The human brain is the most complex organ of the body, and probably the most complex thing we know of. It has billions of tiny cells (neurons) that are wired together making trillions of connections. A neuron is an electrically excitable nerve cell that receives, processes, and transmits information through electrical and chemical signals. The human brain is made up of approximately 100 billion neurons. And each neuron connects to about 1,000 other neurons. And every time each neuron fires a signal, 1,000 other neurons get that information. So about 20 million billion bits of information move around your brain every second. Also more than 100,000 chemical reactions go on in your brain every second. So neural networks are in a constant state of electrical and chemical activity. Our every thought and action can alter these networks so we can learn and remember what to approach or avoid. Whatever we pay attention to (good or bad) builds more related connections. Neuroscience is the science of the brain. Neuroscience examines how neurochemicals influence the operation of neurons, synapses, and neural networks. Chemicals (organic compounds) govern the activity in our brains. Neurotransmitters are the chemicals which allow the transmission of signals from one neuron to the next across synapses. They are also found at the axon endings of motor neurons, where they stimulate the muscle fibers. There are fast-acting neurotransmitters that have a direct electrical effect on neurons, and there are neuromodulators which work indirectly by altering chemical pathways inside the cell. Endorphins are neurotransmitter chemicals that pass along signals from one neuron to the next. Endorphins are produced as a response to certain stimuli, especially stress, fear or pain. They originate in various parts of your body -- the pituitary gland, your spinal cord and throughout other parts of your brain and nervous system -- and interact mainly with receptors in cells found in regions of the brain responsible for blocking pain and controlling emotion. Endorphins block pain, but they're also responsible for our feelings of pleasure. It's widely believed that these feelings of pleasure exist to let us know when we've had enough of a good thing -- like food, sex or even companionship -- and also to encourage us to go after that good thing in order to feel the associated pleasure. The majority of your emotions (and memories) are processed by your brain's limbic system, which includes the hypothalamus, the region that handles a range of functions from breathing and sexual satisfaction to hunger and emotional response. The limbic system is also rich with opioid receptors. When endorphins reach the opioid receptors of the highly emotional limbic system, and -- if everything is working normally -- you experience pleasure and a sense of satisfaction. When faced with a difficult decision, we try to come up with the best choice by carefully considering all of the options. But threats can produce the same kind of flight or fight response needed when an animal is under attack from a predator. So our focus on the problem at hand can be unconscious. Your unconscious mind has amazing processing capabilities compared with the conscious mind. Research shows the unconscious mind absorbs millions of bits of sensory information through the nervous system in any one second. At this moment your unconscious is regulating the functioning in your body, pumping blood from your heart, digesting your food, cleansing the lymph cells healing any cuts, counteracting any antibodies that come into the system and so on. You don’t consciously have to think about making your heart beat; your eyes blink or your lungs fill with oxygen. Only a very small part of an individual’s knowledge can be in consciousness at any given moment. Science now suggests that 95 percent of our behavior is shaped by our subconscious and only 5 percent by our conscious mind. The conscious mind makes choices that may program the unconscious mind to automate appropriate behaviors. Forming good or bad habits is optional. But someone who has experienced too much trauma may be biased toward avoidance. On the other hand the brain's reward system can make us addictable to pleasure, even if the pleasure is self-destructive. Free-will vs. determinism is at stake here. Addiction hijacks the brain - craving for something intensely, loss of control over its use, and continuing involvement with it despite adverse consequences. Brains just do what hundreds of millions of years of evolution have determined to be useful, and that includes identifying things that taste good or feel good to us and what is threatening or dangerous. Brains organize themselves, changing their own structure as they go. Repeated experiences establish patterns, forming habits. Socialization varies in different cultures and times. is the process whereby an individual learns to adjust to a group (or society) and behave in a manner approved by the group (or society). What is normal or abnormal varies in different cultures and times as do levels of emotional tension. For example human brain size evolved most rapidly during a time of dramatic climate change. But in times of such dramatic change as humans are experiencing now, many people are seeking relief from stress. Drug addiction has reached epidemic levels across the globe with approximately 247 million drug users worldwide. The worldwide pharmaceutical market revenue in 2013 was $980 billion. It has become the most profitable industry. Athletes understand that training amounts to intelligently stressing the body. Effective stress management amounts to successful emotional control rather than some form of escapism. As world population continues to grow there will be more complexity, and if we are to survive, we must be willing to make changes within ourselves, and develop a personal strategy. Conscious evolution refers to the ability of the human species to choose what the species Homo sapiens becomes in the future.
The power of conscious choice, or free agency, is unique to human beings
as far as we know. You and I are highly evolved individuated selves who
have been blessed with the extraordinary capacity for self-reflective
awareness and the freedom to choose. In fact, these are the very
faculties that make it possible for us to consciously evolve.... Andrew Z. Cohen
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Tuesday, August 21, 2018
Your Brain
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