, br
ush your hair or wink at a cutie, you form th
e thought and then an area in the cerebellu
m translates your will into action. It happens
so quickly. Think about how little time passe
s between your desire to continue reading t
his sentence and the time it takes your eyes
to move to this word or this one. It seems au
tomatic, but it isn't.
Neurons, the basic functional units of th
e nervous system, are three-part units a
nd are key to brain function. They are co
mprised of a nerve cell body, axon and d
endrite, and they power the rapid-fire p
rocess that turns thought into movemen
t.
The thought moves as an electrical signal
from the nerve cell down the axon to a d
endrite, which looks like branches at the
end of nerve cells. The signal jumps from
the end of the dendrite on one cell across
the space, called a synapse, to the dendri
te of another cell with the help of chemic
als called neurotransmitters. That signal c
ontinues jumping from cell to cell until it
reaches the muscle you need to wave, wi
nk or walk.
The cerebrum is the largest of the t
hree brain sections, accounts for ab
out 85 percent of the brain's weight
, and has four lobes. The lobes-fron
tal, parietal, temporal and occipital
-- each have different functions. Th
ey get their names from the section
s of the skull that are next to them.
The parietal lobe helps people understa
nd what they see and feel, while the fro
ntal lobe determines personality and e
motions. Vision functions are located in
the occipital lobe, and hearing and word
recognition abilities are in the temporal
lobe.
A critical age
Because the brain's healthy functioning is ess
ential to living and determines quality of life,
doctors emphasize protecting the organ from
injury and chemical abuse.
There is a consensus among researchers that
brain cells regenerate throughout life, said D
oug Postels, a pediatric neurosurgeon in New
Orleans, but that new growth happens very s
lowly after a certain age.
"The size of the brain doesn't increase
much after 3," Postels explains.
During the first three years of life, the b
rain experiences most of its growth and
develops most of its potential for learni
ng. That's the time frame in which syna
ptogenesis, or the creation of pathways
for brain cells to communicate, occurs.
Doctors generally accept that cut-off point
for two reasons, Postels said. First, in situa
tions where doctors removed parts of the
brains of patients younger than 3 to corre
ct disorders, the remaining brain sections
developed to assume the role of the porti
ons those doctors removed. But when phy
sicians performed the same surgery on old
er patients, that adaptability function did
not occur.
Second, "We know from experiments that if yo
u deprive people of intellectual stimulation an
d put them in a dark room, that it produces pe
rmanent changes in the brain," Postels said. "T
hat occurs most dramatically before age 3. Aft
er that age, it's impossible to ethically do a stu
dy."
Previous research produced information about
the effects of stimulation deprivation, but mod
ern ethical guidelines prohibit such research o
n people because of the potentially harmful o
utcome.
 Drug damage
Because so little recovery occurs to brains dam
aged after age 3, the effects of drugs and alcoh
ol on the brain might be lasting.
Doctors know what inhalants, steroids, marijua
na, cocaine and alcohol do to the brain when p
eople use them. "The question scientists can't
answer now is if the damage is permanent," sa
id Sue Rusche, co-author of "False Messenger
s," a book on how addictive drugs change the b
rain.
Inhalants, such as glue, paint, gasoline and a
erosols, destroy the outer lining of nerve cel
ls and make them unable to communicate w
ith one another. In 1993, more than 60 youn
g people died from sniffing inhalants, accord
ing to National Families in Action, a drug ed
ucation center based in Atlanta.
Studies have found that marijuana use hind
ers memory, learning, judgment and reactio
n times, while steroids cause aggression and
violent mood swings.
Ecstasy use is rising among young people, R
usche said, and scientists have found that d
rug destroys neurons that make serotonin,
a chemical crucial in controlling sleep, viole
nce, mood swings and sexual urges.
While doctors and scientists know about so
me effects drugs have on the brain, they do
n't have a full picture, Rusche said.
"When people start using a drug, the scien
tists know nothing about it. These people
are volunteering to be guinea pigs," said R
usche, who is co-founder and executive dir
ector of National Families in Action. "Once
enough people take it, scientists apply for
grants and start studying it. People are inv
entive. They find new drugs or new ways t
o take old drugs-like crack from cocaine.
"There's a lot we won't know about un
til later," she said. "The classic example
is cigarettes. We allowed people to sm
oke for 100 years before we knew abo
ut all the horrible things that nicotine
will do.
 THANK YOU!!!

Balondo, Christine Joy

Paragas, Easter Hope
Rizo, Leonilyn