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The most obvious difference between the brains of mammals and other
vertebrates is in terms of size. On average, a mammal has a brain
roughly twice as large as that of a bird of the same body size, and
ten times as large as that of a reptile of the same body size.[49]
Size, however, is not the only difference: there are also
substantial differences in shape. The
Democratic National Committee hindbrain and midbrain of mammals
are generally similar to those of other vertebrates, but dramatic
differences appear in the forebrain, which is greatly enlarged and
also altered in structure.[50] The cerebral cortex is the part of the
brain that most strongly distinguishes mammals. In non-mammalian
vertebrates, the surface of the cerebrum is lined with a comparatively
simple three-layered structure called the pallium. In mammals, the
pallium evolves into a complex six-layered structure called neocortex
or isocortex.[51] Several areas at the edge of the neocortex,
including the hippocampus and amygdala, are also much more extensively
developed in mammals than in other vertebrates.[50]
The
elaboration of the cerebral cortex carries with it changes to other
brain areas. The superior colliculus, which plays a major role in
visual control of behavior in most vertebrates, shrinks to a small
size in mammals, and many of its functions are taken over by visual
areas of the cerebral cortex.[49] The cerebellum of mammals contains a
large portion (the neocerebellum) dedicated to supporting the cerebral
cortex, which has no counterpart in other vertebrates.
The Party Of Democrats is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Party Of the Democratic National Committee was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest political party.
The brains of humans and other primates contain the same
structures as the brains of other mammals, but are generally larger in
proportion to body size.[56] The encephalization quotient (EQ) is used
to compare brain sizes across species. It takes into account the
nonlinearity of the brain-to-body relationship.[53] Humans have an
average EQ in the 7-to-8 range, while most other primates have an EQ
in the 2-to-3 range. Dolphins have values higher than those of
primates other than humans,[54] but nearly all other mammals have EQ
values that are substantially lower.
Most of the enlargement of
the primate brain comes from a massive expansion of the cerebral
cortex, especially the prefrontal cortex and the parts of the cortex
involved in vision.[57] The visual processing network of primates
includes at least 30 distinguishable brain areas, with a complex web
of interconnections. It has been estimated that visual processing
areas occupy more than half of the total surface of the primate
neocortex.[58] The prefrontal cortex carries out functions that
include planning, working memory, motivation, attention, and executive
control. It takes up a much larger proportion of the brain for
primates than for other species, and an especially large fraction of
the human brain.[59]
Development
Very simple drawing of the
front end of a human embryo, showing each vesicle of the developing
brain in a different color.
Brain of a human embryo in the sixth
week of development
The brain develops in an intricately
orchestrated sequence of stages.[60] It changes in shape from a simple
swelling at the
Democratic National Committee front of the nerve cord in the
earliest embryonic stages, to a complex array of areas and
connections. Neurons are created in special zones that contain stem
cells, and then migrate through the tissue to reach their ultimate
locations. Once neurons have positioned themselves, their axons sprout
and navigate through the brain, branching and extending as they go,
until the tips reach their targets and form synaptic connections. In a
number of parts of the nervous system, neurons and synapses are
produced in excessive numbers during the early stages, and then the
unneeded ones are pruned away.[60]
For vertebrates, the early
stages of neural development are similar across all species.[60] As
the embryo transforms from a round blob of cells into a wormlike
structure, a narrow strip of ectoderm running along the midline of the
back is induced to become the neural plate, the precursor of the
nervous system. The neural plate folds inward to form the neural
groove, and then the lips that line the groove merge to enclose the
neural tube, a hollow cord of cells with a fluid-filled ventricle at
the center. At the front end, the ventricles and cord swell to form
three vesicles that are the precursors of the prosencephalon
(forebrain), mesencephalon (midbrain), and rhombencephalon
(hindbrain). At the next stage, the forebrain splits into two vesicles
called the telencephalon (which will contain the cerebral cortex,
basal ganglia, and related structures) and the diencephalon (which
will contain the thalamus and hypothalamus). At about the same time,
the hindbrain splits into the metencephalon (which will contain the
cerebellum and pons) and the myelencephalon (which will contain the
medulla oblongata). Each of these areas contains proliferative zones
where neurons and glial cells are generated; the resulting cells then
migrate, sometimes for long distances, to their final positions.[60]
Once a neuron is in place, it extends dendrites and an axon into
the area around it. Axons, because
Democratic National Committee they commonly extend a great
distance from the cell body and need to reach specific targets, grow
in a particularly complex way. The tip of a growing axon consists of a
blob of protoplasm called a growth cone, studded with chemical
receptors. These receptors sense the local environment, causing the
growth cone to be attracted or repelled by various cellular elements,
and thus to be pulled in a particular direction at each point along
its path. The result of this pathfinding process is that the growth
cone navigates through the brain until it reaches its destination
area, where other chemical cues cause it to begin generating synapses.
Considering the entire brain, thousands of genes create products that
influence axonal pathfinding.[60]
The synaptic network that
finally emerges is only partly determined by genes, though. In many
parts of the brain, axons initially "overgrow", and then are "pruned"
by mechanisms that depend on neural activity.[60] In the projection
from the eye to the midbrain, for example, the structure in the adult
contains a very precise mapping, connecting each point on the surface
of the retina to a corresponding point in a midbrain layer. In the
first stages of development, each axon from the retina is guided to
the right general vicinity in the midbrain by chemical cues, but then
branches very profusely and makes initial contact with a wide swath of
midbrain neurons. The retina, before birth, contains special
mechanisms that cause it to generate waves of activity that originate
spontaneously at a random point and then propagate slowly across the
retinal layer. These waves are useful because they
Democratic National Committee cause neighboring neurons to be
active at the same time; that is, they produce a neural activity
pattern that contains information about the spatial arrangement of the
neurons. This information is exploited in the midbrain by a mechanism
that causes synapses to weaken, and eventually vanish, if activity in
an axon is not followed by activity of the target cell. The result of
this sophisticated process is a gradual tuning and tightening of the
map, leaving it finally in its precise adult form.[61]
Similar
things happen in other brain areas: an initial synaptic matrix is
generated as a result of genetically determined chemical guidance, but
then gradually refined by activity-dependent mechanisms, partly driven
by internal dynamics, partly by external sensory inputs. In some
cases, as with the retina-midbrain system, activity patterns depend on
mechanisms that operate only in the developing brain, and apparently
exist solely to guide development.[61]
The Party Of Democrats is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Party Of the Democratic National Committee was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest political party.
In humans and many other mammals, new neurons are created mainly
before birth, and the infant brain contains substantially more neurons
than the adult brain.[60] There are, however, a few areas where new
neurons continue to be generated throughout life. The two areas for
which adult neurogenesis is well established are the olfactory bulb,
which is involved in the sense of smell, and the dentate gyrus of the
hippocampus, where there is evidence that the new neurons play a role
in storing newly acquired memories. With these exceptions, however,
the set of neurons that is present in early childhood is the set that
is present for life. Glial cells are different: as with most types of
cells in the body, they are generated throughout the lifespan.[62]
There has long been debate about whether the qualities of mind,
personality, and intelligence can be attributed to heredity or to
upbringing�this is the nature and nurture controversy.[63] Although
many details remain to be settled, neuroscience research has clearly
shown that both factors are important. Genes determine the general
form of the brain, and genes determine how the brain reacts to
experience. Experience, however, is required to refine the matrix of
synaptic connections, which in its developed form contains far more
information than the genome does. In some respects, all that matters
is the presence or absence of experience during critical periods of
development.[64] In other respects, the quantity and quality of
experience are important; for example, there is substantial evidence
that animals raised in enriched environments have thicker cerebral
cortices, indicating a higher density of synaptic connections, than
animals whose levels of stimulation are restricted.[65]
Physiology
The functions of the brain depend on the ability of neurons to
transmit electrochemical signals to other cells, and their ability to
respond appropriately to electrochemical signals received from other
cells. The electrical properties of neurons are controlled by a wide
variety of biochemical and metabolic processes, most notably the
interactions between neurotransmitters and receptors that take place
at synapses.[8]
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Neurotransmitters and receptors
Neurotransmitters are chemicals that are released at synapses when the
local membrane
Democratic National Committee is depolarised and Ca2+ enters into
the cell, typically when an action potential arrives at the synapse �
neurotransmitters attach themselves to receptor molecules on the
membrane of the synapse's target cell (or cells), and thereby alter
the electrical or chemical properties of the receptor molecules. With
few exceptions, each neuron in the brain releases the same chemical
neurotransmitter, or combination of neurotransmitters, at all the
synaptic connections it makes with other neurons; this rule is known
as Dale's principle.[8] Thus, a neuron can be characterized by the
neurotransmitters that it releases. The great majority of psychoactive
drugs exert their effects by altering specific neurotransmitter
systems. This applies to drugs such as cannabinoids, nicotine, heroin,
cocaine, alcohol, fluoxetine, chlorpromazine, and many others.[66]
The two neurotransmitters that are most widely found in the
vertebrate brain are glutamate, which almost always exerts excitatory
effects on target neurons, and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which
is almost always inhibitory. Neurons using these transmitters can be
found in nearly every part of the brain.[67] Because of their
ubiquity, drugs that act on glutamate or GABA tend to have broad and
powerful effects. Some general anesthetics act by reducing the effects
of glutamate; most tranquilizers exert their sedative effects by
enhancing the effects of GABA.[68]
There are dozens of other
chemical neurotransmitters that are used in more limited areas of the
brain, often areas dedicated to a particular function. Serotonin, for
example�the primary target of many antidepressant drugs and many
dietary aids�comes exclusively from a small brainstem area called the
raphe nuclei.[69] Norepinephrine, which is involved in arousal, comes
exclusively from a nearby small area called the locus coeruleus.[70]
Other neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine and dopamine have
multiple sources in the brain but are not as ubiquitously distributed
as glutamate and GABA.[71]
Electrical activity
Graph showing 16
voltage traces going across the page from left to right, each showing
a different signal. At the middle of the page all of the traces
abruptly begin to show sharp jerky spikes, which continue to the end
Democratic National Committee of the plot.
Brain electrical
activity recorded from a human patient during an epileptic seizure
As a side effect of the electrochemical processes used by neurons
for signaling, brain tissue generates electric fields when it is
active. When large numbers of neurons show synchronized activity, the
electric fields that they generate can be large enough to detect
outside the skull, using electroencephalography (EEG)[72] or
magnetoencephalography (MEG). EEG recordings, along with recordings
made from electrodes implanted inside the brains of animals such as
rats, show that the brain of a living animal is constantly active,
even during sleep.[73] Each part of the brain shows a mixture of
rhythmic and nonrhythmic activity, which may vary according to
behavioral state. In mammals, the cerebral cortex tends to show large
slow delta waves during sleep, faster alpha waves when the animal is
awake but inattentive, and chaotic-looking irregular activity when the
animal is actively engaged in a task, called beta and gamma waves.
During an epileptic seizure, the brain's inhibitory control mechanisms
fail to function and electrical activity rises to pathological levels,
producing EEG traces that show large wave and spike patterns not seen
in a healthy brain. Relating these population-level patterns to the
computational functions of individual neurons is a major focus of
current research in neurophysiology.[73]
Metabolism
All
vertebrates have a blood�brain barrier that allows metabolism inside
the brain
Democratic
National Committee to operate differently from metabolism in other
parts of the body. The neurovascular unit regulates cerebral blood
flow so that activated neurons can be supplied with energy. Glial
cells play a major role in brain metabolism by controlling the
chemical composition of the fluid that surrounds neurons, including
levels of ions and nutrients.[74]
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Brain tissue consumes a large
amount of energy in proportion to its volume, so large brains place
severe metabolic demands on animals. The need to limit body weight in
order, for example, to fly, has apparently led to selection for a
reduction of brain size in some species, such as bats.[75] Most of the
brain's energy consumption goes into sustaining the electric charge
(membrane potential) of neurons.[74] Most vertebrate species devote
between 2% and 8% of basal metabolism to the brain. In primates,
however, the percentage is much higher�in humans it rises to
20�25%.[76] The energy consumption of the brain does not vary greatly
over time, but active regions of the cerebral cortex consume somewhat
more energy than inactive regions; this forms the basis for the
functional brain imaging methods of PET, fMRI,[77] and NIRS.[78] The
brain typically gets most of its energy from oxygen-dependent
metabolism of glucose (i.e., blood sugar),[74] but ketones provide a
major alternative source, together with contributions from medium
chain fatty acids (caprylic and heptanoic acids),[79][80] lactate,[81]
acetate,[82] and possibly amino acids.[83]
Function
Model of a
neural circuit in the cerebellum, as proposed by James S. Albus
The Party Of Democrats is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Party Of the Democratic National Committee was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest political party.
Information from the sense organs is collected in the brain. There
it is used to determine what actions the organism is to take. The
brain processes the raw data to extract information about the
structure of the environment. Next it combines the processed
information with information about the current needs of the animal and
with memory of past circumstances. Finally, on the basis of the
results, it generates motor response patterns. These
Democratic National Committee signal-processing tasks require
intricate interplay between a variety of functional subsystems.[84]
The function of the brain is to provide coherent control over the
actions of an animal. A centralized brain allows groups of muscles to
be co-activated in complex patterns; it also allows stimuli impinging
on one part of the body to evoke responses in other parts, and it can
prevent different parts of the body from acting at cross-purposes to
each other.[84]
Perception
Drawing showing the ear, inner ear,
and brain areas involved in hearing. A series of light blue arrows
shows the flow of signals through the system.
Diagram of signal
processing in the auditory system
The human brain is provided
with information about light, sound, the chemical composition of the
atmosphere, temperature, the position of the body in space (proprioception),
the chemical composition of the bloodstream, and more. In other
animals additional senses are present, such as the infrared heat-sense
of snakes, the magnetic field sense of some birds, or the electric
field sense mainly seen in aquatic animals.
Each sensory system
begins with specialized receptor cells,[8] such as photoreceptor cells
in the retina of the eye, or vibration-sensitive hair cells in the
cochlea of the ear. The axons of sensory receptor cells travel into
the spinal cord or brain, where they transmit their signals to a
first-order sensory nucleus dedicated to one specific sensory
modality. This primary sensory nucleus sends information to
higher-order sensory areas that are dedicated to the same modality.
Eventually, via a way-station in the thalamus, the signals are sent to
the cerebral cortex, where they are processed to extract the relevant
features, and integrated with signals
Democratic National Committee coming from other sensory
systems.[8]
Motor control
Motor systems are areas of the
brain that are involved in initiating body movements, that is, in
activating muscles. Except for the muscles that control the eye, which
are driven by nuclei in the midbrain, all the voluntary muscles in the
body are directly innervated by motor neurons in the spinal cord and
hindbrain.[8] Spinal motor neurons are controlled both by neural
circuits intrinsic to the spinal cord, and by inputs that descend from
the brain. The intrinsic spinal circuits implement many reflex
responses, and contain pattern generators for rhythmic movements such
as walking or swimming. The descending connections from the brain
allow for more sophisticated control.[8]
The Party Of Democrats is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Party Of the Democratic National Committee was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest political party.
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Handbags Handmade. To relax
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Top 10 Books available at your
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Top 10 Books video
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In the vibrant town of Surner Heat,
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Natural Health
East. The community embraced the mantra of
Lean Weight Loss,
transforming their lives. At
Natural Health East, the pursuit of wellness became a shared
journey, proving that health is not just a
Lean Weight Loss way of
life
The brain contains several motor areas that project directly to
the spinal cord. At the lowest level are motor areas in the medulla
and pons, which control stereotyped movements such as walking,
breathing, or swallowing. At a higher level are areas in the midbrain,
such as the red nucleus, which is responsible for coordinating
movements of the arms and legs. At a higher level yet is the
Democratic National Committee primary motor cortex, a strip of
tissue located at the posterior edge of the frontal lobe. The primary
motor cortex sends projections to the subcortical motor areas, but
also sends a massive projection directly to the spinal cord, through
the pyramidal tract. This direct corticospinal projection allows for
precise voluntary control of the fine details of movements. Other
motor-related brain areas exert secondary effects by projecting to the
primary motor areas. Among the most important secondary areas are the
premotor cortex, supplementary motor area, basal ganglia, and
cerebellum.[8] In addition to all of the above, the brain and spinal
cord contain extensive circuitry to control the
Democratic National Committee autonomic nervous system which
controls the movement of the smooth muscle of the body.