The Brain and Behavior

Outline
• Functions
• Evolution: structure and behavior
• Basic Unit: The Neuron
• Generation: How does a signal get started?
• Action Potential: How does a signal move?
• Synapses: What does the signal do?
• Reflexes: A model
• Brain Organizing Principles and Functions
 Functions
• Communication
• Coordination
• Control
• Cognition
• Complexity
Brain Structure
Brain Structure

DRUGS
 Outline: Start With A
Mechanistic View
• Functions
• Evolution: structure and behavior
• Basic Unit: The Neuron
• Generation: How does a signal get started?
• Action Potential: How does a signal move?
• Synapses: What does the signal do?
• Reflexes: A model
• Brain Organizing Principles and Functions
Evolution
 Evolution
• None
• Nerve net
• Segmented
• Cephalization: an organizing principle
– brain-mind correlation not always obvious!
– Computer analogy (hardware/software)
• Kineses
• Taxes
• Reflexes
 Simple Behaviors
• Kinesis (potato bug, jumping beans)
• Taxes (moth / maggot / fly / tick)
• Reflex: (knee jerk)
– Descartes 1637 St. Germaine on the Seine
– Pineal
– Mechanist
 “Synthetic Psychology”
Ex. Phototaxis
• Braightenberg: Vehicles
 Outline
• Functions
• Evolution: structure and behavior
• Basic Unit: The Neuron
• Generation: How does a signal get started?
• Action Potential: How does a signal move?
• Synapses
• Reflexes: A model
• Brain Organizing Principles and Functions
 The Neuron
• 100 billion with thousands of connections
• Varied in size, shape, function
• Function of neuron sending signals in
real time (ex.)
• What is the signal? - electrical / chemical
 Outline
• Functions
• Evolution: structure and behavior
• Basic Unit: The Neuron
• Generation: How does a signal originate?
• Action Potential: How does a signal move?
• Synapses
• Reflexes: A model
• Brain Organizing Principles and Functions
 Origin of nerve signal
• Function of neuron sending signals in
real time (ex.)
• What is the signal? - electrical /
chemical
 Generation
• Two forces:
– Electrical (ionic)
– Chemical (concentration)
– Give rise to steady-state voltage “resting
potential”
– Universal in cells
Action Potential
 Outline
• Functions
• Evolution: structure and behavior
• Basic Unit: The Neuron
• Generation: How does a signal get started?
• Action Potential: How does a signal move?
• Synapses
• Reflexes: A model
• Brain Organizing Principles and Functions
Movement of a Signal
 Action Potential
• Cell actions
• Speed: Muller (light), Helmholtz (43
m/sec)--myelinization
• Refractoriness
• All or none law-above threshold all equal
• Coding of intensity: frequency codes
intensity + recruitment (organizing
principle)
 Outline
• Functions
• Evolution: structure and behavior
• Basic Unit: The Neuron
• Generation: How does a signal get started?
• Action Potential: How does a signal move?
• Synapses
• Reflexes: A model
• Brain Organizing Principles and Functions
Synapses: What happens when
signal reaches end of neuron?
• Two types of actions - excitatory /
inhibitory
• Chemical model with multiple &
functionally different neurotransmitters
• Temporal & spatial summation
Synapses
Release of Neurotransmitter
Synapses
 Outline
• Functions
• Evolution: structure and behavior
• Basic Unit: The Neuron
• Generation: How does a signal get started?
• Action Potential: How does a signal move?
• Synapses
• Reflexes: A model
• Brain Organizing Principles and Functions
A Model for building behavior
out of simple building blocks
• Reflexes:
– Building a model
– Simple to complex
• Voting behavior:
– Competing inputs
– Building complexity
Reflexes: A model
 Outline
• Functions
• Evolution: structure and behavior
• Basic Unit: The Neuron
• Generation: How does a signal get started?
• Action Potential: How does a signal move?
• Synapses
• Reflexes: A model
• Brain Organizing Principles and Functions
 Principles and Functions
• Cephalization
• All-or-None Law
• Frequency Coding of Intensity
• Doctrine of Specific Nerve Energies
• Localization of Function (+ Integration)
• Topographic Projection (& Distortion)
• Split Brain (Crossed Connections)
• Connectivity & Functional Connectivity
• Neuro-plasticity & Reorganization
 The Brain and Behavior
Outline
• Functions
• Evolution: structure and behavior
• Basic Unit: The Neuron
• Generation: How does a signal get started?
• Action Potential: How does a signal move?
• Synapses: What does the signal do?
• Reflexes: A model
• Brain Organizing Principles and Functions
Brain Structure (midline)
Brain Structure
Structure: Central Core
Structure: X-Ray View
Methods for studying the brain
• Single-cell and population recordings
– Animal studies
– Surgical patient studies
• Stimulation
– Animal studies
– Surgical patient studies
• Damage
– Animal lesions
– Human injury
– Human surgical lesions
• Neuroimaging
• Electroencephalogram (EEG) recording
– Electrodes are placed on the surface of the
scalp and record/amplify the electrical
signal given off by the brain
– Event Related Potentials (ERPs) are used
to study how the brain responds to different
stimuli or events
 Functional Magnetic Resonance Imagingin (fMRI)

– Measures changes in blood-oxygen-

level-dependent (BOLD) activation

– Areas of the brain that are engaged

more in a task, require oxygen rich
blood

– Result show a very small but highly

significant percent change in BOLD
activation (the entire brain is active all
the time)
 Connectivity measures
Functional connectivity – uses resting-state fMRI data to chart
cortical regions with temporal synchrony (correlation of
activation patterns)

Structural connectivity –
measures the movement of
water molecules to chart the
white matter tracts
(visualizing anatomy)

Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI)

Diffusion Spectrum Imaging (DSI)

 Localization of Function
• Different parts of the brain serve
specialized functions
• Sensory Information
• Motor Control
• Perception
• Language
• Planning and Social Cognition
• Aggression (Delgado)
• Pleasure (Olds and Milner)
Disorders of Planning and Social
Cognition

• Caused by damage to prefrontal area

– Disrupts executive control– processes that

allow us to direct and regulate our own
cognitive activities

• e.g., setting priorities, planning, strategizing,

ignoring distracters
 Apraxias
• Difficulty in carrying out purposeful
movements without the loss of muscle
strength or coordination

– Disconnection between primary and non-

primary motor areas

– Able to carry out each part of a complex

movement, but disruption lies in
coordination of the movements
 Agnosias
• Visual agnosia: disturbance in recognizing visual stimuli
despite the ability to see and describe them
– Patient video

• Prosopagnosia: inability to recognize faces (fusiform face

area)
– Patient video
– Patient video

• Neglect Syndrome: complete inattentiveness to stimuli on

one side of the body
– Patient video

• Akinetopsia: inability to perceive movement

– “I see the world in snapshots – like frames of a move but
most of the frames are missing”
 Aphasias
• Broca’s Aphasia: disturbance in speech production,
caused by damage to Broca’s area
– Patient video
• Agrammaticism
• Anomia
• Difficulty with articulation

• Wernicke’s Aphasia: disturbance in speech

comprehension, caused by damage to Wernicke’s
area
– Patient video
• Disruption in recognition of spoken words
• Disruption in comprehension of the meaning of words
• Inability to convert thought into words
Localization of Function
Localization/Topographic Projection
Localization/Topographic Proj.
 What does the homunculus tell us?

• Localization of motor
and sensory function

• Topographical
organization

• Cortical representation
related to function not
mass
 Connectivity
• Autism – Neurodevelopmental disorder
marked by social and communicative deficits
and presence of repetitive behaviors

• Underconnectivity theory – autism phenotype

comes from reduction in global connectivity
(long distance connections between frontal
and parietal/occipital regions) and increase in
local connectivity (particularly in visual areas)
What and where pathways of
vision
Association cortex – regions not receiving direct
sensory input. Involved in perception, language,
social and executive functioning.

Comparison of human
and macaque monkey
brain show that major
areas of cortical
expansion occur in
association cortex

(Van Essen & Dierker, 2007)

 Cerebral Cortex
• Most projection areas have contralateral
organization:
– Left hemisphere receives information from
right side of body (sensory), or controls
right side of body (motor)
– Right hemisphere receives information
from left side of body (sensory), or controls
left side of body (motor)
Split Brain
Split Brain

Split brain patient

 Phantom Limb Pain
• Amputees often feel pain in a limb after
it has been removed

• Sensation in limb can be felt when

touching other areas of body (most
common: lost hand feels touch of face)
 Plasticity
• The brain is plastic—subject to alteration in the
way it functions, such as:
• Changes in the brain’s overall architecture in
response to stimulation and environmental
experience
• The central nervous system can grow new neurons:
• But limited ability to do so with cortical injury
• This promotes stability in the brain’s connections but
is an obstacle to recovery from brain damage.
 Plasticity
• Neurons are subject to alteration in the
way they function, such as:
• Changes in how much neurotransmitter a
presynaptic neuron releases
• Changes in neuron sensitivity to
neurotransmitters
• Creating new connections by growing new
dendritic spines
 Principles and Functions
• Cephalization
• All-or-None Law
• Frequency Coding of Intensity
• Doctrine of Specific Nerve Energies
• Localization of Function (+ Integration)
• Topographic Projection (& Distortion)
• Split Brain (Crossed Connections)
• Connectivity & Functional Connectivity
• Neuro-plasticity & Reorganization