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Chapter 2 – The Biology of Mind

Chapter 2
The Biology of Mind
Researchers seeking to understand the biology of the mind have discovered
that:
 The body is composed of cells
 Among these are nerve cells that conduct electricity and “talk” to another by
sending chemical messages across a tiny gap that separates them
 Specific brain systems serve specific functions (though not the functions Gall
supposed)
1. Franz Gall invented phrenology, a popular but ill-fated theory that
claimed bumps on the skull could reveal our mental abilities and our
characteristic traits.
 We integrate information processed in these different brain systems to
construct our experience of sights and sounds, meanings and memories, pain
and passion.
 Our adaptive brain is wired by our experience.

Biological psychologists study the links between biological activity and

psychological events. B.P continue to expand our understanding of sleep and
dreams, depression, schizo, hunger and sex, stress and disease.

We are each a system composed of subsystems that are in turn composed of

even smaller subsystems.
 Tiny cells organize to form such body organs as the stomach, heart, and
brain.
 These organs form larger systems for digestion, circulation, and
information processing.
 We are biopsychosocial systems, and to understand our behavior, we need
to study how these biological, psychological, and social-cultural system
work and interact.

Neuron is a nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system.

How do neurons transmit information?

Sensory neurons carry messages from the body’s tissues and sensory organs
inward to the brain and spinal cord, for processing.

The brain and spinal cord then send instructions out to the body’s tissues via the
motor neurons.
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Between the sensory input and motor output, information is processed in the
brain’s internal communication system via its interneurons. Our complexity resides
mostly in our interneuron systems.

We have: Few million sensory neurons, a few million motor neurons, and billions
and billions of interneurons. Each of these consists of a cell body and its branching
fibers.

The bushy dendrite fibers receive information and conduct it toward the cell
body.
From there, the cell’s axon passes the message along to other neurons or to
muscles or glands.
Axons SPEAK.
Dendrites LISTEN.

Dendrites are short.

Axons are sometimes very long, projecting several feet through the body.

Much as home electrical wire is insulated, so a layer of fatty tissue, called the
myelin sheath, insulates the axons of some neurons and helps speed their
impulses.

 As myelin is aid down up to about age 25, neural efficiency, judgment,

and self-control grows.

If the myelin sheath degenerates, multiple sclerosis results:

Communication to muscles slows, with eventual loss of muscle control.

Depending on the type of fiber, a neural impulse travels at speeds from

2mph to 200+ mph. Brain is more complex than a computer, but
SLOWER at executing simple responses.

Most neuron signals are EXCITATORY, like acceleration.

Others are INHIBITORY, like breaking.

(51) Synapse – the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron
and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron. The tiny gap at this
junction is called the synaptic gap or synaptic cleft.

Neurotransmitters – chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps

between neurons. When released by the sending neuron,
neurotransmitters travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on
the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether that neuron will
generate a neural impulse.
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Reuptake – a neurotransmitter’s re-absorption by the sending neuron.

(process in which the sending neuron reabsorbs the excess
neurotransmitters.)

NEURAL COMMUNICATION
HOW NEURONS COMMUNICATE:
1. Electrical impulses (action potentials) travel down a neuron’s axon
until reaching a tiny junction known as a synapse.
2. When action potential reaches an axon terminal, it stimulates the
release of neurotransmitter molecules. These molecules cross the
synaptic gap and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron. This
allows electrically charged atoms to enter the receiving neuron and
excite or inhibit a new action potential.
3. The sending neuron normally reabsorbs excess neurotransmitter
molecules, a process called reuptake.

1. WHAT ARE NEURONS, AND HOW DO THEY TRANSMIT INFORMATION?

Sensory Neurons carry incoming information from sense receptors to the brain and
spinal cord.
Motor neurons carry information from the brain and spinal cord out to the muscles
and glands.
Interneurons – communicate within the brain and spinal cord and between sensory
and motor neurons.
A neuron sends signals through its axons, and receives signals through its branching
dendrite. If the combined signals are strong enough, the neuron fires, transmitting
an electrical impulse (the action potential) down its axon by means of a chemistry to
electricity process.

2. HOW DO NERVE CELLS COMMUNICATE WITH OTHER NERVE CELLS?

WHEN ACTION POTENTIALS REACH THE END OF AN AXON (THE AXON
TERMINALS), THEY STIMULATE THE RELEASE OF neurotransmitters.
Neurotransmitters carry a message from the sending neuron across a synapse to
receptor sites on a receiving neuron. The sending neuron, in a process called
reuptake, then normally absorbs the excess neurotransmitter molecules in the
synaptic gap. The receiving neuron, if the signals from that neuron and others are
strong enough, generates its own action potential and relays the message to other
cells.

3.HOW DO NEUROTRANSMITTERS INFLUENCE BEHAVIOR, AND HOW DO

DRUGS AND OTHER CHEMICALS AFFECT NEUROTRANSMISSION?
Each neurotransmitter travels a designated path in the brain and has a particular
effect on behavior and emotions.
Acetylcholine affects muscle action, learning, and memory.
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Endorphins are natural opiates released in response to pain and exercise.

Drugs and other chemicals affect communication at the synapse. Agonists excite by
mimicking particular neurotransmitters or by blocking their reuptake. Antagonists
inhibit a particular neurotransmitter’s release or block its effect.

4. WHAT ARE THE FUNCTIONS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM’S MAIN

DIVISIONS?
Central nervous system (CNS) – the brain & spinal cord.

Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) – connects the CNS to the rest of the
body by means of nerves.
1. somatic nervous system – voluntary control of the skeletal
muscles.
2. Autonomic nervous system – through its sympathetic and
parasympathetic divisions, controls involuntary muscles and
glands.
The Endocrine System
5. HOW DOES THE ENDOCRINE SYSTEM – THE BODY’S SLOWER
INFORMATION SYSTEM – TRANSMIT ITS MESSAGES?
It’s a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream, there
they travel through the body and affect other tissues, including the
brain. The endocrine system’s master gland, the pituitary, influences
hormone release by other glands. The brain’s hypothalamus influences
the pituitary gland, which influences other glands, which release
hormones, which in turn influence the brain.

CONSCIOUSNESS
1. WHAT IS THE BIOLOGICAL RHYTHM OF OUR SLEEP?
5 sleep stages in 90 minutes:
Leaving the alpha waves (the relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake
state) we descend into transitional STAGE 1 SLEEP: often with sensations of
falling or floating.
STAGE 2 sleep: in which we spend the most time, follows about 20 minutes
after Stage 1, with its characteristic sleep spindles.
Stage 3-4: together lasts about 30 mins, with large, slow delta waves(the
large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep)
Then goes back up from 4,3,2, then 1 then REM.
REM happens about an hour after falling asleep. MOST Dreams occurs in this
5th stage (aka paradoxical sleep) of internal arousal but outward paralysis.
During a normal night’s sleep, periods of Stages 3&4 sleep shorten and REM
sleep lengthens.

2. WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF DREAMS?

5 views of function of dreams:
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(1.) Freudian: to provide a safety value, with manifest content (or story
line) acting as a censored version of latent content (some underlying
meaning that gratifies our unconscious wishes.)
(2.) The information-processing perspective: to sort out the day’s
experiences and fix them in memory.
(3.) Brain stimulation: to preserve neural pathways in the brain.
(4.) The activation-synthesis explanation: to make sense of neural static
our brain tries to weave into a story line.
(5.) The brain-maturation/cognitive-development perspective: Dreams
represent the dreamer’s level of development, knowledge, and
understanding.
** Most sleep theorists agree that REM sleep and its associated dreams serve an
important function, as shown by the REM REBOUND that occurs following REM
deprivation.

3. WHAT ARE TOLERANCE, DEPENDENCE, AND ADDICTION, AND WHAT ARE

SOME COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT ADDICTION?
Psychoactive drugs alter perceptions & moods. Their continued use produces
tolerance (need of larger dose for same effect) and may lead to physical &
psychological dependence.
Addiction is compulsive drug craving & use.
THREE COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT ADDICTION:
1. addictive drugs quickly corrupt
2. therapy is always required to overcome addiction
3. the concept of addiction can meaningfully be extended beyond chemical
dependence to a wide range of other behaviors.

4. WHY DO SOME PEOPLE BECOE REGULAR USERS OF CONSCIOUSNESS-ALTERING

DRUGS?
-Psychological factors: stress, depression, hopelessness
-social factors (peer pressure)
both combine to lead many people to experiment with and sometimes become
dependent on drugs. Cultural and ethnic groups have differing rates of drug use.
Some people may be biologically more likely to become dependent on drugs such as
alcohol.

As oxygen deprivation turns off the brain’s inhibitory cells, neural activity increases
in the visual cortex. (in relation to NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES)

Chapter 4
NATURE, NURTURE, AND HUMAN DIVERSITY

Collectivist cultures place a premium on preserving group spirit and

making sure others never lose face.
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INDIVIDUALISM’s benefits can come at the cost of more loneliness, more

divorce, and more homicide.

CONCEPT:
Self – (I) independent; ;© interdependent
What Matters – (i) ME- personal achievement, rights/liberties, self-
esteem ; ;© US – group goals and solidarity, soc responsibility and
relationships, family duty

GENDER & SOCIAL POWER:

-men place more importance on power & achievement
-as leaders men tend to be more directive & autocratic
-“” women tend to be more democratic, more welcoming of subordinates’
participation in decision making.

-girls = more interdependent than males (teen girls spend more time with
friends and less time along)