Read Ch 4 in your textbook.
Don't worry so much about your answers being beautifully written (yet!); focus on reading and understanding the material and then communicating that understanding to us when answering these questions. You should not do a list (pose question: answer it). Your response should be a coherent and cohesive essay, within which you answer the following questions:
From your reading, which topic(s) are most interesting to you?
What does the brain have to do with psychology? Why study brain activity and brain function to understand psychological questions?
What was the most surprising or memorable thing you learned about in this reading?
Provide a list of psychological terms that you used in your comment at the bottom of your post.
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The most interesting topic for me in this chapter was probably the discussion and explanations of the different areas of the brain and the functions that each particular area serves. I think perhaps that what interested me most about this section was that there are so very many different parts of the brain structure. I mean, I was always aware of the main parts: the frontal cortex, the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland. All of these I had learned about before, or at the very least heard of. But the wide array and utterly befuddling complexity of the brain was something I had neither really considered before (apart from knowing, in the back of my mind, ‘the brain is complex’), nor was it something I’ve dwelt on a lot. Although the brain is infinitely interesting, the nervous system has also captivated my interest. I’m quite the opposite of a science-oriented person (I COULD tell you a lot about the American Civil War, though) and once again, the nervous system and how it functions has remained far from the focus of my life. However, it was enlightening to actually think about how I was even able to write notes on what I was reading, as I was using my central nervous system as I was learning about it, which seemed a little existential, if not trippy.
As for the brain’s role in psychology, it is absolutely vital to this field of study. The brain is the very essence, the absolute core of a human’s personality and existence. There is no better part of the body to study if looking for a basic representation of human life. The brain controls every part of the body, and even behavioral studies are directly related to the effects of the brain on the body. Brain activity and function is therefore at the very heart of psychology, and the field is better off for having not only a reliance on behavioral studies to tell us what is happening in the human mind, but also what is happening scientifically and neurologically in the brain.
I think the most surprising part of this chapter was something that shouldn’t have surprised me all that much. I suppose I assumed (based on rudimentary knowledge gained from an elementary school lesson) that the central nervous system controlled everything in the body. And I guess, in the most basic sense, that’s true, as it controls other systems that branch from it. But I had no idea that there were several levels of nervous system functions beneath it, each of which has its own function. But I also wasn’t aware that there were separate systems that were more or less active based on the stress present in one person’s life at any given moment. I of course, wondered which was operating as I was reading. Having thought about it, I decided the sympathetic nervous system, because when are college students, much less honors students, ever NOT stressed? Either way, it was interesting to learn about and every time I feel stressed I will likely think of this reading.
brain
frontal cortex
hypothalamus
pituitary gland
nervous system
central nervous system
psychology
behavioral studies
sympathetic nervous system
Throughout the course of my reading in this chapter, I learned that studying the brain is indeed extremely important to the field of psychology. During the first part of my reading, I became very frustrated when trying to understand how neurons function and what they do for the brain and for our functioning. I was somewhat annoyed that we would have to be learning about this because I just wanted to know why people act the way they do. However, when the book moved into explaining the nervous system and the structures of the brain, I began to see the importance. I learned that the brain is infinitely complex and interconnected. Looking at the parts of the brain and the parts of the nervous system can help psychologists understand why people behave in the way they do. For instance, by learning about the autonomic nervous system, I began to see how psychologists might need to know which part of the nervous system was being activated: the sympathetic nervous system or the parasympathetic nervous system. A person’s behavior is radically different depending on which of these two is more active at the time the observation is being made. Additionally, the structures of the brain make a huge impact on behavior, especially throughout the development of the brain. For instance, when studying adolescents, psychologists must take into consideration that the prefrontal cortex is not fully developed in these individuals. This makes a huge impact on their behavior because this part of the frontal cortex is involved in higher-order thinking such as memory, reasoning, and planning.
For me, the most interesting part of the chapter was the portion on the structures of the brain. This has always been interesting for me, and I even did a project in my elementary health class on the parts of the brain. However, I did not realize how many parts of the brain I was unfamiliar with. When I did my project in elementary, I focused on the different lobes of the brain. I did not realize that these are all part of the neocortex which is located on the exterior of the brain. I was very surprised to see all of the intricate and important parts that are located on the interior of the brain. The most interesting structure in the brain that I read about was the somatosensory strip, an area in the parietal cortex. I found this portion to be extremely interesting because it processes the tactile information that comes from our body parts. What I didn’t realize was that it doesn’t process each body part as strongly. For instance, it processes feelings from our lips far more than our elbows because a larger part of the somatosensory strip is dedicated to the lips. I enjoyed reading about an explanation for why our elbows are very insensitive.
I am not sure if anyone remembers seeing the picture of the man with the railroad spike through his skull, but for me this was the most shocking part. I found this shocking not only because he was able to survive, but because the only long term brain damage he seemed to have endured was a complete personality change. Clearly the prefrontal cortex is very important in determining personality.
Vocabulary: neurons, autonomic nervous system, sympathetic nervous system, parasympathetic nervous system, prefrontal cortex, frontal cortex, neocortex, somatosensory strip, parietal cortex
After reading the chapter I found that I was extremely interested in the last part which was the neurological diseases portion of the chapter. Many of the diseases that were mentioned, I had heard of before and some of which I know people that deal with one of these diseases. The things that really stuck out to me about these neurological disorders were the symptoms and then what scientists are trying to do in order to find more long term solutions and cures. I knew that stem cell research was going on before but taking a closer look at how this research could impact people with these diseases in such a beneficial way was very eye opening.
Along with this topic, I found the section on brain development born we are born to be quite fascinating. Most of this information was new and excited to me. The idea that our brains develop from just 3 layers of undefined tissue into the 13 different areas or organs that make up our brain today left me awestruck.
One of the most memorable things I found while reading this chapter was that we have simple circuits that control our pain reflexes. I found this really surprising because the author stated that these simple circuits do not need the brain right away to be put into action. When I thought about neurons before reading this chapter I thought all of them went through the spinal cord and got their instructions from the brain. This idea challenged that thought process and explained why when we feel something hot or step on something sharp we pull away before we get the full amount of “ouch that hurt”. This circuitry system included a sensory neuron, interneuron, and a motor neuron.
Along with the many different components that make of the nervous system the chapter talked about how each of these brain components affected psychology either in cognitive development, how a person behaves, or the idea of learning different things. For example, the amygdala, hippocampus, striatum, nucleus accumberis, and temporal cortex all included some form of learning different skills. Another example is that there were many of the different components of the brain that helped with chemicals that affected the brain in a matter that lead to different actions taken or not taken by a person. Each of these things leads psychologists to look further into how the brain functions in order to get a better understanding of how certain changes within the brain affects a person’s actions and thoughts throughout their everyday life. This applies to why psychologists should study brain activity as well. Like the author stated at the beginning of the chapter being able to see an awake, healthy brain in action has spurred scientists to a new understanding of which hemispheres control what activities and how a person responses to certain stimuli. Ultimately, these observations can lead psychologists to understanding the plethora of reasons and chemicals behind each individual action or reaction in order to help people to either change certain behaviors or encourage others.
Vocabulary: neurological diseases, simple circuits, spinal cord, sensory neuron, interneuron, motor neuron, cognitive development, amygdala, hippocampus, striatum, nucleus accumberis, temporal cortex.
The topic from the reading that I found to be the most interesting was on the basic structure of the brain and how not just one part works to function the body, but multiple parts work together to create one function. It requires a brain circuit to fully and successfully complete tasks. I knew about the Frontal Cortex and Temporal Cortex from pop culture and other scientific readings in school, but I never knew that the brain was split up into four different regions. Even these four different regions can be split up into smaller more specialized regions. I also found the way neurons fire to be interesting as well and how one fire will trigger another triggering another further adding onto the circuit of neurons firing as the action potential travels down the axons from one neuron to the next..
The brain accounts for some of the more nature-based parts of science and psychology. The brain is the headquarters for the basis of human thought and action, so having a good understanding of the brain is a large part of psychology. If there is something abnormal or different about the brain, this could cause changes in behavior and thought processes and we all know that psychology is the study of behaviors and thought processes. The hormones and neurotransmitters within the brain all create good and bad changes within our behavior and how we react to situations. Knowing the basis of the human brain also helps in clinical psychology in the cure of diseases and mental disorders. If you know what parts of the brain trigger a specific hormone, or which are activated by performing particular motions, then you are able to isolate where and how to possibly look for a cure. In experimental psychology it is good to know the structure of the brain so that you know which parts of the brain are active during your experiments and so you know which parts might be working together to achieve the goal of your experiment. This also helps with coming up for a possible explanation of your subjects behavior within certain situations.
One thing that I found most surprising was the lateralization of the brain and how specific sides of the brain specialize in different areas of motion. I knew that there were parts of the brain that specialized in different areas but I guess I never thought about the fact that one side of the brain did more than the other in certain situations. This lateralization of the function of the brain also contributes to the debate on left and right side dominance. I never knew that this was a controversial topic and I always thought there was some solid truth to this issue with a few exceptions. I thought it was interesting how people who thought with the right side of their brain tended to be more creative and people who thought with the left side of their brain tended to be more analytical in their thinking. I also found it to be surprising how many functions the glia performs within the regular function of a brain. I had
I was confused by some of the text in the neurogenesis and synaptogenesis parts of the reading and I’m wondering if we can talk about and clear up exactly the way those two processes work.
Terms:
neurogenesis
synaptogenesis
glia
lateralization
hormones
brain structure
neurotransmitters
Frontal Cortex
Temporal Cortex
neuron
axon
When I began this chapter, and throughout reading this chapter, I found myself thinking about the numerous hours spent studying for Anatomy and Physiology. I made many connections between what we discussed in class and what this chapter went over. At times it felt exhausting, but only because of the complexity of the subject matter. Neuroscience can definitely be a difficult subject to conquer just because there is so much information to learn about, while there is also a multitude of information waiting to be discovered.
This chapter sparked my interest mainly because I was able to make so many connections from my previous experience in class. It was a nice refresher of the content. I remembered going over the resting membrane potential and at what point the neurons reach the threshold level and become an action potential. I also remember going over various neurotransmitters and how synapses occur. I was interested in the various nervous systems as well because there are so many different subcategories of each one. In particular, we recently went over the autonomic nervous system in class. Within the autonomic nervous system there is the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The two systems affect the bodily functions in opposing ways. The sympathetic nervous system for example, is known as the "fight or flight" system. This is the system which reacts to times of stress. The parasympathetic nervous system however, is the "resting and digesting" system. Therefore, the parasympathetic nervous system is at work with digestion when there is no immediate danger whereas when danger is encountered, the sympathetic nervous system takes over and stops the digestion process in order to conserve energy for other basic functions. Sometimes, in cases of no immediate danger, the sympathetic nervous reads stress as danger to the individual. This causes changes in behavior seen in the form of nervousness, dry mouth, a pounding heart, and other such experiences.
These behavioral changes are significant because they affect our daily life. That is one reason why the brain is so important in the study of psychology. By looking at the brain, neuroscientists and psychologists alike can determine the various chemical changes taking place which then, in turn, changes the behavior of individuals. Psychology afterall, is the study of behavior. Without the study of brain activity, one would not be able to understand brain function. And brain function is what determines our various behaviors. Clearly, you can see how they are immensely interconnected.
Although I already had a bit of a background in this subject from my class experience, I was surprised by how many new and surprising facts I came across while reading the chapter. I was surprised by the lack of evidence provided in the right vs. left brain debate. I had always heard, and relayed, that some people are more dominantly right brained while others were more dominantly left brained. I have always wondered which category I fell in because I have been very into music and creativity but also have seen a more analytical side of myself as well. I thought of this idea as fact because it is so widely discussed that I never thought about the idea of it being untrue. Just as the book says, it is difficult to differentiate from fact and fiction because it is a subject that has been so popularized. I was surprised too, by the numerous amount of brain regions that go into affecting the different types of learning. Examples of some such regions are the hippocampus which is important for spatial navigation learning; the amygdala which is important in fear learning; the cerebellum and striatum which are important for motor learning; and the nucleus accumbens which is important for reward learning.
Vocabulary Terms: resting potential, action potential, neurotransmitters, synapses, autonomic nervous system, sympathetic nervous system, parasympathetic nervous system, hippocampus, amygdala, cerebellum, striatum, nucleus accumbens
I have always been interested in biology and how the body works. What I most enjoyed about this chapter were the explanations about the different parts of the brain. I always liked learning about something and being able to apply it in my everyday life – for example, walking around and smell a flower and know that my Thalamus is relaying that sensory information to other parts of my brain for further use. Most of the structures and nervous system processes were review from my Anatomy and Physiology class I took a few years ago, but I did learn more about the Striatum and the Nucleus Accumbeus.
I also enjoyed learning about action and resting potentials and how the neurons work to send signals. I was also fascinated by how the nodes of Ranvier and the myelin sheath help to send the neurological signals faster. I am also interested in how the refractory periods work; such as how long does the refractory period last, and why does it need to occur?
The brain deals with psychology because thinking and mental processes happen in the brain. In order to understand how the human mind works, we first have to understand how the brain processes and comprehends information. When we understand how the brain deals with information, we can understand how the mind makes sense of that information and affects our behavior.
The most memorable thing about the reading for me was about the communication between neurons. I remember struggling to comprehend the idea of action potential back in high school, but now, it makes sense how the electrical impulses trigger the neuron to release neurotransmitters. I think it’s very interesting how the receptors respond only to certain neurotransmitters to continue the action potential to the other neurons.
Thalamus
Striatum
Nucleus Accumbeus
Action potentials
Resting potentials
Refractory period
Myelin sheath
neurotransmitter
As I started reading this chapter, I felt a little overwhelmed with all of the terms and the sheer complexity of the interactions of the brain. I don’t have a whole lot of experience with science beyond high school biology, chemistry and physics, and I have very little experience with anatomy. I felt like that whole section of the chapter was interesting, but it was a lot to process at once. I had to remind myself that what I was reading was still pretty basic, and neuroscience is so incredibly complex. I pushed through it and the more I read, the more it made sense. I really liked the part about the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. It had never really occurred to me that the functions of these two (fight-or-flight and resting, respectively) would be part of separate systems, but it makes a lot of sense now that I’ve actually thought about it a little. It kind of blew my mind that, as I was working through this reading and understanding these concepts, my own synapses were firing and my parasympathetic nervous system was going about its business keeping me alive.
The brain is the root of psychology. It contains and controls everything from our most basic functions and necessities to the finest motor skills and the emotions that we feel. If we don’t understand the parts of the brain and how they work together to form a cohesive whole, we won’t know where to look to find the root of a behavior, nor how that behavior could be affected either an external or internal force.
I found the section on differences in brain lateralization fascinating. I’ve always been interested in the whole left brain-right brain styles of thinking. My mom is very stereotypical left-brained – she’s an auditor, she works with numbers all day and even sees color by numbers. She’s not very musical or artistic. I, on the other hand, take after my dad: I am much better with words than numbers, and I am a very artistic and musical person. In fact, I am an English and graphic design double major and about half of my extracurricular activities are music-related. Personality-wise, I am very similar to my mom, so it’s really interesting to me why and how this difference can occur. I found it interesting that the concept of lateralization is actually pretty controversial when it seems like my family is a pretty clear-cut example.
Sympathetic system, parasympathetic system, synapses, lateralization
Originally, I was quite overwhelmed starting to read this chapter. Science, especially biology and anatomy, were not my strongest suits by any means. So as I was reading this I often found myself confused simply by the long complex words that were used to explain everything. However, the deeper I got into the material and chapter, the more it started to make sense and the more I realized I’m not reading this to become a neuroscientist! I am simply trying to understand the basics behind brain function in order to understand how it relates to psychology, which in the end I think I accomplished.
Since psychology is the study of mental processes and behaviors, and virtually all of those mental processes and behaviors start out in the brain, I think it is pretty essential that anyone wanting to study psychology first start by understanding the basics of how the brain works. Long story short, the brain has everything to do with psychology. Without it, we wouldn’t have any sort of physical or mental function, we wouldn’t have any thoughts or behaviors that can then be influenced by our environment, we wouldn’t be able to develop into the humans we are today. By studying brain activity and brain function, we are able to somewhat accurately determine what sort of physical or mental function comes from a certain region of the brain. Like the example given in the book, we can pretty accurately assume at least some portion of our personality is held in our frontal cortex, since Phineas Gage’s was dramatically changed after he was impaled by a railroad spike in his frontal cortex. By knowing where aspects of our personality are located within our brain, we can examine how changes in these areas lead to changes in our personalities, leading to bigger conclusions, such as how specific personalities correlate to certain variances in those areas of the brain.
The most interesting topic of this section to me was stem cells and how they can be used to treat neurological disorders. I have always been fascinated with stem cell research and the vast amount of things they can be used to treat. They are such valuable assets to the scientific and medical community, but yet are surrounded with so much controversy. I have always supported the fact that if something’s use has benefits much greater than its drawbacks, it should always be used. However, we live in a world of free speech, and not everyone is always going to agree, making it still, and probably always, a controversial topic.
The most surprising part of this chapter to me was the debunking of some general myths surrounding which sides of the brain controlled what and how this affected you as a person, as well as differences between the two gender’s brains. I guess I had fallen victim to the widespread beliefs that if you were “right-brained” you tended to be more creative, and the opposite for “left-brained” people. Apparently these generalizations are not true, and really the only important fact surrounding the differences in left and right brained people is whether they are left or right handed. I had also, unfortunately been led to believe that since women tended to have smaller brains than men, we were therefore biologically inclined to be less smart. However, this was proven to be false, to my happiness, explaining that the size of the brain really has nothing to do with intelligence, unless it falls largely on either ends of the spectrum.
Terms: frontal cortex, stem cells
The brain and nervous system are essential to understanding the way people behave, think, and feel. Since psychology is the study of behavior and mental processes, psychologists must understand how the brain works. As I learned in this chapter, the brain is a very complicated organ in our body that is separated into various different regions and lobes. What psychologist study from the brain are the responses that it produces, they strive to understand why a person behaves to certain stimuli and which part of the brain is active during such situation. As for why psychologists study the nervous system, it would only make sense that they would understand the system which the brain was part of. The nervous system is divided into two parts the peripheral nervous system which contains the nerves and the central nervous system which contains the spinal cord and the brain. These two systems communicate with one another and generate our responses. I didn’t quite understand, at first, why we started the chapter learning about neurons and action potential but then I realized that this is essentially how the whole nervous system works. The neurons are the ones that are communicating with other neurons and as a whole communicating with the body. I found it interesting that while learning about neurotransmitters, I realized that certain drugs release certain neurotransmitters. For example Adderall increases the release of norepinephrine. I guess I never made the correlation of prescription drugs with affecting neurons, I just assumed that prescription drugs affected other parts of the body.
I was once asked if I knew that the brain named itself, I didn’t, but it made think about the ability of the brain and how it controls all of our actions. While I was reading this chapter this question popped into my head which made me realize that psychologists are studying the thing that made them ask all of these psychological questions. There were a couple of topics discussed in the chapter that I found particularly interesting one which was how the different regions of the brain assist in different types of learning. For example the amygdala is critical for learning fear and the nucleus accumbens is essential for reward learning. It amazes me how neuroscientists were able to discover which parts of the brain are used for different learning. I think that a lot of people don’t realize learning certain things use different parts of the brain. Another interesting topic, or should I say myth, discussed in this chapter is the idea that humans only use ten percent of their brain. While I wish it were true this statement is false; humans use most of their brain most of the time. Perhaps the most interesting topic covered is neurological diseases particularly psychiatric diseases. Although it is not discussed fully in this chapter, I am looking forward to reading about them later on in the semester.
Vocabulary: peripheral nervous system, central nervous system, neurons, action potential, neurotransmitters, amygdala, nucleus accumbens
Throughout the course of reading this chapter I was fascinated by what I was reading on neuroscience. I have always been interested in science and how everything works. What I enjoyed the most were the explanations. Something I found interesting was learning about the different types of the brain and what they are used for, like the amygdala, which I’d learned in my Soundscapes class is used to interpret our emotions. I just find it interesting when I can relate other classes that I have taken or I am taking to ones I am taking. I also found learning the psychological diseases in this chapter and look forward to reading about them later on.
The brain is absolutely vital to psychology because it is the core to a human’s personality and existence. Since psychologists study such phenomena as perception, cognition, emotion, personality, behavior, and interpersonal relationships without the brain, we would not have any physical or mental function, any thoughts or behaviors that could be influenced by our environment, we would not be able to develop into the ‘civil’ human beings that we are today. By studying the brain functions and the activity of the brain, we are able to determine what physical or mental function comes from what region of the brain.
One thing I found interesting was the lateralization of the brain and how specific sides of the brain specialize in different areas. I knew there were different areas but I had never really thought that one side did more than the other at certain times. The lateralization of the function of the brain also contributes to the debate of left side and right side dominance. Which I had heard about the controversial topic before but had not really paid it any attention. I think it is interesting how people think with the right side of their brain tend to be creative and people who think with the left side of the brain are more analytical in their thinking. My question though is this: Is this something that is passed down through genetics? because if so I think it skip a generation because I think opposite of both my parents. The most surprising thing about this chapter I thought was learning about the PET scan because I had not actually heard of those before, but what I found interesting was that CAT scans were not talked about in this chapter even though neurologists use them to help figure out a prognosis for a patient. I then decided to look up the differences on a PET scan and a CAT scan since it was not talked about in this chapter, and found a PET scan reveals the cellular level metabolic changes occurring in an organ or tissue. This is important and unique because disease processes often begin with functional changes at the cellular level. A PET scan often detects the very early changes whereas a CAT or MRI detect changes a little later as the disease begins to cause changes in the structure of organs or tissues.
Terms: neuroscience, amygdala
The brain is really cool to me. The fact that the different region of the brain have their own individual purposes is fascinating to me. It’s a combination of seeing exactly which part is in charge and not being able to really see it working. The brain is extremely complex and almost secretive. There aren’t ways to really test the brain without the patient either being dead or hooked up to a lot of machines. It makes you wonder if day to day brain activity differs from what’s actually able to be studied.
The brain is the center for all behavior, feeling, actions, and thoughts. Since all aspects of being alive are very dependent on the brain, Psychologists can use the study of the brain to help them figure out why people do what they do. Neurologically, the brain builds and deteriorates itself over the course of a lifetime due to different experiences. The ways in which the brain develops and changes may have certain correlations with aspects of human behavior and psychologists can use these correlations to draw conclusions about the mind.
The concept of split brain patients or people who have had their corpus callosum cut in order to stop the spread of seizure from one part of the brain to another, is very surprising to me. The procedure can cause the brain to work against itself and stops the two hemispheres from communicating. It’s very strange to think of the brain as something that can be manipulated like a machine when the brain seems to be the home of who you are as a person. It’s a scary thought that it can be so easily disabled.
Behavior, neurologically, develops,
The brain controls the way we think, which is what psychologists aim to study. The brain controls and produces thoughts and feelings in a couple of different ways. Different parts of the brain produce different neurotransmitters, which alter psychological functions. For example, the brain stem produces serotonin, which affects activity level and regulates the mood. The hypothalamus is important for motivational processes. Other parts, like the striatum, are responsible for learning and memory.
By studying the brain, we can seek to understand why people act the way they do. The brain itself can differ in different groups of people. For example, some psychologists believe that women are more likely than men to use both sides of their brain, and their brains are indeed smaller than males’. If the brain itself is damaged, the person’s ability to speak, understand, and even their personality may be drastically altered. As we develop, our brains grow and change and develop, which influences all aspects of our development.
The most interesting part of this chapter for me was learning about the different parts of their brain and their functions. Every emotion, thought process, and function of the brain has a specific part in control of it. It’s very intriguing to me to learn what each one does, instead of just learning where they are. Brain anatomy kind of freaks me out, but I love hearing about what each does.
The most surprising thing for me to learn was that there was a specific part of the brain, the amygdala, which is just responsible for everything that has to do with fear. It’s so mind boggling to me that there’s a portion of the brain set aside for just that emotion. I never thought about how complicated that emotion was.
Neurotransmitters, brain stem, hypothalamus, striatum, amygdala