The Human Brain

Mature Human Brain

• weighs 3 pounds
• fueled by glucose
• contains 1 trillion cells – divided into 2 groups
1. glial cells – provides scaffolding and
insulator of the neurons
- 900 billions
- uncontrolled growth of glial
cells may result to cancer
 cont.
2. Neurons – 100 billions
- with 2 specialized extensions
1st extension – receives electrical
signals
2nd long extension – transmit
electrical signals
- the speed of transmission of
electrical signal is 200 miles/hr
- serves as the informational
network of the brain
- develop at birth
 Facts about Neurons
• Humans develop almost all their neurons at
birth
• Human brain is capable of growing a limited
number of neurons throughout adulthood
(proven by our way of continuing ability to learn and remember new
things)

• there is a limited capacity to replace, rewire or

repair damaged neurons
(ex. after an injury, stroke, gunshot wound, blow on the head)
Reason - there is a genitic program in the brain that
turns off regrowth when neurons become fully
grown.....
Case in Point 1: Alzheimer’s disease
• brain cells are deffective (neurons are shrinking)
• distruction of neurons is many times faster than
the brain’s limited capacity for regrowth, repair
or rewiring
* 60-65 yrs old
* forgetful
* repeats things
* gets lost easily
* mildly confused
* damaged in the hippocampus (involved in
memory)
 The Neuron

Instruction :
Draw the neuron on the board
and label its parts....
 Parts and Functions of Neurons
3 basic structures of the Neuron (cell body, dendrites & axon)

1. Cell body – manufactures chemicals and maintains the entire

neuron in working order
2. Dendrites – receives signals from other neurons, muscles, or sense
organs and pass this signals to the cell body
3. Axon – carries signals away from the cell body to neighboring
neurons, organs and muscles
4. Myelin sheath – insulates the axon, it prevents interference from
electrical signals generated in adjacent axons
5. End bulbs – it stores chemical called neurotransmitters, w/c are
used to communicate the nieghboring cells
6. Synapse – acts like switches to turn adjacent cells on or off
 Transmitters & Neurotransmitters
Transmitters – these are chemical messengers
that transmits infromation from the nerve to
the body organs (heart & muscles)

Neurotransmitters – these are chemicals made

by neurons used for communication between
neurons during the perfromance of mental
and physical activities
(ex of neurotransmitters: gaba neuron & endorphin – natural
pain-killer )
 The Nerves

• stringlike bundles of axons and densrites that

come from the spinal cord

• carries information from the senses, skin,

muscles and the body’s organs to and from
the spinal cord

• Have the ability/capability to regrow

Case in Point 2: Alcohol
• Alcohol shall imitate the naturally occuring
neurotransmitter Gaba Neuron
• Gaba Neuron – excites the neural activity,
when these Gaba Neurons are excited they
decrease the neural activity w/c will result in:
- reduction of anxiety & tension
- loss of inhibitions and self-control
- makes the person so friendly
 Reflex Response
is a Neural Function
example: ( fingertips feeling a hot object or hit by a sharp
object)
Process: 1. sensors – skin, tip of your finger
2. afferent neuron – sensory neurons carries info
from the senses to the spinal cord
3. interneurons – 2nd neuron where the info is transmitted
4. efferent neuron – motor neurons carries info from the
spinal cord to produce responses in various muscles and
organs throughout the body
Case in Point 3: Parkinson’s disease
• symptoms of tremors
• shakes in the limbs
• slowing of voluntary movements
• feeling of depression
• as it progresses the patient may develop
- shuffling walk
- suddenly freezes for hours
PD – is caused by the distruction of a neurotransmitter dopamine –
is the fuel of the basal ganglia – involve in regulating movement,
structures located at the center of the brain
PD can be temporarily treated by L-dopa – dopaminelike chemical
to be injected in the patient’s basal ganglia
After effect of L-dopa intake will result to unwanted jerky
movement
 Trivia
1. Weight of a normal brain = 1,350 grams / 3lbs
2. How we study the human brain?
* MRI – magnetic resonance imaging
* fMRI – functional magnetic resonance imaging
* PET scan – positron emission tomography
3. Tools vs. Animals
* thinking of naming tools occured in the front of
the brain
* thinking of naming animals occured in the back
of the brain
 The Nervous System
Divisions of the Nervous System
1. Central Nervous System
2. Peripheral Nervous System
subdivision of the Peripheral Nervous System
2.1. Somatic Nervous System
2.2. Autonomic Nervous System
susdivision of the Autonomic Nervous System
2.2.1. Sympathetic Division
2.2.2. Parasympathetic Division
 Functions of the Division of the Nervous System

• Central Nervous System

- made up of the brain & the spinal cord
- cognitive functions ( thinking, speaking & reading as
well as moving, feeling, seeing & hearing)

• Peripheral Nervous System

- responsible for muscle movement
- receives and performs bodily functions
 Functions of the subdivision
of the Peripheral Nervous System

• Somatic Nervous System

- voluntary movement of the muscles in the limbs, back, neck and
chest
- composed of two fibers
1. afferent fibers – sensory fibers: carries info from the sensory
receptors in the skin, muscles and other organs to the spinal cord
and brain
2. efferent fibers - motor fibers: carries info from the brain and spinal
cord to the muscles
- maintains body coordination and balance

• Autonomic Nervous System

- regulates heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, digestion and
hormone secretion
 Functions of the subdivision
of the Autonomic Nervous System

• Sympathetic Division
- triggered by threathening or challenging physical or
psychological stimuli, increases physiological arousal
and prepares the body for action
- the fight-flight response

• Parasympathetic Division
- returns the body into a calmer and relaxed state
 Major parts of the Brain

1. Forebrain
2. Midbrain
3. Hindbrain
- pons
- medulla
- cerebellum
 Functions of the Parts of the Brain

1. Forebrain – largest part of the brain

composed of the left and right hemispheres
(functions: learning and memory, speaking
and language, emotional responses,
experiencing sensations, initiating voluntary
movement, planning and making desicions)
 cont .
2. Midbrain – has a reward and pleasure center
which is stimulated by food, money, sex, music
and looking at an attractive faces
- has areas for visual and auditory reflexes
- contains the reticular formation (responsibel in
arousing the forebrain so that it is ready to process
information from the senses )
- a blow in the head can damage the reticular formation so
the person becomes unconscious and eventually go into a
coma because the forebrain can not be aroused
 cont.

3. Hindbrain is divided into 3 structures

1. Pons – Latin word for bridge, it interconnects messages bet the spinal
cord and the brain & makes chemicals involve in sleep
(defective pons may result to a serious sleep disorder )

2. Medulla – controls vital reflexes such as respiration, heart rate and

blood pressure
(large amount of alcohol, heroin & drugs supresses the function of medulla
and cause death by stopping breathing )

3. Cerebellum – involved in coordinating motor movement & timed motor

responses (playing games or sports), automatic and reflexive learning
(blinking the eye to a signal)
 Take Note:

• Damage to an area in the forebrain would

result in paralysis

• Damage to an area in the midbrain would

result in coma

• Damage to an area in the hindbrain would

result in death
 The Cortex
• Latin for cover
• thin layer of cells that covers the entire
surface of the forebrain
• has 4 separate areas called lobes
– Frontal lobe
– Parietal lobe
– Occipital lobe
– Temporal lobe
 Functions of the 4 lobes
Frontal lobe
• Performs voluntary motor movements
• Interprets and performs emotional behavior
• Makes one behave normally in social situations
• Maintains a healthy personlaity
• Pays attention to things in the environment
• Makes decisions
• Execute plans
Damage to the frontal lobe may result in disruption of
personality and emotional swings.
 cont.
Parietal lobe
• Processes sensory information from body parts
- touching
- locating positions of the limbs
- feeling temperature and pain
• Cognitive functions
- recognizing objects
- remembering things
- perceiving and analyzing objects in space
damage to the parietal lobe makes a person unable to
recognize common objects by touch or feel
 cont.
Temporal lobe
• Involve in hearing, speaking coherently &
understanding verbal and written material
 cont.
Frontal Lobe’s Broca’s Area
• combines sounds into words and arranging words into
meaningful sentences
• damage to the Brocas’s area will result into Brocas
aphasia – the person cannot speak in fluent sentences
but can understand written and spoken words
Temporal Lobe’s Wernicke’a Area
• necessary for speaking in coherent sentences and for
understanding speech
• damage to the Wernicke’s area will result in Wernicke’s
aphasia – difficulty in understanding spoken or written
words and difficulty in putting words into meaningful
sentences
 Occipital Lobe
• involved in processing information, which includes
seeing colors and perceiving and recognizing objects,
animals and people
• defects associated in the damage of the occipital
lobe
– Visual Agnosia – failure to recognize some objects, person
& color, yet has the ability to see and even describe pieces
or parts of some visula stimuli
– Neglect syndrome – failure to see objects or parts of the
body, patients may behave as if sides of objects or their
bodies no longer exist
 Limbic System

• involve in regulating many motivational

behaviors such as obtainig food, drinks
and sex, with organizing emotional
behaviors such as fear, anger and
aggression and with storing of memories
 Parts of the Limbic System
Hypothalamus
• regulates many motiational behaviors including
eating, drinking and sexual responses
• regulates emotional behaviors such as arousing the
body when fighting or fleeing
• responsible in hormone secretion which occurs in
puberty
 cont.
Amygdala
• involved in evaluating emotional significance of
stimuli and facila expressions espicially those
involving fear, distress and threat
– Happy faces
– Sad faces
– Frightened faces
 cont.
Thalamus
• involved in receiving sensory information (hearing &
seeing)
• damage to the thalamus may result in the difficulty in
processing sensory information
 cont.
Hippocampus
• involved in saving many kinds of fleeting memories
by putting them into pemanent storage in various
parts of the brain
• damage to the hippocampus would result to the
difficulty in remembering new facts, places, faces and
conversations because these new events can’t be
placed into permanent storage