An Intro to the Brain:Sensory Processes

Maggie Zellner, Ph.D., L.P.

mzellner@npsafoundation.org

The National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis (NPAP)

The Neuropsychoanalysis Associationwww.npsa-association.org

Gross anatomyLateral view (from the side)

Gross anatomyMedial view (from the middle)

Gross anatomyBasal view (from below)

Gross anatomyFrom the side

What we can see: cortex

sulci/gyri fissures

cerebellum cranial nerves lower brain stem top of spinal

cord

Anterior

Inferior

Posterior

Superior

.

Orientation words

Rostral

Ventral

Caudal

Dorsal

.

emotion

perceptionaction

motivation

activation of emotion

generation of emotion

adapted fromBerton and Nestler 2006 Nat Rev Neurosci

PAG

PARIETALthe body and objects in

space - WHERE things are

TEMPORALrecognition of objects and people

- WHO things are

FRONTALplanning

- WHAT and HOW to do

VMPFC, ANTERIOR TEMPORALmemory, emotion, reward - meaning, or, WHY to do ornot to do

Marcel Mesulam, 2000Principles of Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology

Vision

Vision

Primary sensory cortexPrimary motor cortex

Somatosensation

Shepherd 2006 Nature

Smell and taste

http://www.technologyreview.com/player/08/08/06Singer/1.aspx

Connectivity

Hagmann et al 2008 PLOS Biology

Connectivity

Structural

Yeo et al 2011 J Neurophysiol

Visual

Dorsal attention

Default

Fronto

parie

tal

Som

atom

otor

Salience

Limbic

Default

Default

Default

Limbic

Somatomotor

Visual

FrontoparietalSalience

Dorsal attention

“resting state” networksareas presumed to be connected

continuously activedynamically interactive

correspond to functional studies

Craig 2003 Trends Neurosci

In humans, this pathway underlies the distinct, affective bodily feelings that we can perceive, such as cool, warm, itch, first (pricking) pain, second (burning) pain, muscle burn, joint ache, visceral fullness, flush, illness, nausea, cramps, hunger, thirst, and the special visceral sensation taste. I have suggested that the affective bodily feelings represented by this pathway constitute the sensory aspects of homeostatic emotions, because they are all accompanied by motivations (represented in anterior cingulate cortex) that clearly subserve the maintenance and well being of the body.

Craig 2010 Brain Struct Funct

Pathways for pain

e pain signal interrupts ongoing behaviour; promotes quick responses aimed at terminating, reducing or escaping the source of threat; and serves as a punishment-based reinforcer to teach organisms to avoid threatening stimuli in the future.

Eisenberger 2012 Nat Rev Neurosci

Eisenberger 2012 Nat Rev Neurosci

Sensory and affective components of pain

Craig 2002

• cooling• pain• exercise• itch• anger• perceiving

disgust or trustworthiness

The insula and embodied experience

Keysers et al 2010 Nature Reviews Neuroscience

Fronto-parietal involvement in generating imagery

Ishai 2010 Archives Italiennes de Biologie