HOW IS BRAIN FORMED? AKA Pixie's neurology/psychology/psychiatry research dump.

[NotPublished]

One thing I am curious about is how to people inheritly know how to use their brain? Do people train to use the brain, just like how someone practices walking? Or does the accessibility grow? If so can using the brain itself be taught? (Apart from teaching material like how to speak english, reading, writing, maths etc)

If I am making sense at all

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

Um, sorry NP, it made very little sense at all.

You probably want to look at developmental (from baby) stages of psychology and neurology from what I can vaguely assess from your post.

Brain is processing area for information. Right brain gathers sensory information, and the left brain acts as a linear processing unit from which we get the sense of being us, and seperate from the outside.  Use of language and problem solving are learned, probably, as children raised by animals, feral children,  just behave as dogs or wolves.

We don't really have much choice on using the brain really, its an organ that is linked in to our system like lungs heart digestive system ect.

When we learn to speak we get trained by our parents, same with potty training.

Also try researching anomalies and birth defects with what happens when there is no brain or some of if is removed.

[Jasper]

One thing I am curious about is how to people inheritly know how to use their brain? Do people train to use the brain, just like how someone practices walking?

There's really no "you" that is separate from your brain (as far as anyone can prove), so this question doesn't really have an answer. 

"You" is (very probably) a subset of the brain, and it might be more interesting to ask "How does the brain create you?"

[PeregrineBF]

One thing I am curious about is how to people inheritly know how to use their brain? Do people train to use the brain, just like how someone practices walking?

There's really no "you" that is separate from your brain (as far as anyone can prove), so this question doesn't really have an answer. 

"You" is (very probably) a subset of the brain, and it might be more interesting to ask "How does the brain create you?"

And just as interesting is "How does the brain create other, separate personalities." Most commonly experienced when dreaming, the people you interact with aren't you, they are clearly separate from the "you" doing the dreaming, yet all are generated by the same brain.

[NotPublished]

I suppose .. think similarly to a computer operating system. Lets say the Computer OS instructs the machine on how it stores the data on its system and how it navigates etc ... HA ACK let me try write this out on paper and see if I can make better sense .. I am probably just going on a tangent.

I wish I was brain smart

[PeregrineBF]

Heh, it's a hard question for a reason. OS analogy like you started:

The brain is hardware. The subconscious is like a Host OS, and the conscious is a preferred guest OS in a VM. When dreaming (or imagining others' reactions, etc) the host-OS spawns extra VMs to run other entities. These entities communicate over a virtual network run by the host. They are different from the preferred guest in that they don't run as much and tend to get reset frequently, and thus have less data stored. Multiple-personality disorder occurs when the host prefers the wrong guest OS, and dramatic personality shifts (say, after an accident) occur when the original guest OS is damaged beyond repair & a new one gets created to run the body.

[Telarus]

I'd like to point something out that I've picked up in mixed martial arts. The gut has the 2nd highest concentration of neurons in the body besides the brain, and also the 2nd highest concentration of neurotransmitters. This "Enteric Nervous System" can actually process full body sensation faster than the brain can. Someone well in tune with their Hara (*center), can actually react to an attack faster than someone simply used to processing information in the head area. Especially for whole body movements that utilize harmonic 'chi' (i.e. synergisticly using the appropriate side of opposing muscle pairs, following the line of action starting from your feet up thro the center of gravity and out through the limb you are attacking with). This is usually demonstrated by the 1-inch punch or tai chi push, where the hips surge forward at the same time as the arm comes into play.

So you can't even say that 'you can't separate "you' from your brain'. You can't separate 'you' from your whole body (which in good Zen fashion, leads you to realize you can't separate 'you' from 'your.body+environment', because you can't accurately model an organism minus the environment). So where does this 'you' even exist, really?

Here's the text from http://www.psyking.net/id36.htm on the Enteric Nervous System. It's good, so I copied the whole thing. I'm sure there's been more research since the 90's.

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The Enteric Nervous System: The Brain in the Gut

The gut has a mind of its own, the "enteric nervous system". Just like the larger brain in the head, researchers say, this system sends and receives impulses, records experiences and respond to emotions. Its nerve cells are bathed and influenced by the same neurotransmitters. The gut can upset the brain just as the brain can upset the gut.

The gut's brain or the "enteric nervous system" is located in the sheaths of tissue lining the esophagus, stomach, small intestine and colon. Considered a single entity, it is a network of neurons, neurotransmitters and proteins that zap messages between neurons, support cells like those found in the brain proper and a complex circuitry that enables it to act independently, learn, remember and, as the saying goes, produce gut feelings.

The gut's brain is reported to play a major role in human happiness and misery. Many gastrointestinal disorders like colitis and irritable bowel syndrome originate from problems within the gut's brain. Also, it is now known that most ulcers are caused by a bacterium not by hidden anger at one's mother.

Details of how the enteric nervous system mirrors the central nervous system have been emerging in recent years, according to Dr. Michael Gershon, professor of anatomy and cell biology at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. He is one of the founders of a new field of medicine called "neurogastroenterology."

The gut contains 100 million neurons - more than the spinal cord. Major neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, glutamate, norephinephrine and nitric oxide are in the gut. Also two dozen small brain proteins, called neuropeptides are there along with the major cells of the immune system. Enkephalins (a member of the endorphins family) are also in the gut. The gut also is a rich source of benzodiazepines - the family of psychoactive chemicals that includes such ever popular drugs as valium and xanax.

In evolutionary terms, it makes sense that the body has two brains, said Dr. David Wingate, a professor of gastrointestinal science at the University of London and a consultant at Royal London Hospital. "The first nervous systems were in tubular animals that stuck to rocks and waited for food to pass by," according to Dr. Wingate. The limbic system is often referred to as the "reptile brain." "As life evolved, animals needed a more complex brain for finding food and sex and so developed a central nervous system. But the gut's nervous system was too important to put inside the newborn head with long connections going down to the body," says Wingate. Offspring need to eat and digest food at birth. Therefore, nature seems to have preserved the enteric nervous system as an independent circuit inside higher animals. It is only loosely connected to the central nervous system and can mostly function alone, without instructions from topside.

This is indeed the picture seen by developmental biologists. A clump of tissue called the neural crest forms early in embryo genesis. One section turns into the central nervous system. Another piece migrates to become the enteric nervous system. According to Dr. Gershon, it is only later that the two systems are connected via a cable called the vagus nerve.

The brain sends signals to the gut by talking to a small number of "command neurons," which in turn send signals to gut interneurons that carry messages up and down the pike. Both command neurons and interneurons are spread throughout two layers of gut tissue called the "myenteric plexus and the submuscosal plexus." Command neurons control the pattern of activity in the gut. The vagus nerve only alters the volume by changing its rates of firing.

The plexuses also contain glial cells that nourish neurons, mast cells involved in immune responses, and a "blood brain barrier" that keeps harmful substances away from important neurons. They have sensors for sugar, protein, acidity and other chemical factors that might monitor the progress of digestions, determining how the gut mixes and propels its contents.

As light is shed on the circuitry between the two brains, researchers are beginning to understand why people act and feel the way they do. When the central brain encounters a frightening situation, it releases stress hormones that prepare the body to fight or flee. The stomach contains many sensory nerves that are stimulated by this chemical surge - hence the "butterflies." On the battlefield, the higher brain tells the gut brain to shut down. A frightened running animal does not stop to defecate, according to Dr. Gershon.

Fear also causes the vagus nerve to "turn up the volume" on serotonin circuits in the gut. Thus over stimulated, the gut goes into higher gear and diarrhea results. Similarly, people sometimes "choke" with emotion. When nerves in the esophagus are highly stimulated, people have trouble swallowing.

Even the so-called "Maalox moment" of advertising can be explained by the interaction of the two brains, according to Dr. Jackie D. Wood, chairman of the department of physiology at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Stress signals from the head's brain can alter nerve function between the stomach and esophagus, resulting in heartburn.

In cases of extreme stress, Dr. Wood say that the higher brain seems to protect the gut by sending signals to immunological mast cells in the plexus. The mast cells secrete histamine, prostaglandin and other agents that help produce inflammation. This is protective. By inflaming the gut, the brain is priming the gut for surveillance. If the barrier breaks then the gut is ready to do repairs. Unfortunately, the chemicals that get released also cause diarrhea and cramping.

There also is an interaction between the gut brain and drugs. According to Dr. Gershon, "when you make a drug to have psychic effects on the brain, it's very likely to have an effect on the gut that you didn't think about." He also believes that some drugs developed for the brain could have uses in the gut. For example, the gut is loaded with the neurotransmitter serotonin. According to Gershon, when pressure receptors in the gut's lining are stimulated, serotonin is released and starts the reflexive motion of peristalsis. A quarter of the people taking Prozac or similar antidepressants have gastrointestinal problems like nausea, diarrhea and constipation. These drugs act on serotonin, preventing its uptake by target cells so that it remains more abundant in the central nervous system.

Gershon also is conducting a study of the side effects of Prozac on the gut. Prozac in small doses can treat chronic constipation. Prozac in larger doses can cause constipation - where the colon actually freezes up. Moreover, because Prozac stimulates sensory nerves, it also can cause nausea.

Some antibiotics like erythromycin act on gut receptors to produce ascillations. People experience cramps and nausea. Drugs like morphine and heroin attach to the gut's opiate receptors, producing constipation. Both brains can be addicted to opiates.

Victims of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases suffer from constipation. The nerves in their gut are as sick as the nerve cells in their brains. Just as the central brain affects the gut, the gut's brain can talk back to the head. Most of the gut sensations that enter conscious awareness are negative things like pain and bloatedness.

The question has been raised: Why does the human gut contain receptors for benzodiazepine, a drug that relieves anxiety? This suggests that the body produces its own internal source of the drug. According to Dr. Anthony Basile, a neurochemist in the Neuroscience Laboratory at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, an Italian scientist made a startling discovery. Patients with liver failure fall into a deep coma. The coma can be reversed, in minutes, by giving the patient a drug that blocks benzodiazepine. When the liver fails, substances usually broken down by the liver get to the brain. Some are bad, like ammonia and mercaptan, which are "smelly compounds that skunks spray on you," says Dr. Basile. But a series of compounds are also identical to benzodiazepine. "We don't know if they come from the gut itself, from bacteria in the gut or from food, but when the liver fails, the gut's benzodiazepine goes straight to the brain, knocking the patient unconscious, says Dr. Basile.

The payoff for exploring gut and head brain interactions is enormous, according to Dr. Wood. Many people are allergic to certain foods like shellfish. This is because mast cells in the gut mysteriously become sensitized to antigens in the food. The next time the antigen shows up in the gut, the mast cells call up a program, releasing chemical modulators that try to eliminate the threat. The allergic person gets diarrhea and cramps.

Many autoimmune diseases like Krohn's disease and ulcerative colitis may involve the gut's brain, according to Dr. Wood. The consequences can be horrible, as in "Chagas disease," which is caused by a parasite found in South America. Those infected develop an autoimmune response to neurons in their gut. Their immune systems slowly destroy their own gut neurons. When enough neurons die, the intestines literally explode.

A big question remains. Can the gut's brain learn? Does it "think" for itself? Dr. Gershon tells a story about an old Army sergeant, a male nurse in charge of a group of paraplegics. With their lower spinal cords destroyed, the patients would get impacted. "At 10am every morning, the patients got enemas. Then the sergeant was rotated off the ward. His replacement decided to give enemas only after compactions occurred. But at 10 the next morning everyone on the ward had a bowel movement at the same time, without enemas." Had the sergeant trained those colons?

The human gut has long been seen as a repository of good and bad feelings. Perhaps emotional states from the head's brain are mirrored in the gut's brain, where they are felt by those who pay attention to them.


Reference: Taken from "A contemporary view of selected subjects from the pages of The New York Times, January 23, 1996. Printed in Themes of the Times: General Psychology, Fall 1996. Distributed Exclusively by Prentice-Hall Publishing Company.

[Shibboleet The Annihilator]

Huh, that could explain why the brain seems to kind of "turn off" when you fight and you react before you even realize what you're doing.

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

Wow Telarus,   :O

[NotPublished]

@Peregrine - Yeah that makes more sense to me 

Wow, so pretty much a  2nd processor. It makes sense.... I guess it could also have to do with other things than fighting, like playing sports, well anything where you need good reaction. Now it makes sense why people should remain calm while executing technique

[E.O.T.]

One thing I am curious about is how to people inheritly know how to use their brain? Do people train to use the brain, just like how someone practices walking? Or does the accessibility grow? If so can using the brain itself be taught? (Apart from teaching material like how to speak english, reading, writing, maths etc)

If I am making sense at all

IN SOVIET RUSSIA

          brain uses you

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

:giggle:

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

bump for Kai and Nigel to see if there is anything of interest or worth here that we can use in the new YAY OMG SCIENCE BITCHES!! stuff.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

We oughtta keep this thread alive. Check this shit out:

http://magazine.uchicago.edu/1012/features/the-nature-of-loneliness.shtml

This guy's work is fascinating.

Two years ago, Chicago psychologist John Cacioppo wrote a book about loneliness, about how the need for social connection is so fundamental in humans that without it we fall apart, down to the cellular level. Over time blood pressure climbs and gene expression falters. Cognition dulls; immune systems deteriorate. Aging accelerates under the constant, corrosive presence of stress hormones. Loneliness, Cacioppo argued, isn't some personality defect or sign of weakness—it's a survival impulse like hunger or thirst, a trigger pushing us toward the nourishment of human companionship. Furthermore, he wrote, "people who get stuck in loneliness have not done anything wrong. None of us is immune to feelings of isolation, any more than we are immune to feelings of hunger or physical pain."

[Telarus]

That was great Nigel, thanks!

I found something related to the "Fear" portion mentioned above:

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi/2012/06/12/overcoming-fear-in-the-brain/

It seems like Anandamide & our natural Cannabinoids play a key role in clearing the fear chemicals out of our system.