The brainThe brainand and

LearningLearning

Some trivia• Each and every second of your life

several billion bits of information pass through your brain.

• Messages within your brain travel through trillions of neural connections at speeds up to 250 miles per hour.

Wow!• Our Average brain

capacity is approximately ten million volumes (books) of a thousand pages each!

Another view of the brain

The Hindbrain

The Brain Stem - the entry point for sensorimotor information.

Medula Oblongata - controls heart rate and respiration

Pons - regulates breathing

The Hindbrain• Reticular Activating System - • Regulates the amount and

flow of sensorimotor information

• Relays information to the thalamus in the forebrain

• Emotionally charged - it shuts down the cerebral cortex & instinct and training take over. Relaxed -cortext returns to function

The Hindbrain

• Cerebellum• 1/10 of the brain by volume

with 1/2 of its neurons.• Controls movement and

balance• Allows memory formation• Muscle memory - procedural

memory• Autonomic memory (facts -

alphabet, math facts)• Stimulus/response effects• Filters & integrate incoming

data for decision making

The Midbrain

• Controls eye movement and constriction of the pupils

• Many limbic functions occur here - these supercede other parts of the brain and connect memory and emotional structures.

• The Limbic System• Thalamus - receives

sensory information from the RAS (reticular activating system).

• Communicates with the pituitary gland in the endocrine system (chemical).

• Keeps the brain updated on the outside world

• Hypothalamus• Relays info from within

the body to the brain• Regulates temperature• Regulates sexual

function & appetite control

• Connected to pituitary gland which runs the endocrine system (chemical).

• Amygdala• Controls emotional memory• Screens for importance for

long term storage• Remembers how you feel

about what you see• STRESS RESPONSE can

interfere with thalamus - send message to hypothalamus-go to pituitary-causing a chemical reaction and interfere with thought processes.

TEST! How did you react!

Forebrain - Cerebral Cortex

• “Top layer” covering the cerebrum

• Folded - unfolded it would be the size of a table cloth

• Gyri are the bumps, sulci are the grooves and allow for a larger cerebral cortex area

• Newest evolutionary part of the brain- locus of thinking, planning, problem solving, organizing

The lateral sulci divides theLeft & right hemispheres!

The Cerebrum

• Lies under the cerebral cortex

• White matter consists of axons, possibly myelinated, of the cerebral cortex (more about this later!)

• Part where thought & higher function lie.

• Divided into 2 hemispheres.

• The “bridge” that Connects the left and right hemispheres

• A wide, flat bundle of neurons which allows the two hemispheres to communicate.

The Lobes1. Frontal lobe

2. Occipital lobe

3. Parietal Lobe

4. Temporal lobe• Motor strip• Sensory strip

• Anterior area of critical thinking, problem solving, planning, decision making.

• Posterior premotor area - modifies movements, motor area - produces movements

• Left frontal lobe - Broca’s area, an important area for language.

• In 1861 Dr. Paul Broca described a patient who had lost the ability to speak except to say the word “tan” . When the patient died Broca examined the brain and found damage to the left cerebral hemisphere.

• Integrates sensation and perception information to form a single perception (cognition)

• Constructs the spatial coordinate system - body image and placement and spatial relations.

• Damage of left parietal lobe can disrupt spoken/written language.

• The sensory motor cortex lies between the frontal and parietal lobes.

Sensory controls feeling

• Controls hearing, speech, learning, memory

• Discriminates sounds and smells

• Sorts new information and responsible for short term memory

• Left temporal lobe - contains verbal memory(words, names)

• Wernicke’s Area• Right temporal lobe - contains

visual memory (pictures/faces)

• In 1874 Karl Wernicke noticed damage to another region of the cortex. If this was damaged the patient can hear language and when they speak it sounds natural, but what they say has no meaning.

Hippocampus

• Hippocampus• In the medial temporal

lobe• Stores factual

memories - remembers what you see, hear,

etc.)• From here they can go

to permanent (long term memory)

• This area process visual information, visual reception, visual recognition of shapes and colors.

A word from our visual specialists.

Pineal gland & Pituitary gland• Pituitary gland -• Runs the endocrine

system and adjust the body’s chemistry

• Pineal gland• Regulates the release of

neuro transmitters to regulate sleep

• Releases melatonin in darkeness for sleep and regulates circadian rhythms (think jet lag!)

More on these later!

Neurons!

• Carry the messages of the brain

• Axon - carry the messages

• Dendrites - receive the messages

• Synapse - break from axon of one neuron to dendrite of next. Path of the electrical charge

Neurons!

• Glial cells - nurturing cells for the neurons (think Einstein!). More action of a neuron, the more glial cells it needs

• Myelin - fatty substance which coats the neuron’s axons. It insulates and promotes the travel of transmissions

• Nerve - a bundle of neurons• Neural network - a chain of

neurons from originating sight to memory.

• Neurotransmitters are the chemicals that carry

information in the synapse from one neuron to another

• They are receptor specific• Excitatory neurotransmitters

cause the next neuron to fire• Inhibitory neurotransmitters

stop the next neuron from firing.

• If a neuron receives a message repeatedly the

connection is strengthened.

Glutamate & GABA

• Both are amino acids used in information processing transmissions.

• Glutamate is an excitatory and is important in learning and memory.

• GABA (gama aminobutyric acid) is an inhibitory. It quiets neurons that are not needed. – Low GABA + low seratonin can = violence and agression.– High GABA + high seratonin can = passive

behavior.

Monoamines

• Epinephrine - adrenaline = ACT!

• Norepinephrine - gets the brain’s attention.

• Helps establish the synapses which fix information into long term memory.– High levels can cause agression.– Release in arousal explains recall of

information related to shock, fright, anger.

Monoamines

• Dopamine - controls physical movement and regulates the flow of information in higher levels of the brain.– Low levels affect working memory.– High levels cause euphoria.

Melatonin• Melatonin is the “sleep”

neurotransmitter.• It is released in the pineal gland in the

forebrain.• It activates our biological clocks - our

Circadian Rhythms.• (Think about jet lag!)

During sleep, information we have learnedthat day becomes organized in ourbrains.

Emotion

drives

Attention

drives

Learning

Creating Memory

Sight

Sound

Smell

Taste

Touch

R E C E P T O R S

Attention

Short-

Term

Memory

(working

Brain)

Forgotten

REHEARSAL

Long-termMemory

Elaboration

Retrieval

Primary - Recency Effect

Prime - Time

Down

Time

Prime - Time

Learn BEST--

the FIRST

Learn LEAST--

just Past the Middle

Learn NEXT--

the LAST

“M-Space”The capacity of short-term memory appears to develop with age. The number of spaces increases by one unit every other year beginning at age three.

15 13

11

9

7

5

Plus or minus 2

Average Retention Rates

Lectures --5%

Reading --10%

Audio-Visual --20%

Demonstration --30%

Discussion Group --50%

Practice by Doing --75%

Teach OthersImmediate Use of Learning --90%

Joyce & Showers(2002)