Chemical Mind - Movie Review Example

Movie Review Chemical Mind The nervous and endocrine systems facilitate the communication between the brain and other parts of the body. Nervous system that comprises of neurons transmits electrochemical impulses from the peripheral parts of the body to the brain. Sensory input or even other neurons stimulate a single neuron. The brain contains many neurons made up of soma, dendrites, and axon. Soma coordinates the cellular actions, and has organelles such as mitochondria, nucleus, and the ribosome. Dendrites receive and transmit messages to soma leading to the activation of action potential and signal transmission. The axon, which is protected by a myelin sheath, transmits electrical impulses from the soma to other neurons, muscles, and glands. The nervous system depends on neurotransmitters that trigger signal transmission that leads to emotions and motions. Notably, endorphins and norepinephrine control emotions and alertness respectively. Gamma-aminobutyric acid such as serotonin regulates moods, hunger, and sleep. Acetylcholine and dopamine have both exciting and inhibitory properties. The former triggers muscle action and memory while the latter is important in learning, movement, and pleasurable emotions. Excess dopamine has a link to addictive and impulsive behavior, as well as, schizophrenia (Green, 2014). Hormones are chemical transmitters in the endocrine system, and exert action on the brain, as well as, other organs. Notably, hormones regulate moods, arousal, circadian rhythm, metabolism, growth, immune system, and sexual reproduction. Unlike the neurotransmitter, the transmission of messages through hormones is slower. The transmission involves secretion of hormones by glands that enter the bloodstream and eventually reach the brain. It is noteworthy that the hormonal effect is long lasting. The most important gland in the brain is the pituitary that release growth hormone and oxytocin, which play a role in social bonding (Green, 2014). In summary, the communication between the brain and peripheral organs involves nervous and endocrine systems. Meet Your Master: Getting to Know Your Brain Franz Joseph Gall, a German physician, perceived that a link existed between personality and skull morphology. Gall associated different parts of the brain to the control of certain behavior. Fundamentally, the brain is an essential organ in the central nervous system, and coordinates localized functions such as vision, facial recognition, speech, and memory. It is noteworthy that the central nervous system regulates the signal transmission activities. Every part of the brain takes an integral part in the coordination of tasks such as speech and movements (Green, 2014). The involvement of the brain in all activities in the body explains why it consumes twenty percent of the total body’s energy. The structural components of the brain vary in both simple and complex animals. Simple animals have less complex brains while the complex animals possess intricate brains. The fundamental parts of the brain include inner core, medulla, pons, thalamus, reticular formation, and the cerebellum. The inner core provides a significant connection with the spinal brain while medulla is crucial in the involuntary functions such a breathing, heartbeat, and blood circulation. Pons coordinates movement while thalamus perceives sensory information including vision, hearing, touching, and tasting. The reticular formation is involved in pain perception, sleeping, and walking. On the other hand, the cerebellum is essential in the voluntary movements, memory, nonverbal learning, and modulation of motions. In addition to basic components, the brains of complex animals have higher functions. The limbic system in higher functions of the brain comprises of amygdala, hypothalamus, and hippocampus. Amygdala and hypothalamus consolidates memory and regulates temperature, circadian rhythm, hunger, and endocrine system respectively. Hippocampus is essential in learning and memory. Cerebral cortex that includes frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal lobes, of the grey matter serves to process information in the brain. Other parts of grey matter are the association areas that play a role in remembering, speaking, learning, and thinking. Lesions on temporal lobe, hormonal overreaction, and traumatic experiences can affect behavior and emotion (Green, 2014). Sensation and Perception A connection between sensation and perception exists although the two terms are different. Sensation entails receiving and relaying external stimuli, and involves senses such as vision, hearing, and smell. On the other hand, perception is the ability of the brain to organize and interpret information by placing it in the right context. People have differences in the way they perceive things. The perception of things is not linear (Green, 2014). This discernment is based on Weber’s law that holds that perception of difference is logarithmic as opposed to linear. It is noteworthy that the psychological state influence how humans detect sensory signal. Psychologists have formulated signal detection theory that predicts how humans detect weak signals. In fact, constant stimulation leads to sensory adaptation. The transmission of the external stimuli into meaningful information is critical. The human eye transforms light waves that eventually lead to the formation of images. Upon entry cornea, light passes through the pupil then hits the retina that focuses the rays into specific images. The stimulation of the rods and cones trigger chemical changes that generate neural signals (Green, 2014). Subsequently, the neural signals activate bipolar cells. Then, the signals pass through the optic fiber to the brain. In the brain, the transmission of the information occurs in a series of structures. Notably, the optic fiber passes information to the thalamus, which transmits it to the brain’s visual cortex. The visual cortex in the occipital lobe has feature detectors that respond to attributes of images such as shape, movement, and angles. References Green, H. (2014). Meet Your Master: Getting to Know Your Brain-Crash Course Psychology. Retrieved 24th Oct. 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHrmiy4W9C0&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtOPRKzVLY0jJY-uHOH9KVU6&index=4 Green, H. (2014). Sensation and Perception- Crash Course Psychology. Retrieved 24th Oct. 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unWnZvXJH2o&index=5&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtOPRKzVLY0jJY-uHOH9KVU6 Green, H. (2014). The Chemical Mind-Crash Course Psychology. Retrieved 24th Oct. 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4N-7AlzK7s Read More