Transcript Project Self-Discovery

Project Self-Discovery
A step-by-step journey through the
parts of our bodies that govern our
actions, pain, pleasures, thoughts, and
emotions
Female vs. Male Brain:
the differences finally revealed
You are your brain…or are you?
• Quick talk: Your living brain is transplanted into another
human being. When the operation is over and the anesthetic
wears off, the body opens its eyes. Who is looking out of the
eyes? Who is processing the information coming into the
eyes, ears, skin, nose, mouth?
Quick talk #2: You suffer a traumatic brain injury in a car accident. After
months of physical therapy in the hospital, you are able to walk, talk, read,
and do most of the physical and mental things you used to be able to do.
However, friends and family say you aren’t “you” anymore. They say you have
a different sense of humor, your temper is more extreme than it was, you
show affection in different ways, and all of your old hobbies and interests no
longer interest you. Where did “you” go? Who is in your body now, if not
“you”?
“You” are a bundle of nerves
• Neuron
Axon:
sends
messages
– AKA nerve cell
– Human body has 100s of billions;
brain has billions
– 1 sand grain-sized piece of brain
can have 100,000 neurons and 1
MILLION synapses (places to
receive a message)
– Function:
• to send and receive
electrochemical messages and
electrical pulses between skin,
muscles, organs, glands, & brain
Dendrites:
receive
messages
Neural impulse
• Energy that travels up to 200 mph through your body from
one neuron to the next (in contrast, electricity travels 3
million times faster in a wire!)
• The energy carries a message to the brain and other cells in
body from external stimuli (heat, pressure, light, sound) OR a
message generated within the body
• Impulse is processed and “translated” into image, sound,
emotion, pain, etc in brain—brain can send out response
message to muscles and skin
Demonstrations: Knee Jerk, poke
Neurotransmitters:
The electrochemical language of the body
Quick read and notes: neurotransmitter handout: Write down name of each
neurotransmitter, what it does, how it interacts with drugs, what happens if
not enough or too much
• Neural impulse (energy messages) are transmitted between
neurons across synaptic gap (small space between neurons)
by neurotransmitters
• Different kinds of neurons send different neurotransmitters
• Some are excitatory (speed up delivery of message), some
are inhibitory (slow down or even stop the message from
being delivered)
Serotonin-Is there such thing as too much of a good thing?
Neurotransmitters released by axon across synaptic gap (cleft) to
neighboring neuron’s dendrite
Neural network:
cluster of neurons in brain
1. Networks grow
more and stronger
synaptic connections
as we learn, think, do
2. Connections
weaken when not
used or damaged by
drugs, alcohol,
disease
Ms. C quick read: article on teens’ brains and alcohol/marijuana
How’s this for some freaky, formal operational thinking?
Practical Applications?
• If we know thoughts are energy (neural impulses), how can we use
this knowledge?
– Electrodes can deliver energy pulse to areas of the brain to find out what
that part does
– People who are paralyzed can have tiny transmitters implanted in their
brains that communicate their thoughts with computers
• If we know how to replicate neurotransmitters in the chemistry lab,
how can that help people who don’t have enough of one?
– Make drugs to replace the missing neurotransmitter!! Examples
• Why isn’t injecting someone with a missing neurotransmitter
always the answer?
– Blood-brain barrier prevents many injected chemicals from entering brain