What Happens to the Brain in a Coma

What is going on inside the heads of individuals in a coma has been steeped in mystery. Now, a new study finds coma patients have dramatically reorganized brain networks, a finding that could shed light on the mystery of consciousness.

Compared with healthy patients in the study, high-traffic hubs of brain activity are dark in coma patients while more quiet regions spring to life.

"Consciousness may depend on the anatomical location of these hubs in the human brain network," said study co-author Sophie Achard, a statistician at the French National Center for Scientific research in Grenoble.

The findings have several important implications, said Indiana University neuroscientist Olaf Sporns, who was not involved in the study. 

"It gives us a handle on what may be different between healthy conscious people and people who have loss of consciousness," Sporns told LiveScience. "The traffic patterns have totally reorganized. And maybe it's the rerouting of the traffic patterns that underlies the loss of consciousness," or the mysterious ability to be self-aware that seems to set humans apart from other animals. [Top 10 Mysteries of the Mind]

In the future, the research could also help doctors determine which coma patients are likely to recover based on activity in high-traffic brain regions, he said. The research could potentially even suggest ways to stimulate the brains of patients in a coma to improve their outcome, he added.

The study was published today (Nov. 26) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Mystery of consciousness

Scientists still don't understand exactly how human consciousness works, but the twilight state of a coma could reveal some insight. Past research revealed that a person in a coma is closer to being anesthetized than being asleep. Other studies have found that vegetative and minimally conscious patients have very different brain activity.

But for the most part, it was hard to find obvious differences in brain functioning between healthy patients and those who have lost consciousness.

To tease out these differences, Achard and her colleagues took functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans of 17 patients who were in a coma a few days after cardiac arrest and compared them with scans from 20 healthy volunteers who were at rest. Some patients, who had lost oxygen to the brain for up to 30 to 40 minutes, eventually recovered, but more than half died.

The team tracked 417 different brain regions for changes in blood flow — a marker of brain activity. They then correlated synchronized increases or decreases in activity between different regions.

In healthy patients, about 40 regions lit up in concert with many other parts of the brain. These high-traffic hubs, like busy airports, apparently process much of the electrical firing in the brain.

Rerouted brain traffic

But in the coma patients, many of these hubs were darkened, and other, normally peripheral regions took their place. Intriguingly, coma patients had fewer hubs in a region called the precuneus, which is known to play a role in consciousness and memory.

These central nodes of brain activity may hold the key to consciousness, Achard told LiveScience. Because they direct so much of the brain's traffic, they also require more oxygen and thus may be more vulnerable to its loss, the study authors write in the journal article.

article source

Read More

Brain Activity During Sleep

Although sleep appears to be a passive and restful time, it actually involves a highly active and well-scripted interplay of brain circuits, resulting in sleep’s various stages.

 

These stages were discovered in the 1950s through experiments using electroencephalography (EEG) to examine human brain waves. Researchers also measured movements of the eyes and the limbs.
The results of these experiments were telling. Researchers found that each night, over the course of the first hour or so of sleep, the brain progresses through a series of stages during which brain waves slow down. This period of slow wave sleep is accompanied by relaxation of the muscles and the eyes. Heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature all fall. If awakened during this time, most people recall only fragmented thoughts, not active dreams.

This chart shows the brain waves of a young adult recorded by an electroencephalogram (EEG) during a night's sleep. As the adult passes into deeper stages of sleep, the brain waves slow down and become larger. Throughout the night, the individual goes through these stages multiple times, with brief periods of REM sleep, during which the EEG is similar to wakefulness.

Illustration by Lydia V. Kibiuk, Baltimore, MD

Over the next half hour or so, brain activity alters drastically, from deep slow wave sleep to rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, characterized by neocortical EEG waves similar to those observed during waking. Paradoxically, the fast, waking-like EEG activity is accompanied by atonia, or paralysis of the body’s muscles. Only the muscles that allow breathing and control eye movements remain active. During REM sleep, active dreaming takes place. Heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature become much more variable. Men often have erections during this stage. The first REM period usually lasts 10 to 15 minutes.
During the night, these cycles of slow wave and REM sleep alternate, with the slow wave sleep becoming less deep and the REM periods more prolonged until waking occurs. Over the course of a lifetime, the pattern of sleep cycles changes. Infants sleep up to 18 hours per day, and they spend much more time in deep slow wave sleep. As children mature, they spend less time asleep and less time in deep slow wave sleep. Older adults may sleep only six to seven hours per night. What’s more, adults often complain of early waking that they cannot avoid and spend very little time in slow wave sleep. 

 article source

Read More

Brain Functions Even After Death

 Written by: Jon Barron

According to the American Medical Association and the American Bar Association, death is legally defined as the "irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem." So how, then, do we explain the fact that up to 20 percent of those who die and then are brought back to life report that they retained consciousness even during the near-death experience? How do we explain the common phenomenon of seeing the black tunnel with the light at the end and the gathered dead relatives? Is consciousness a function of the seemingly inert brain, or does it reside somewhere outside of the "vital functions of the organism"?

For many years, scientists have been trying to resolve these questions through research into the physiology of near-death experiences (NDEs). While some attribute the reports of NDEs to the overly active imaginations of the subjects or to mystical origins, most in the medical establishment believe the experiences can be explained by simple physiology. These theories typically center on the idea that physiological changes occur in the brain as it begins to shut down -- only to reverse before actual death. For instance, a 2006 study published in the journal Neurology concluded that the near-death experience is most likely the result of an "REM intrusion" into waking consciousness. In other words, the experience is akin to moving to the zone we occupy between the sleeping and waking states, where aspects of the REM-sleep state spill over into awareness.

Other researchers have asserted that the system emits certain psychoactive chemicals upon death, and that these bring about the NDE "symptoms." Dr. Richard Strassman of the University of New Mexico, School of Medicine, for instance, contends that the pineal gland releases the chemical Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which brings on hallucinations, though he wasn't able to reproduce the effect in most of his test subjects when he administered DMT to them. But then again, lack of evidence should never get in the way of a good theory. Another expert, Dr. Birk Engmann, argues that the near-death experience is simply the manifestation of psychopathological symptoms triggered by brain malfunction, which comes about because of the lack of blood supply to the brain. And Dr. Gerald Woerlee, an Australian researcher, says that experiences of waking consciousness during the NDE actually are the result of the patient being jolted back into consciousness for a few seconds. He does agree that the experience changes the brains of NDE survivors, but his perspective differs dramatically from that of those who believe there's a spiritual explanation.

"The brain function of many of these people who have undergone a near-death experience is altered," Woerlee says. "That's correct. It is altered. Extreme oxygen starvation does change brain function -- because it causes brain damage to the larger cells in the brain."

All of these theories presuppose that though the brain is shutting down -- although it's undergoing physiological changes -- it still has some viability, that it still functions at some level. But new research flushes this idea down the toilet, because at least one subject retained total recall of what happened to her on the operating table when she had absolutely zero measurable brain activity.

According to a report on National Public Radio, the subject, music producer Pam Reynold, "died" of a brain aneurysm, and the only way to save her was to perform an outrageously risky surgery. The physicians chilled her body and then "drained the blood out of her head like oil from a car engine." According to her physician, Dr. Robert Spetzler, she was "as deeply comatose as you can be and still be alive."

In spite of the fact that her brain was completely drained and non-functional (she was effectively brain dead for the entire operation), Ms. Reynold says she "floated to the ceiling" and witnessed 20 people working on her in surgery. Later, she was able to describe, in detail, the surgical instruments used during her operation and comments made by the medical team. Oh by the way, she was able to observe this even though her ears and eyes were covered with impenetrable barriers -- in addition to being brain dead. And, of course, she also had the typical near-death experience of seeing a tunnel with bright light and long-dead relatives.

When Ms. Reynold reported her after-death experience to Dr. Spetzler, he was startled. "From a scientific perspective," he says, "I have absolutely no explanation about how it could have happened."

Neuroscientist Mario Beauregard of the University of Montreal, on the other hand, does have a theory based on his recent study of 15 people who had near-death experiences that might offer an explanation. Dr. Beauregard contends that the mind lives outside the physiology of the brain, so that even when the brain dies, the mind (as opposed to the brain) has the ability to remain aware. In his study, he asked subjects to recall what happened to them when they died as he measured their brain-wave activity via 32 electrodes. According to his findings, the NDE changes brain wave patterns permanently, conferring the individual with an ability to move into a delta state similar to that experienced by monks, yogis, and long-time meditators. And Dr. Beauregard says, "...the near-death experience triggers something at a neural level in the brain. And perhaps this change, in terms of brain activity, is sort of permanent." Taking his ideas to the next step, this would mean that the mind alters the brain.

Does Ms. Reynold's experience mean that there's life after death, that the "mind" survives the body? Not necessarily. All it means is that all of the "scientific" explanations for the NDE phenomenon proffered so far don't hold up, that we have no rational explanation at all for reports of consciousness after death. We do know from existing research that most people who come back from dying have a greater capacity to deal with stress, that many report feeling spiritually awakened by the experience, and that a significant number report nearly identical experiences of seeing light, meeting deceased dear ones, and of observing and hearing things they shouldn't have been able to perceive given that they were dead. But everything science thought true about death being defined by the absence of brain activity is thrown into question -- as is the advisability, I must say, of harvesting organs when brain activity ceases. Based on this new evidence, the implications of what brain dead-people might be experiencing when their organs are removed, as Hamlet said, "Must give us pause."

P.S. A new large-scale scientific study of the near-death experience was launched this past year. The study, headed by Dr. Sam Parnia and colleagues at the Cornell Medical Center, is a three-year project involving 25 major medical centers and 1500 patients who survived cardiac arrest. Stay tuned!

Read More

Who You Are ??

 New research shows that personality traits are mirrored by changes in our brains. These changes define who we are. To change your personality you need to reconfigure your brain!

by Dan Eden for viewzone

Are you an optimistic person? Do you care about the feelings or wellbeing of others? Or do you sometimes seem withdrawn and notice the bad things going on in the world... We all have our "ups and downs" and the kind of attitude we have towards life defines our personality. But what exactly is personality? And can it be changed?

Right now, as you are reading this, your assessment of the external world is being processed and filtered by your brain. While the brain has often been compared to a computer, it really does not have software. Most of what you retain, manipulate and categorize from the outside world is the result of hardware -- the neurons and their components are physically rearranged.

This means that the kind of personality you have right now is the result of certain unique configurations within your brain. Yes, personality can and does change over time, but it requires similar changes to the structure of your brain. I hope to show you how this can be achieved in this article.

What exactly is personality?

Psychologists have had tests to measure personality for decades. The behavior that we most often exhibit is called a trait. And, for decades, there have been as many traits as there are adverbs to describe feelings. But that's changed now. Psychologists have rendered all of the possible traits down to five -- The Big Five. And with this new approach to understanding personality has come the link between these five characteristics of personality and specific regions of the brain.

The Big Five -- characteristics of personality:

• Extraversion -- (outgoing / energetic vs. shy / reserved). Energy, positive emotions, surgency, and the tendency to seek stimulation in the company of others.


• Neuroticism -- (sensitive / nervous vs. secure / confident). A tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily, such as anger, anxiety, depression, or vulnerability.


• Agreeableness -- (friendly / compassionate vs. competitive / outspoken). A tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious and antagonistic towards others.


• Conscientiousness -- (efficient / organized vs. easy-going / careless). A tendency to show self-discipline, act dutifully, and aim for achievement; planned rather than spontaneous behavior.


• Openness -- (inventive / curious vs. cautious / conservative). Appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, curiosity, and variety of experience.

Kung Fu Psychology

In the martial arts there is a phenomenon called "muscle memory." A particular movement is practiced again and again -- in slow motion at first, but then at lightening speeds. Eventually, a complex thrust or a defensive move involving many precise steps is encoded in the body's muscles where it can be executed perfectly without conscious thought. Our attitudes and emotions are like this also. We learn how to react to the outside world, often without having to make conscious decisions.

But what if our reactions are causing problems, like making is depressed or self-destructive? What if our personality keeps us feeling lonely or instigates conflicts with our family, friends or the law? Can anything be done?

I was watching a Steven Seagal movie recently and one of the antagonists in the film asked Seagal's Kung Fu character,

"Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights with the good dog all the time. Which dog wins?" To which Seagal answers, "The one I feed the most."

The wisdom in this riddle was recently demonstrated by a couple of scientific studies I think you need to know about.

The Dynamic Brain

Colin G. DeYoung [right] of the Psychology Department, University of Minnesota, and his colleges, recently published the results a study they conducted which linked personality traits to changes in specific regions of the brain. The study found significant correlations of increased and decreased volume in parts of the brain associated with the "Big Five" characteristics of human personality.

In their study, they had 116 adults take the standardized test which measures each of the Big Five personality characteristics. Then each subject was subjected to brain scans to measure specific regions in their brain. While these results will only be meaningful to a neurologist, the implications of these findings should have significance for each of us.

The Study

In a previous article on viewzone, Left Brain : Right Brain, I explained how our brains are actually two brains connected together by a bundle of nerves. Each side, or hemisphere, has certain characteristics for processing information. These can change depending on the dominant side, with each hemisphere controlling the opposite side of the body. That being the case, the DeYoung researchers used only right handed subjects to avoid that whole pandora's box. The subjects were also screened for any psychiatric disorders, brain injuries or drug use -- things that could alter the parts of the brain they were measuring.

The subjects were given the Revised NEO Personality Inventory to assess their personality, then a 3-T Allegra System (Siemens, Erlangen, Germany) was used to acquire a high-resolution structural image -- magnetization-prepared rapid gradient-echo (MPRAGE) -- of their brains. Since people have different brain sizes, the proportions for each brain (including adjustments for sex and age) were taken into account.

For Extraversion, there was a significant association with volume in medial orbitofrontal cortex.

For Neuroticism, the two largest regions of association were in right dorsomedial PFC and in portions of the left medial temporal lobe, including posterior hippocampus, as well as portions of basal ganglia and midbrain, including globus pallidus and bilateral subthalamic nuclei. Both of these associations were negative, meaning the volume was decreased. There was an increase of volume seen bilaterally in the mod-cingulate cortex, extending to the cingulate gyrus and, in the left hemisphere, into the caudate. Additional regions not previously considered were also found to have significant increases in volume. These were the middle temporal gyrus and one in the cerebellum.

Conscientiousness was associated positively with volume in a region of lateral PFC extending across most of the left middle frontal gyrus. An unpredicted negative association with Conscientiousness was found in posterior fusiform gyrus. 

For Agreeableness, there was a significant positive association in the retrosplenial region of posterior cingulate cortex and a significant negative association in superior temporal sulcus and adjacent superior temporal gyrus. An additional, unpredicted, positive association with Agreeableness was found in fusiform gyrus.

Openness showed no significant correlation to an increase in any specific region of the brain. It is thought that all of the other characteristics contribute to the functionality of this trait.

article source

Read More

MEMORY

SHORT-TERM MEMORY

In the course of a day, there are many times when you need to keep some piece of information in your head for just a few seconds. Maybe it is a number that you are “carrying over” to do a subtraction, or a persuasive argument that you are going to make as soon as the other person finishes talking. Either way, you are using your short-term memory.

In fact, those are two very good examples of why you usually hold information in your short-term memory: to accomplish something that you have planned to do. Perhaps the most extreme example of short-term memory is a chess master who can explore several possible solutions mentally before choosing the one that will lead to checkmate.

This ability to hold on to a piece of information temporarily in order to complete a task is specifically human. It causes certain regions of the brain to become very active, in particular the pre-frontal lobe.

This region, at the very front of the brain, is highly developed in humans. It is the reason that we have such high, upright foreheads, compared with the receding foreheads of our cousins the apes. Hence it is no surprise that the part of the brain that seems most active during one of the most human of activities is located precisely in this prefrontal region that is well developed only in human beings.

Human memory is a complex phenomenon, however, and of course involves other regions of the brain as well.

 LONG-TERM MEMORY

Information is transferred from short-term memory (also known as working memory) to long-term memory through the hippocampus, so named because its shape resembles the curved tail of a seahorse (hippokampos in Greek). The hippocampus is a very old part of the cortex, evolutionarily, and is located in the inner fold of the temporal lobe.

All of the pieces of information decoded in the various sensory areas of the cortex converge in the hippocampus, which then sends them back where they came from. The hippocampus is a bit like a sorting centre where these new sensations are compared with previously recorded ones. The hippocampus also creates associations among an object’s various properties.

 When we remember new facts by repeating them or by employing various mnemonic devices, we are actually passing them through the hippocampus several times. The hippocampus keeps strengthening the associations among these new elements until, after a while, it no longer needs to do so. The cortex will have learned to associate these various properties itself to reconstruct what we call a memory. 

 But the hippocampus and the cortex are not the only structures involved in long-term memory and its various manifestations in the brain.

 article source

Read More

Moving Things With Your Mind

In order to move things with your mind, you need to have the patience and persistence of practicing certain techniques. To know more about this paranormal activity, read ahead...

Move things with your mind? Sounds weird, doesn't it? You may think that a person who moves object with the mind does not belong to our planet. However, believe it or not, this task is certainly within the reach of humans. It is the power of the mind that can make the object move. It is the thought power that influences things, thereby forcing it to move. You need to take efforts in the right direction to accomplish this task.

How to Move Things with your Mind?

Moving objects with your mind requires a great deal of concentration. Your mental health needs to be in the topmost condition. A flickering or wavering mind is not capable to move objects. One has to fully concentrate on the object to be moved. The mind has to be free from all other thoughts. Practice and patience will help you to achieve that state of mind. Focus your mind on the object and make sure that you think of nothing else other than the object. If you are focusing on the thing in the right manner, it is likely to move. A mind that is completely focused on the object without any distraction has the capability to show this magical phenomenon.

This rare ability of moving things by using the power of the mind is often termed as psychokinesis (telekinesis) (PK). A handful of people have shown the ability to move things with the mind. These people have demonstrated their PK abilities by moving objects like matches, crystal bowels, match boxes and even clock pendulums. One of them was even able to bend spoons and keys publicly. As only a few people have been able to demonstrate psychic abilities, it can be concluded that it is not easy to develop psychokinetic powers.

Scientists are unable to explain the phenomenon of psychokinesis. They too are perplexed and have failed to understand how an object can be moved without physically touching it. Scientists are astonished and find it hard to believe that the mind is capable of directing objects the way it wants to. One theory says that when we focus ourselves fully on a particular object for some time, it awakens psychic energy in the form of magnetic waves that originate from the brain and target the object under consideration. These waves generated are powerful enough to produce noticeable motion in objects. Thus, the mind stimulates the production of magnetic fields that eventually push the object.

Activating Psychokinetic Powers

Moving things without actually physically moving them is possible, if you are successful in triggering your telekinetic energy. Thoughts focused on a particular object can bring the desired outcome. Certain mind control techniques can be beneficial to improve your concentration. Your mind should be relaxed and not under stress when trying this technique. Instead of attempting to influence movement of objects like a matchbox or a table, initially determine whether you are able to move things on a microscopic level. It is known as micro-PK. You can test your micro-PK powers with devices like random number generators. Or else, you can start training your mind for this task by concentrating on smaller objects like safety pins and needles. Remember, practicing this daily can help in achieving your goal.

Steps to Awaken Telekinesis

Developing telekinesis is something that cannot be achieved overnight. It is a gradual process and may take months and even years to improve telekinesis ability enough to move objects. Following are the steps that will help to transform your thoughts into actions:

Step 1: With full concentration, look at the object for around 10 minutes. During this period, avoid blinking the eyes as it may distract your concentration. Your mind should be fully focused on the object. No thoughts should be allowed to penetrate the mind. Viewing the object but thinking of something else won't work and would be in fact a waste of time. Your concentration level should be so high that at one point you start feeling the object as a part of yourself. This is a state of mind wherein you feel that object is no different but merely your projection.

Step 2: Once you attain that state of mind, just imagine the way you want the object to move. For instance, looking at the spoon kept at your table, you may wish to move the spoon by a few inches or bend it by a few degrees. Whatever be your choice, picture this motion repeatedly in your mind but at the same time don't let your vision move away from the object.

Step 3: The first two steps when done correctly help to increase your telekinesis skill and you would be in a position to move the object without any physical intervention.

As mentioned above, in just one attempt it is not possible to push the object using telekinesis. It is necessary to perform the first two steps everyday and eventually over a period of several weeks or months, you would be able to harness the power of telekinesis.

In telekinesis, concentration is the key to succeed. Your mind has to be stable and preoccupied with the thought of moving the object. Having a firm belief that telekinesis can be achieved, is also very important before you decide to sharpen your mind power. For instance, you may practice the aforementioned steps everyday, yet remain doubtful about its success or think that the ultimate goal is next to impossible. Being in this negative frame of mind is not conducive to develop telekinesis. So, stay away from such thoughts that make you lose interest in telekinesis.

Strengthening PK abilities is a long process that takes a considerable amount of time and practice. You too have psychokinetic power. All you need to do is to activate it to a level that can help to channelize the mind power in the right way.

article source

Read More

Brain Size and Intelligence

Does Size Matter?

Researchers have linked sudden and disproportionate brain growth during the first year of life to autism, suggesting that excessively rapid growth prevents the child from making the connections that guide normal behavior [source: BBC]. Another study indicated that children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) possess brains that are 3 to 4 percent smaller on average than those without ADHD [source: Goode]. Scientists have also revealed that brains shrink with age, though cognitive functions may remain unaltered [source: Britt].

But the question everyone wants to know is, what link exists between a big brain and a big IQ? Is bigger better? Since we're talking about the brain, then surely an enhanced version must lead to more smarts and more talent, right?

Well, it depends which scientist you ask. Scientists have been divided about what they're measuring and how they're measuring it. Anthropologists have long used a skull's interior volume and compared it against body size for a rough estimate of intelligence, measurements known as encephalization quotients. As brain-imaging techniques have improved, though, scientists have measured actual brains with greater precision. But is it size or is it neurons that we need to measure? Is it weight or circumference? Should encephalization quotients use total body weight or lean body mass? Should we correct for body size at all? How do you measure intelligence?

With so many brains tackling these questions, it's hard to reach a consensus on what might be the most meaningful measure. That hasn't stopped researchers from drawing conclusions, though. In 2005, psychologist Michael McDaniel evaluated studies that used brain-imaging and standard intelligence tests and found that unequivocally, bigger brains correlated with smarter people [source: McDaniel].

Since males have the bigger brains, they must have the smarts, right? In one study, scientists converted the SAT scores of 100,000 17- and 18-year-olds to a corresponding IQ score and found that males averaged 3.63 IQ points higher than the females [source: Jackson, Rushton]. The study, did, however, use about 10,000 more females than males, which may have affected the average, but the study's authors believe that the greater the brain tissue, the greater the ability for cognitive processing [source: Bryner].

Remember those studies with twins on the last page? In one study, after the scientists drew conclusions about the role of genetics in brain matter, they gave the twins intelligence tests. They found a link between intelligence and the amount of gray matter in the frontal lobes. Since frontal lobes appeared to be controlled by genetics, the results indicate that parents pass along the potential for genius.

But should gals just throw up their arms, curse their parents and refuse to make sense of nuclear physics? Nope. You've got to go out and shake what your momma gave you. These areas may just lay the groundwork for intelligence down the line or indicate the potential for genius if a person works hard. Albert Einstein may be a perfect example that it may not be overall size that matters, but size of certain sections beyond just the frontal lobe. ­Einstein, for example, had a perfectly normal-size brain, but certain parts of it were larger than normal, including the inferior parietal region, which affects mathematical thought [source: Wanjek].

It's also worth noting that the strangest things seem to increase brain size. Scientists have found that the brains of London's cab drivers enlarge and change as they learn complicated routes. Cab drivers who have been navigating the streets for years had significant structural changes, as they exhibited a larger posterior hippocampus and a slightly smaller front hippocampus [source: BBC].

So until we know more about all the exact mechanisms of brain growth, you may as well check out the stories on the next page. They just may make you brainier.

article source

Read More

Dopamine Neurotransmitter

The 'Ahs' are natural when we eat a chocolate or anything that we like. We feel very good following such an experience. These feel-good signals are passed by the brain through a neurotransmitter called dopamine. Read the following article to know how it works.

Dopamine, a neurotransmitter is widely found in animals. It is a type of alkaloid and monoamine compound, called phenethylamine. It works as a neurotransmitter and activates five types of dopamine receptors - D1, D2, D3, D4 and D5, and its variants. The chemical formula of dopamine is C6H3(OH)2-CH2-CH2-NH2; while its chemical name is 4-(2-aminoethyl)benzene-1,2-diol. It is also known by the abbreviation 'DA'. Produced in substantia nigra and ventral tegmental, among other areas in the brain, dopamine is also a neurohormone released by the hypothalamus.

Role of Dopamine in the Brain

Dopamine has significant roles associated with behavior and cognition, motivation, reward and voluntary movement. The list also includes roles related to sleep, attention, mood, learning and inhibition of prolactin production. Apart from this, it is believed to give a signal to the parts of the brain responsible for learning new behavior. Dopaminergic neurons located in the midbrain, are the main source of dopamine.

Motivation and Pleasure
How do you feel when you eat your favorite food? Naturally, it is a spontaneous response that we feel good. This feeling of enjoyment is provided by dopamine, which is closely associated with the pleasure system of the brain. It is released during sexual activity. Food also triggers the release of dopamine. Dopamine provides a feeling of reinforcement for motivating an individual to perform certain activities. There is a theory that drugs such as cocaine, amphetamine and nicotine also lead to an increase in the amount of dopamine released.

Learning and Reward Seeking
This neurotransmitter is involved in the control of movements. It is also involved in signaling of error in the prediction of reward, cognition and motivation. Other reward-seeking behavior associated with dopamine are addiction, approach and consumption. According to a research, when an individual expects a reward, dopaminergic neurons are fired in the brain as a motivational substance. In the effect of the reward being more than what is anticipated, the firing of these neurons increases.

Dopamine is also responsible for the flow of information from different areas of the brain to the frontal lobe. If there are problems with dopamine levels, they can cause a dip in memory, problem solving and attention. The reduction in the concentration of dopamine in the pre-frontal cortex is said to be responsible for attention deficit disorder.

Pathways of Dopaminergic Neurons

Neural pathways transmit dopamine from one region to another. There are four major dopaminergic pathways and they are as follows:

Mesolimbic Pathway
Dopamine is transmitted from the midbrain, ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the nucleus accumbens in the limbic system through this pathway.

Mesocortical Pathway
Dopamine is transmitted from the VTA to the frontal cortex through this pathway.

Nigrostriatal Pathway
This pathway transmits the dopamine from substantia nigra (structure in the midbrain) to striatum (subcortical part of cerebrum). This pathway is related to motor control and dysfunction or degeneration the pathway leads to Parkinson's disease.

Tuberoinfundibular Pathway
This pathway, which influences the secretion of certain hormones, including prolactin, transmits dopamine from hypothalamus to the pituitary gland.

These pathways are responsible for the proper functioning of dopamine. That prevents any damage caused to brain, culminating into a health disorder.

With all these functions and intricacies, it is not surprising that dopamine forms such an important aspect in the functioning of our brains. Cheers!

article source

Read More

Physical Exercise and the Brain

The relation between physical exercises and healthy mind has been established deeply. In fact, physical activity has been linked with improved physical and mental efficiency. That is why it students are encouraged to participate in sports and activities. Here's some more information on them.

Since decades, medical experts have been debating about the connection between physical and mental efficiency. Do physical exercises foster brain functioning? How are physical activity and brain development linked? These and many similar questions about the benefits of exercises and a healthy mind have triggered tremendous research in the field of neuroscience. Fortunately, results have been very remarkable and several studies have proved that physical activeness does play a significant role in improvement of physical and mental health.

Physical Workout and the Brain
It needn't be stressed here that physical exercises improve blood circulation and give us a healthy body. But how do physical activities help in promotion of mental growth? According to researches compiled from several sources, here I will enlist some deeper connections between physical exercise and the brain.

Active Brain Lies in an Active Body
As per a study conducted on people in the age group 20 - 60 years, those who have been active in their younger and middle years of life are at lesser risk of developing Alzheimer's disease than those who have had a sedentary life. Studies showed that people engaging in mental and physical exercises were healthier in older ages than those engaging in negligible exercises. Passive life is unhealthy for brain.

Improvement in Cognitive Decline
The closest association between our brains and physical exercises have been related to blood circulation. Better blood circulation due to physical exercises improves blood flow to brain. In older ages, often poor blood flow to brain due to hypertension or heart problems has been considered as the cause of decline in cognitive behavior.

Anti Stress and Anti Depression Buster
Walking, running, jogging and other physical exercises help the body to fight depression and to get rid of negative thoughts. That's why when we feel low or sad, engaging in some physical activity takes our blues away and automatically helps us in problem solving. Some studies have suggested that regular physical exercises delay the signs and onset of neurogenerative diseases that are bound to occur in the older ages.

Boost Your Memory and Brain Function
As per various studies, physical exercises have fabulous effect on brain functioning and if you're in search of secrets to increase brain power, then you have to include a mix of physical and mental activities in your daily routine. For example, people engaged in physical activities have been found to have good memory skills, increased focus, concentration, analytical skills and memory improvement. Hence, it has concluded that proper physical and brain exercises is very healthy for the body.

Awakening of the Brain
For the young and old alike, this is a simple exercise to follow. Just when you are about to wake up and leave the bed, move your toes properly. Stretch and scrunch your toes. This can be also practiced during working hours especially for people who work for hours sitting in front of computers. This small looking activity helps the brain to be active faster.

Foot to Brain - All Connected
While we know that the brain is one of the most fabulous mysteries of the human body, ever wondered the usefulness of the human foot? Well, gifted with eight arches, our foot help us to evenly distribute our body weight and they consist of one-fourth bones of our total body bones! Added to these is a complex net of blood vessels and nerves that connect feet to the rest of the body. It's a scientific fact that just by observing your feet your aging process can be predicted.

As we have seen from the above information, physical exercise and the brain have a great relation for a healthy body and mind that can only be felt if we inculcate the habit of including exercises in our daily routine. I'm planning to start running in the early morning, what about you? What are your plans of improving your holistic health? Think over it.

article source

Read More

How Our Brain Tricks Us

The human brain is an amazing thing, and the more we learn, the more awesome it gets. It’s so awesome, in fact, that it tricks you every single day - these tiny little shortcuts may have played a big part in our successful evolutionary history.

 

The human brain is amazing - possibly, the pinnacle of natural creation. Everything we learn about it just underscores how little we actually do know, and all of our technological leaps and bounds have yet to produce such a stunningly fast and efficient computer. Because that’s what the brain is, really - a computer. Data goes in and data comes out. What happens in between, however, can get pretty weird.

Your brain processes information so seamlessly that you don’t even realize it’s happening most of the time. Every second of every day, your brain makes sense of the world around you, allowing you to navigate the complexities of life with relative ease. For example, the simple act of catching a ball involves a series of complex physics equations to determine velocity, angle of descent, etc. - it would take a physics graduate student a decent amount of brain power and scrap paper to figure it out - yet your brain does it instantly.

With that level of information processing going on, it’s no surprise to learn that this incredible organ has developed a few shortcuts to help out - and these shortcuts make for some interesting experiences.

McCollough Effect

The McCollough effect is a sort of optical illusion, but unlike physiologic illusions that play on the structure of the eye itself, the McCollough effect plays upon the way your visual cortex processes and retains information. The effect is best illustrated with a simple image of a black and white grid. First you stare at the grid to cement the image in your mind. Then you stare at an image of only vertical lines colored red. Then you stare at an image of only horizontal lines colored green. Then go back and stare at the original grid again. Guess what happens?

Suddenly, your brain sees red vertical lines and green horizontal lines, even though the image itself is black and white. Why? It’s not an afterimage, which appears on everything and lasts only seconds - it’s an induction effect, which can last for months after an initial exposure of only 15 minutes. It happens because the area of your visual cortex that produces color correction also responds to orientation - so in effect, your brain is just "fixing" the initial image.

Deja Vu

Have you ever had that feeling that you’ve been here before? Yeah, everyone does. It’s not paranoia, or supernatural, or an image from a past life or an alternate you. It’s just your brain messing up.

What happens is that your brain processes the information about the experience before you even perceive it. Then, it recalls the information to your consciousness, or "working" brain. Problem is, occasionally the wires get crossed between short-term memory and long-term memory. If the information is recalled from short-term memory (correctly, because it first entered the brain, fractions of a second ago), everything would be normal. But if the information is mistakenly recalled from long-term memory, it feels like an actual memory, not new information, and gives you the impression that you’re reliving a past experience.

Pareidolia

Have you ever seen the man in the moon? A face in tree bark? A figure in the clouds? Jesus in a tortilla? Remember when you were kid and you swore that the shadow of your lamp became a monster at night? Pareidolia is the phenomenon that occurs when we see faces and the human figure where there are none. We can’t help it - we are hardwired to do it, and this particular brain quirk is responsible for most of what we call "supernatural" experiences (there’s an auditory component as well).

Humans are predisposed to recognize the human face and figure in less-than-optimal conditions. From birth, we can see the human face clearly in low light, at a distance, in poor visibility, etc. - whatever details our eyes can’t see, our brain fills in. It gave us an evolutionary advantage, allowing us to tell friend from foe/predator early, and continues today. Our brains are really good at pattern recognition, and the human face is our favorite pattern.

Troxler’s Fading

Have you ever stared at something so long that everything else around you went fuzzy? That’s Troxler’s fading - staring at a fixed stimulus for an extended period of time causes everything else in your field of vision of less importance to fade away. Like Pareidolia, this is also an evolutionary throwback - imagine being a caveman hunting and gathering food - the success of your hunt or gathering expedition would depend upon how closely you could focus on what you were looking for, whether it was discerning a camouflaged animal or a particular sort of plant.

It’s simply a neural adaptation that allows unchanging stimuli to be dropped from our visual perception, re-routing all our focus to the primary stimulus. In other words, it’s why we concentrate so well.

So yes, your brain plays tricks on you daily - but it means it in the best possible way, really. Without these tricks, we may not have out-evolved our proto-human competitors.

article source

Read More