Brain and Heart, Neural Control of Cardiac Function - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages Physiology is the study of vital processes of living organisms, particularly at the level of organs and organ systems and at the level of the organism as a whole. Physiological processes, in turn, are dependent on anatomical and biochemical factors and constitute the physical basis of behavior. But with the existing knowledge, it is difficult to explain, how out of the structure and function of anatomy and physiology, a novel psychological entity representing the individual arises. Questions keep coming on this hitherto unexplored area of science.

What people think, what they say, what they do, what they feel, and why they think, say, act, and feel in these ways are plainly of the greatest interest to all of us. The interface between psychology, religion, and spirituality has been of great interest to scholars for a century. Taking into account that religious consciousness arises out of functional aspects of the brain, it is not irrational to assume that the origin of such consciousness is from emotion, and there must be a harmonious mechanism occurring in our body that leads to such emotions, hence physiologic effect out of some anatomic structures. Are the sayings, "my heartfelt love", "from the core of my heart" and so on, just the sayings, or there exists some relationship in reality between the mind and the heart, or emotion and physiologic function?

The anatomically determined theory of emotion or consciousness indicates emotion is like other somesthetic or special senses similar to pain, temperature, and vision, emotional experience was accorded a thalamic nucleus and thalamocortical cortical relay. What we call the mind is the set of models or structures that this causal machine, the brain, has constructed for the management of action and interaction in a social world. The move to intentionality comes with the acquisition of language and the use of language to represent events. Responsibility and accountability come later with the ability to make statements about statements. Intentionality and responsibility are not inherent in the biological properties of the brain, whereas it comes to represent a consequence of a long period of learning and development.

The heart functions as a muscular pump very visibly, but it responds instantaneously to feelings, thoughts, excitement, anger, and depression. ...Download file to see next pages Read More