Brain&

Behaviour
 Agenda

Neurons and Neurotransmitters

Central Nervous systems
Cerebral Hemispheres and Specializations
Peripheral Nervous System
The Nervous system
The nervous system:
• is a system of nerves that control thought processes, heartbeat,
visual–motor coordination, and many other abilities
• contains the brain, spinal cord, and other parts, enabling us
• to receive information from the world outside, and
• to act on that world
Neurons
Neurons are electrically excitable cells that process and
transmit information through electrical and chemical signals

Three types of Neurons

Afferent (sensory) Efferent (Motor) Interneurons

Neurons Neurons Relays messages
Relay messages Relays messages between neurons
from organs to the from the brain or in the brain and
brain and spinal spinal cord to spinal cord
cord glands and muscles
The Anatomy of the Nervous System
 The basic components of the nervous system are
living cells called neurons and glia.
 Neurons—responsible for communication
• Soma—cell body
• Dendrites—receive
• Axon—transmit away
 Glia—aid in structural support, insulation, and
communication

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 Glial Cells
 Glia (from the Greek word meaning “glue”)
• Tend to be much smaller than neurons.

 Glial cells have range of critical functions:

• Providing nutrition, healing, protection, and
physical support for the neurons
• Removing debris from the brain
• Devouring dead and damaged cells
• Modulating the signalling of neurons
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Neurons
Neurons: Key Structures
Cell body- uses oxygen and nutrients to generate the
energy needed to do its work
Dendrites- receive impulses from other neurons.
• dendrites and terminals proliferate as you age
Axon- transmits impulses to other neurons via the axon
terminals
• axons become longer as you age
Myelin- increases the speed of neuronal communication by
speeding up the electrical impulse and prevent leakage

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Insulation and Information Transfer
 Myelin sheath: speeds up transmission, makes it
more efficient.

 Axon terminals: where chemicals are released by the

neuron to influence the activity of other neurons.

 Neurotransmitters: chemical messengers.

 Synapse: point at which neurons interconnect.

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 Neurons: How the CNS Communicates
Neural impulses are electrochemical messages that travel within neurons
In myelinated neurons, this impulse can travel at a speed of up to 360 km/hr.
 Information Transmission
 Neuronal activity can be understood by examining
four processes: (1) resting potential, (2) action
potential, (3) synaptic transmission, (4) graded
potentials.

 Hodgkin & Huxley (1952)

• Fluids inside and outside neuron
• Electrically charged particles (ions)
• Neuron at rest—negative charge on inside

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 Resting Potential
 Resting Potential (RP) (‒70 millivolts)
• Cell is at rest, a tiny battery of potential energy
• Higher concentration of negatively charged ions
inside the cell
• Stable, negative charge of around ‒70 millivolts
• Like a dam across a river, with all channels closed
to store the water (energy)

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 The Action Potential
 Action Potential (+30 millivolts)
• When a neuron is stimulated by activity of other cells.
• Cell membrane channels open briefly, allowing positively-charged sodium
ions to flow into the cell.
• Complete, rapid, and brief reversal of the electrical potential across
neuron’s membrane.
• Charge travels rapidly along the axon to axon terminal

 Absolute refractory period

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The Neural Impulse: “The Body Electric”
An Electrochemical Voyage
• Neural impulses travel by electrical and chemical processes.
• Polarization is the difference in electrical charge that readies a
neuron for firing.
• An internal negative charge is created in relation to the body fluid outside
the cell membrane.

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The Neural Impulse: “The Body Electric”
An Electrochemical Voyage
• Resting potential is a neuron’s electrical potential when it is not
responding to other neurons.
• Depolarization occurs when an area on the surface of the resting
neuron is chemically stimulated by other neurons.
• Action potential is the electrical potential when a neural impulse
is being conducted along a neuron’s axon.

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The Neural Impulse: “The Body Electric”

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The Neural Impulse: “The Body Electric”

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The Neural Impulse: “The Body Electric”
Firing: How Messages Voyage from Neuron to Neuron
• Firing is the conduction of a neural impulse along the length of a
neuron.
• Works on the all-or-none principle
• The neural impulse is always of the same strength whenever action
potential is triggered.
• Refractory period follows

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Synaptic Transmission
1) As the action potential reaches the
terminal, it pushes awaiting synaptic
vesicles closer to the membrane

Synaptic vesicles: sphere that

contains neurotransmitters

2)The vesicles fuse with the axon

membrane releasing the
neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft

Synaptic Cleft: The space between

neurons
Synaptic Transmission
3) Receptors on the dendrite or cell
body reads the neurotransmitters

4) The synaptic cleft is cleared in a

process called reuptake
Reuptake: the reabsorption of
a secreted substance back
into the axon terminal

Starts all over again

 Synaptic Transmission
summary
 Primary way neurons communicate with each other.
 Neurons don’t touch at synapses—they are separated by a microscopic
gap, the synaptic cleft.
• Electrical signals can’t jump the gap.
 Neuron sending the message (presynaptic) releases neurotransmitters
into the synaptic cleft.
 Neurotransmitters bind to specialized areas of these adjacent neurons
(postsynaptic) and stimulate them.

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Neurotransmitters: The Chemical Keys to Communication

• Neurotransmitters are chemical substances

• involved in the transmission of information from one neuron to another
• released by synaptic vesicles, sacs in the axon terminals
• fit into receptor sites on dendrites of receiving neurons
• Neurotransmitters can be excitatory or inhibitory.

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Neurotransmitters: The Chemical Keys to Communication

Acetylcholine (ACh): a Endorphins: are

neurotransmitter that inhibitory
controls muscle Serotonin: a neurotransmitters that
contractions and memory neurotransmitter act as naturally
formation involved in emotional occurring painkillers
arousal and sleep
Dopamine: a Gamma-aminobutyric
neurotransmitter involved acid (GABA)
in perception of pleasure, Inhibitory
voluntary movement, neurotransmitter acts
learning, and memory as a tranquilizer
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 Video

Worksheet
The Nervous System
The Nervous System
The Central Nervous System
 Is encased in bone
 Is associated with processing sensory
information
• The brain and spinal cord contain:
• grey matter: unmyelinated
neurons; some involved in spinal
reflexes
• white matter: myelinated
neurons; carry messages to and
from the brain
 Brain Facts
• The brain grows in spurts from conception to adulthood
• Growth is correlated with a person's physical and intellectual
developmental milestones
• Like other parts of the body, neurons die and are regenerated
• The central nervous system has THREE key functions

Sensory Motor Associative

Input responses Areas
Neurons: A Complex Living Network
Glial cells are found in the nervous system, in addition to neurons.
They:
• nourish and insulate neurons
• direct growth of neurons
• remove dead neurons and waste products from the nervous
system
CNS: Spinal cord
A column of neurons within the spine

This cylinder of neural tissues relays

information from the brain to the others
parts of your body

AKA “Information superhighway”

 CNS: Spinal cord

Acts when given instructions by the

brain BUT it can act without the
brain

Spinal reflexes: Causes us to react as

to avoid danger
The Peripheral Nervous System
The Parts of the Nervous System

The Peripheral Nervous System: The Body’s Peripheral Devices

• The peripheral nervous system consists of sensory and motor
neurons.
• They transmit messages to and from the central nervous system.
• Two main divisions:
• Somatic and autonomic nervous systems

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The Parts of the Nervous System
The Peripheral Nervous System: The Body’s Peripheral Devices
• The somatic nervous system:
• consists of sensory and motor neurons
• transmits messages to and from the central nervous system
• controls purposeful body movements
The Parts of the Nervous System
The Peripheral Nervous System: The Body’s Peripheral Devices
• The autonomic nervous system:
• regulates the glands and muscles of internal organs
• contains sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions

Parasympathetic division Sympathetic division

AKA Rest and Digest AKA Fight, Flight, or Freeze
• Active in processes that restore • Expends the body’s energy
the body’s energy reserves. reserves at times of high
• Ex. After eating your Sunday emotional arousal (e.g., fear,
dinner stress).
• Ex. Large group of bullish males
approach you
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The Brain: Wider Than the Sky

• “The mind” is a function of the brain.

• Brain damage can impair consciousness, perception, memory,
and abilities to make plans and decisions.
• It has been assumed that the brain’s control mechanisms cross
over from right to left, and vice versa.

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 We can learn about the brain by:
• assessing damage from trauma
and disease
Experimentin • intentionally damaging parts of a
brain (animal research)
g with the • electrically stimulating parts of
Brain the brain
• recording the electrical activity of
the brain
• taking images of the brain

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Electroencephalograph

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Brain-Imaging Techniques
A. Computerized axial tomography (the CAT scan) passes a
narrow
X-ray beam through the head and measures structures that
reflect the rays from various angles, enabling a computer to
generate a three-dimensional image.
B. Positron emission tomography (the PET scan) injects a
radioactive tracer into the bloodstream and assesses activity
of parts of the brain according to the amount of glucose
they metabolize.
C. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) places a person in a
magnetic field and uses radio waves to cause the brain to
emit signals that reveal shifts in the flow of blood, which, in
turn, indicate brain activity.
D. A tractographic map of a brain shows the neural tracts
(length and direction of flow) between various brain regions.
E. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

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The Brain's
Major subdivisions

<--- Yes, it is inverted,

See next slide =)
The Structures of The Brain
A Voyage through the Brain
The hindbrain is where the spinal cord rises
to meet the brain; its structures are:
• medulla
• pons
• cerebellum
• reticular activating system (RAS)

Function
 Survival
 Sleep/Wake Cycle
 Sensory/Motor Function
 Growth/hormonal behaviors
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A Voyage through the Brain
The forebrain is the forward-most part of the brain; its structures are:
• thalamus
• hypothalamus
• limbic system
• cerebrum
 cerebral cortex
 corpus callosum

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A Voyage through the Brain

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The Cerebral Cortex
• the outer coating of the cerebrum
• the largest mass of the forebrain
• divided into two hemispheres: right
and left
• composed of four lobes: frontal,
parietal, temporal, and occipital

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CNS: Cerebrum
The Cerebral Cortex
Frontal Lobe
• Decision-making part of the brain responsible for planning, problem solving,
executive functioning, and other thought processes
• Controls voluntary muscle movements
• Contains the motor cortex

Motor Cortex
• Lies in the frontal lobe at the top of the brain
• Across the valley of the central fissure from the somatosensory cortex
• Neural impulses in the motor cortex are linked to muscular responses
throughout the body.
• The right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and vice versa, so injury to
one side affects movements on the opposite side.

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The Cerebral Cortex

Parietal Lobe
• Receives sensory messages from the body
• Contains the somatosensory cortex

Somatosensory Cortex
• Located behind the central fissure at the top of the brain in the parietal lobe
• Receives messages from skin senses all over the body
- Warmth and cold, touch, pain, and movement

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The Cerebral Cortex

Temporal Lobe
• Processes auditory information, including language
• Contains Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas: key language regions

Occipital Lobe
• Processes visual information

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The Cerebral Cortex
Thinking, Language, and the Cortex
• Association areas are responsible for higher cognitive functions of
problem solving, planning, decision making.
• Several interconnected regions of the brain are involved in these
functions, making up the information-processing system of our brain.
• Parts of the parietal lobe, a section of the frontal lobe cortex, the
hippocampus, a portion of the limbic system, and the thalamus

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The Cerebral Cortex

The areas that are most involved

in speech
- Broca’s area
- Wernicke’s area.

Damage to either area is likely to

cause aphasia
- inability to understand or
produce language.

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VIDEO
 Left Brain, Right Brain?

The left and right

hemispheres have different
functional responsibilities,
with some overlap.
•The left hemisphere controls
the right side of the body.
•The right hemisphere
controls the left side of the
body.
Specialization of the Cerebral
Hemispheres
Research indicated that some
specialization of the
hemispheres exists

Lateralization refers to how

some neural functions, or
cognitive processes tend to
be more dominant in one
hemisphere than the other.
Split-Brain Experiments
• Epilepsy involves temporary disturbances of brain functions due to sudden
neural discharges.
• Severe cases of epilepsy may require split-brain operations, severing of the
corpus callosum.
• Usually successful in controlling seizures, and most patients do not suffer severe functional
losses.
• Certain tasks can bring out strange behaviour, such as “split-brain phenomenon”:
• the inability of one hemisphere to communicate with the other

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Split-Brain Experiments

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Let's review

Does anyone have any questions?