Brain Function and Behavior - Essay Example

Brain function and behavior Brain function and behavior The body is controlled by the brain. Nervous system which is made up of the brain, peripheral nervous system, and the spinal cord controls all the functions of the body. The sensory nerves from all the parts of the body gather information from the environment and send it to the spinal cord which sends the signal to the brain. The brain will make sense of the message and give response. With this understanding of the brain, the essay discusses the conceptual and methodological problems faced by neuropsychologists in trying to explain the relationship behaviour and brain function. The brain is majorly made up of three main parts which are forebrain, hindbrain and midbrain. Hindbrain is made up of three parts which are medulla, pons and cerebellum. Forebrain is made up of hypothalamus, thalamus, and cerebrum. On the other hand, midbrain consists of tegmentum and tectum. Cerebrum which is located in the forebrain is the largest part of the human brain that controls all the functions of the body. It is associated with higher brain function such as action and thought. It is also referred to as the cortex (Kirk, 2004). Cerebrum is divided into four sections that are occipital lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, and frontal lobe. It is divided into two that is the left and right hemispheres. The cerebrum also holds the limbic system that is why it is referred to as the emotional brain. Cerebellum is also another important part of the body which is divided into two. It is associated with coordination and regulation of balance, posture and movement. The brain greatly influences our behavioural functions, that is, the way we act, feel and think. There are different techniques which can be used to analyze how the brain functions. The two main methods are electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging. Electroencephalography records all the electronic functions of the brain while functional magnetic resonance imaging tells more about the functions of the brain. Researchers have found out that the loss of brain part interferes with the functionality of the brain (Kirk, 2004). The brain is made up of the nervous system that has delicate nerves which act as receptors. Some diseases such as strokes and tumours affect the functionality of the brain, and an individual may lose the ability to speak. Brain activity can also be examined by functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI). It is used to measure the magnetic fields which are created by the nerve cells in the brain. They also detect the changes that occur in the blood flow. Using computers, the information from the brain is translated into images (Bennett, 2007). They images shows the tasks that one performs such perception, images and thoughts. They show the link between the activity of the brain one performs and the type of stimuli which are associated with different thoughts and emotions. FMRI acts as a solution for most of the psychologists working in all parts of the world. However, brain damage affects the response of FMRI. Ellis and Young’s analogy clearly describes the functionality of the brain. They describe the elucidation of Fodorian modules. They say that the brain consists of different modular, and each modular serves a different function in the body. In their analogy, they give an example of the stack-up system. The stack up system is made up of decks, amplifiers, separable speakers, and record decks. When there is a malfunction in such a system, it is easy to identify it and correct the defect. However, the human brain is made up of different parts of the brain, but it is susceptible to malfunction. According to Ellis and Young, when the brain is damaged, it can spare certain functions. When a person’s brain is damaged, he can recognize objects and fail to recognize the human faces. A research was done with an injured man who could recognize his cow, but did not recognize his wife. It can also occur opposite where an individual can recognize the human faces but fail to recognize the objects around. Brain damage affects different modular in the brain. The brain is also made up of streams which are associated with different functions. Damage to multiple points in the stream highly affects the functionality of the brain (Nass& Frank, 2010). The perception of language occurs as a result of the difference between explicit learning and implicit acquisition. These are all related to the brain. Acquisition cannot be converted to learning thus; the brain performs differently to control the learning process. The dissociation of the explicit and implicit memory is evidenced in the amnesic patients. As a result of brain damage, they were unable to consolidate the new explicit and implicit memory, to remember their daily activities, recognize new people and places and learn new concepts (Bennett, 2007). Explicit learning during the research was considered as the most complex way of learning. When the brain is damaged, it is highly affected. Cognitive psychology is also another scientific term associated with the functionality of the brain. It is associated with all the mental abilities which include memory, attention, perception and learning. It states that the individuals’ components of the mind offer the modularity of the mind. Neuropsychology is a subdivision of the cognitive psychology, which mainly focuses on the disorders of attention, learning, memory, belief formation or reasoning, the process of written and spoken language. Hence, the function of cognitive neuropsychologists is studying and coming up with solutions for people who have experienced brain damage (David &Lishman, 2009). The neuropsychologists have a task in identifying all the communication pathways that exist in the human brain. When the brain is damaged, it is not easy to identify the part of the brain which has been damaged. The neuropsychologists have a role to study the single cases of the data in the patient’s body (Gallin, 2007). People who affected by stroke have different deformities although the sickness is the same. Identifying the brain cell that has been injured may be very difficult for the neuropsychologists. One of the activities that neuropsychologists have identified in coming up with a solution to damaged brain is behaviorism. The behaviors of an individual are affected by the functionality of the brain. Brain damage affects the behaviour of the affected party. The difficulty happens as a result of the emotional, cognitive, and physical impairments which are associated with the physical injury. Behavioral challenges that require intervention following the brain injury include disinhibition, difficulty in relating to others, and aggression (Gallin, 2007). Reversing the behaviors of an individual after brain injury is not an easy task. That is why neuropsychologists are finding it hard to know the brain cell injured. The brain consists of nerves which coordinate all the functions of the body. A person’s behavior mainly depends on the functionality of the brain. Apart from the medical perspective of dealing with behavioral changes of the brain, neuropsychologists should consider looking at the external factors that affects behaviorism after brain damage. The brain mainly receives receptors from the external environment to the brain and interprets it. Thus, the external environment contributes to the changes in behavior. There are also some of the internal factors that affect brain functionality. Some of the examples of the internal factors include hunger, lowered self-esteem and fatigue. The external factors include change in structure or routine, increased level of stimulation and interaction with new people. After identifying the external and internal factors, several approaches cab be used to modify the behavioral problems, for instance, Therapeutic interventions. Originally, a therapeutic intervention was used for individuals who had psychiatric disorders, emotional dyscontrol and learning disabilities. Neuropsychologists can also use this method in ensuring that they study the problems of the people who suffer from brain damage. It can be used in the recovery process to ensure that they understand the functionality of the brain (Tupper & Cicerone, 2009). The other method which neuropsychologists use is the insight-oriented psychotherapy. It is defined as the process of gaining more awareness and insight in people’s behaviors, thoughts and feelings. Thus, insight-oriented psychotherapy ensures that individuals gain the awareness with the aim of changing the behavior patterns of the individuals. It is an effective method for patients have traumatic brain injuries. The method enables the neuropsychologists to get what happened during the injury and look for an effective way of helping the patient. The process is also useful in increasing social appropriateness and develops behavioral strategies (Tupper & Cicerone, 2009). It is also effective for the patients who are unable to filter out external stimuli. Some of the neuropsychologists have confirmed that use of this method is not effective for all the patients. The other type of therapy is the cognitive behavioral therapy. It is mainly concerned with how people’s behavior is shaped by their perception and interpretation. It enables individuals to understand the link between behavior, beliefs, thoughts, and feelings (David &Lishman, 2009). This type of therapy requires the individual to analyze maladaptive behaviors and the counterproductive behaviors. The benefit of this approach is that one can alter the beliefs of an individual, but it is not possible to change the external situations. Cognitive behavioral therapy requiresrepetitive learning to help the individual come up with a comprehensive report of the whole process of behavioral change and to help the patient. Additionally, neuropsychologists have adopted behaviour therapy, which helps them explain the relationship between brain functionality and behaviour. The main aim of behaviour therapy is to manipulate the environmental antecedents (Freeman, 2004). Through the identification of the environmental antecedents, there is a likelihood of the maladaptive behaviours taking place. Behaviour therapy focuses on modifying the maladaptive behaviours and relating it to an individual. Neuropsychologists used different methods to track the behaviours of an individual and relate it to the functionality of the brain. The methods include eye tracking and test batteries which are also referred to as the IQ-test(Bennett, 2007). Lesion is a method which neuropsychologists used to find the correlation between a specific brain area and the behaviour that a person portrays. Research has shown that the loss of any part of the brain may interfere with the behaviourism of an individual. A person with who has a lesion in the parietal area cannot write although there a no deficits in his or her motor skills (Freeman, 2004). That is evident that the injury of a small part of the brain may affect the functionality of the whole body. A person suffering from the lesion can hear a certain language but does not understand. Some of the sensory nerves for interpretation of messages are tampered with thus affecting the whole system. Some if the patients do not have the ability to speak correctly. As a result, it is difficult for them to communicate (Bennett, 2007). In conclusion, neuropsychologists always have a choice to focus on four main areas which are experimental Neuropsychology, cognitive Neuropsychology, paediatric Neuropsychology and clinical Neuropsychology (Goldstein & McNeil, 2013). All the neuropsychologists face different problems as they relate the brain and behaviour. The brain is a large human organ which controls all the functions of the body. Thus, neuropsychologists have study and research further to understand all the basics of the brain and be able to deal with any malfunction. They conduct research in areas such as degenerative diseases and brain trauma in order to help the patients cope up with the difficult situations. They also conduct research in order to behavioural processes and normal cognitive. The main areas that neuropsychologists investigate include motor control, perception, memory and language. References Bennett, T. L. (2007). Brain and behavior. Monterey, Calif: Brooks/Cole Pub. Co. David, A. S., &Lishman, W. A. (2009).Lishmans organic psychiatry: A textbook of neuropsychiatry. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell Pub. Freeman, A. (2004). Encyclopedia of cognitive behavior therapy. New York: Springer. Gallin, P. (2007). Pediatric ophthalmology: A clinical guide. New York: Thieme. Goldstein, L. H., & McNeil, J. E. (2013).Clinical neuropsychology: A practical guide to assessment and management for clinicians. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. Kirk, U. (2004). Neuropsychology of Language, Reading and spelling. Oxford: Elsevier Science. Nass, R. D., & Frank, Y. (2010).Cognitive and behavioral abnormalities of pediatric diseases. New York: Oxford University Press. Tupper, D. E., & Cicerone, K. D. (2009). The Neuropsychology of everyday life: Issues in development and rehabilitation. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Read More