BRAIN AND THE

BEHAVIOR
The Nervous system

• Neurons
• Dentrits
• Axon
• parasympathetic nervous system
• myelin sheath
• neurogenesis
• Synapse
• Action potential
• WILL NOT DISCUSS
Q. How are you able to
control your body with
your brain?

Q. How does your brain

know what/how you are
feeling?
Nervous system
Gather and process information,

Produce responses to stimuli,

Coordinate the workings of different cells

Contains
• Central Nervous System (CNS)
• Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
Chemical
Messengers in
the Nervous
System
Chemical Messengers in the Nervous
System

Neurotransmitters Follow a particular path

Neurotransmitters

• Serotonin affects neurons

involved in sleep, appetite,
sensory perception, temperature
regulation, pain suppression, and
mood.
Neurotransmitters

• Serotonin
• Dopamine affects neurons
involved in voluntary movement,
attention, learning, memory,
emotion, pleasure and reward,
and possibly responses to novelty.
Neurotransmitters

• Serotonin
• Dopamine
• Acetylcholine affects neurons
involved in muscle action,
arousal, vigilance, memory, and
emotion.
Neurotransmitters

• Serotonin
• Dopamine
• Acetylcholine
• Norepinephrine affects neurons
involved in increased heart rate and the
slowing of intestinal activity during
stress, and neurons involved in learning,
memory, dreaming, waking from sleep,
and emotion
Chemical Messengers in the Nervous
System

Long distance Released in the

HORMONES
messengers bloodstream
HORMONES

• Melatonin: helps to regulate daily biological rhythms

and promotes sleep.
HORMONES

• Melatonin
• Oxytocin: stimulates uterine contractions during
childbirth, facilitates the ejection of milk during
nursing, and seems to promote, in both sexes,
attachment and trust in relationships.
HORMONES

• Melatonin
• Oxytocin
• Adrenal hormones, involved in emotion and stress.
• The outer part of each adrenal gland produces cortisol,
increases blood sugar levels and boosts energy
• The inner part produces epinephrine/adrenaline and
norepinephrine, prepares body for fight or flight
HORMONES

• Melatonin
• Oxytocin,
• Adrenal hormones
• Sex hormones, include three main types, all occurring in both sexes
but in differing amounts and proportions
• Testosterone:
• masculinizing hormones: account for physical changes males
experience at puberty. Testosterone also influences sexual
arousal in both sexes. Also present in ovaries
HORMONES

• Melatonin
• Oxytocin,
• Adrenal hormones
• Sex hormones, include three main types, all occurring in both sexes but in
differing amounts and proportions
• Testosterone:
• Estrogens: feminizing hormones that bring on physical changes in females
at puberty, such as breast development and the onset of menstruation.
HORMONES

• Melatonin
• Oxytocin,
• Adrenal hormones
• Sex hormones, include three main types, all occurring in both sexes but in differing
amounts and proportions
• Testosterone:
• Estrogens:
• Progesterone contributes to the growth and maintenance of the uterine lining
in preparation for a fertilized egg, among other functions
Chemical Messengers in the
Nervous System

NEUROMODULATOR The brain’s volume

S control
NEUROMODULATORS

• Serotonin transporter: picks up leftover serotonin and transports it back

to the sending neuron for recycling.
NEUROMODULATORS

• Serotonin transporter
• Endorphins:
• reduces pain
• promotes pleasure.
• Role in appetite, sexual activity, blood pressure, mood, learning, and memory
HAPPY CHEMICALS

These chemicals promote happiness and pleasure while reducing depression and
anxiety
Serotonin dopamine endorphins oxytocin

Endorphins are neurotransmitters that help you to cope with pain and stress
(released before), dopamine is a mood-boosting neurotransmitter that is
released after you reach a goal
MAPPING THE BRAIN

• electroencephalogram
• PET scan (positron-emission tomography)
• transcranial direct current stimulation
• transcranial magnetic stimulation
• lesion method
• parasympathetic nervous system
• WILL NOT DISCUSS
MAPPING
THE BRAIN
SOME KEY PARTS OF THE
BRAIN
Structure Functions
Hypothalamus Behaviors necessary for survival, such as hunger, thirst, emotion, reproduction;
regulation of body temperature; control of autonomic nervous system
Amygdala Basic emotions: anxiety and depression; formation and retrieval of emotional memories
Limbic system Emotional life is largely housed in the limbic system, and it critically aids the formation
of long-term memories
Hippocampus Learning and formation of new memories (short term memories)
Cerebrum (cerebral cortex) Higher forms of thinking
Occipital lobes
Parietal lobes Visual processing
Temporal lobes Processing of senses: pain, touch, temperature, sense of space
Frontal lobes Understanding sounds and speech, language comprehension
Complex thought: planning, setting goals, creative thinking, initiative, social judgment,
rational decision making, speech production
THE TWO
HEMISPHERE
S
THE TWO HEMISPHERES

Left side Right side

Controls
Controls left
right
BODY
RHYTMS,
MENTAL
STATE, AND
SLEEP
Why do parents
ask us to sleep
“on time”
ARE YOU A MORNING
PERSON OR A NIGHT
OWL?
BODY CLOCK

• Body goes to 24 hours circadian rhythms

• based on some External cues (temperature, daylight)
• Endogenous – determined by internal processes
• E.g., Melatonin operates around external light
• Out of rhythm body affects mental state, energy level, and motor
coordination
• Body rhythms can be affected by illness, stress, exercise, drugs,
mealtimes, etc
MOOD AND BODY RHYTMS

• Do seasons affect mood?

• SAS: Seasonal Affective Disorder

• Does menstrual cycle affect mood?

• Rise of Progesterone
SLEEP

• Understanding the sleep cycle

Visual
summary of
the four
stages
 SEQUENCE OF SLEEP
STAGES

It's important to realize that
sleep does not progress
through the four stages in
perfect sequence.
When you have a full night
of uninterrupted sleep, the
stages progress as follows:
Once REM sleep is over,
the body usually returns to
NREM stage 2 before
beginning the cycle all over
again.
Time spent in each stage
changes throughout the
night as the cycle repeats
(about four to five times
total).

Sleep begins with NREM stage 1

sleep.
NREM stage 1 progresses into
NREM stage 2.
NREM stage 2 is followed by
NREM stage 3.
Finally, you are in REM sleep.
SLEEP APNEA

A disorder in which
Is caused by physiological
breathing briefly stops
signs (breathing stops) and
during sleep, causing the
not because of our sleep
person to choke and gasp
cycle
and momentarily awaken.
SLEEP
PARALYSIS During REM sleep, your
body is relaxed and your
Sleep paralysis occurs
when the sleep cycle is
muscles don't move.  shifting between stages.

Because the brain is

When you wake up
extremely active while
suddenly from REM,
the body is entirely
your brain is awake, but
inactive, REM sleep has
your body is still in
also been called
REM mode and can't
“paradoxical sleep.” It
move, causing you to
is during these periods
feel like you're
that vivid dreams are
paralyzed.
most likely to occur.
DREAM

Understanding dream
DREAM

• Most dreams happen in

REM sleep
• Dreams as efforts to deal
with problem
• Help us think
• Emotional first-aid
• Consolidates memories
ASSIGNMENT 1

• For any 3 days (with 1 on Saturday or Sunday), except when you are sleeping, keep an hourly
record of your mental alertness level, using this five-point scale:
• 1. extremely drowsy or mentally lethargic;
• 2, somewhat drowsy or mentally lethargic;
• 3, moderately alert;
• 4, alert and efficient; and
• 5, extremely alert and efficient. 

• Log template will be uploaded on LMS

• Deadline: Tuesday 7 th Feb, before class
QUIZ 1

Tuesday, Jan 31st Start of the class Topics: All MCQs, closed
notes

lecture 2 (Genes/Nature
Nurture),
lecture 3 (Research and
Ethics) 
half of lecture 4 (Body
Rhythms and Sleep).