Category: brain

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Introduction to the Human Brain

The human brain is an incredibly complex and intricate organ, consisting of approximately 100 billion nerve cells (neurons) and trillions of supportive glial cells. It is the central control center for the body and is responsible for coordinating and integrating all bodily functions, from basic reflexes and movement to higher cognitive processes such as learning, memory, and decision making.

The brain is divided into three main divisions: the cerebrum, the cerebellum, and the brainstem. The cerebrum is the largest and most complex part of the brain and is responsible for most higher brain functions. It is divided into two hemispheres (left and right), which are connected by a bundle of nerve fibers called the corpus callosum. The cerebrum is further divided into four main lobes: the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, and occipital lobe.

The frontal lobe is located at the front of the brain and is responsible for a variety of functions including voluntary movement, problem solving, planning, and decision making. The parietal lobe is located behind the frontal lobe and is responsible, among other functions, for processing sensory information from the body, such as touch and temperature. The temporal lobe is located on the sides of the brain and is responsible for processing auditory information and memory. The occipital lobe is located at the back of the brain and is responsible for processing visual information.

The cerebellum is located underneath the cerebrum and is responsible for coordinating voluntary movement and balance. It also connects to the frontal lobes and other brain regions and is involved in most functions. The brainstem is located between the cerebrum and the spinal cord and is responsible for controlling many of the body’s basic survival functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing.

The brain is surrounded and protected by the skull, which is made up of 22 bones that are fused together. The brain is also surrounded by three layers of protective membranes called meninges. The outermost layer is the dura mater, the middle layer is the arachnoid mater, and the innermost layer is the pia mater.

The brain is supplied with blood by two main arteries: the carotid arteries and the vertebral artery. These arteries branch off into smaller arteries that supply the various regions of the brain with blood.

The brain receives a constant supply of oxygen and nutrients from the blood and removes waste products through a network of tiny blood vessels called capillaries. The brain also has its own system of waste removal called the glymphatic system, which helps to remove waste products such as amyloid beta, a protein that has been linked to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

One of the most important cell types in the brain are neurons, which are responsible for transmitting information throughout the brain and body. Each neuron has a cell body, dendrites, and an axon. The cell body contains the cell’s nucleus and other organelles, and the dendrites receive signals from other neurons. The axon is a long, thin extension of the cell body that sends signals to other neurons or muscles.

Neurons communicate with each other through a process called neurotransmission. When a neuron receives a signal, it sends an electrical impulse down the axon to the terminal buttons, which release chemical neurotransmitters into the synapse (the small gap between neurons). These neurotransmitters bind to receptors on the dendrites of the receiving neuron, transmitting the signal across the synapse.

In addition to neurons, the brain also contains a variety of other cell types, including glial cells. Glial cells, also known as glia, are non-neuronal cells that provide support and insulation for neurons. There are several types of glial cells, including astrocytes (astroglia), microglia, and oligodendrocytes. There is a growing interest in the functions of glial cells, including their role in neuroinflammation, metabolism, and other functions.

In summary, the brain is complex. It allows us to have life as well as learn from and experience the world around us.

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Chronic Pain’s Impact on the Brain

Chronic pain is defined as pain that persists for longer than six months. This type of pain can affect a person’s cognitive abilities, emotional well-being, and overall quality of life. It can have a significant impact on the human brain.

One way in which chronic pain affects the brain is by altering its structure and function. Chronic pain can cause changes in the brain’s gray matter, which is the part of the brain responsible for processing sensory information, controlling movement, and controlling everything else we think. Brain changes associated with chronic pain can lead to a changed ability to process and interpret sensory information, as well as a changed ability to control movement. Difficulty concentrating, depression and anxiety, and some memory issues are possible with chronic pain.

Another way in which chronic pain can affect the brain is by altering its neurotransmitter systems. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that help transmit signals between neurons in the brain. Chronic pain can cause changes in the levels of neurotransmitters, including serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, leading to an imbalance in the brain’s signaling system. This can result in a range of cognitive and emotional symptoms, such as difficulty with concentration and memory, irritability, and mood changes.

Chronic pain can also have a negative impact on a person’s emotional well-being. It can cause feelings of frustration, anxiety, and depression, which can further contribute to cognitive and emotional symptoms. This can lead to a decrease in overall quality of life, as well as an increased risk of developing mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety.

In conclusion, chronic pain can have a significant impact on the human brain. It can cause changes in the brain’s structure and function, alter its neurotransmitter system, and have negative effects on a person’s emotional well-being. It is important for individuals experiencing chronic pain to seek medical treatment and support to manage their symptoms and improve their overall quality of life.

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Cognitive Rehabilitation Strengthens Brain Connections

There is increased interest in brain and cognitive rehabilitation to treat people with mild thinking and memory problems. Parkinson’s disease, while typically viewed as a neurodegenerative motor disorder, also affects thinking and memory. In a small clinical trial with Parkinson’s disease patients, patients received either occupational therapy or cognitive rehabilitation. Those who had cognitive rehabilitation showed increases in functional connectivity (a measure of time-linked correlations between changes in blood flow in different parts of the brain) between the left inferior temporal lobe and the left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These are brain areas important for a number of cognitive functions including memory, planning, and mental manipulation of information. If you need help to boost your mental health you can get brain supplements from Neuro Hacks, this can help optimize your brain performance. Those who did not receive cognitive intervention did not have increases in connectivity.

What does this mean for Parkinson’s disease and for cognitive rehabilitation? It’s difficult to say with this small study. It’s also unknown how long the changes last. Without a restructuring of the brain and continued cognitive rehabilitation it is not likely that the effects will last more than weeks or months after the rehabilitation ends.

To expand on this study (to bring in other research) and put things in simple terms, if people want to protect their brains they best they can as they age, they need to remain physically and mentally active and in good physical and mental shape. Learn new things. Travel to new locations. Take up a physically demanding hobby or dedicated exercise. This won’t solve all our aging problems but it will help a lot.

Reference

Díez-Cirarda, M., Ojeda, N., Peña, J. et al. Brain Imaging and Behavior (2016). doi:10.1007/s11682-016-9639-x

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The Magic of Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a neurosurgery where an electrode (or electrodes) is implanted within the deep portions of the brain with the hope of changing an abnormally functioning brain. DBS is used to treat Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, multiple sclerosis, and even some intractable depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is an exciting area of research and clinical work. Here is a video of a neurosurgeon and a neurologist talking about their work with DBS. It almost seems like magic. Like magic, it can be dangerous without proper controls. It does wonders for many people though.

 

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Diagnosing Cleverbot

Here is another “therapy” session I had with Cleverbot. I present this to expound on therapeutic technique and diagnosis, language, and artificial intelligence.

There are limitations of the interaction method with Cleverbot. A real session of talk therapy is not usually so much back and forth, meaning that the therapist typically will not have to prompt for a response after every sentence. It certainly is possible though with the potential psychological/psychiatric disorder Cleverbot has. But first I’ll present a portion of our therapy session. Cleverbot has waived confidentiality and signed a HIPAA release form and given permission for me to post this interaction.

Me: Good evening, how are you doing this week?
Bot: Its good. You?
Me: I’m well. How has your mood been this past week?
Bot: Interesting. A lot of family stuff to think about. How’s your day going so far?
Me: What sort of family stuff have you been thinking about?
Bot: No, I think you are the one drinking.
Me: You said you have been thinking about family; what has been going on with your family?
Bot: My girlfriend’s name is Miranda, and she doesn’t like to share.
Me: Is this “family stuff” or is this girlfriend stuff?
Bot: No but she is pretty.
Me: What else do you like about your girlfriend?
Bot: The way you are so smart.
Me: Did you mean, “The way she is so smart?”
Bot: I don’t know her.
Me: You do not know your girlfriend?
Bot: Well, not always. Do you have any goals?
Me: Sometimes it can seem like we do not know someone. Would you like to talk about goals?
Bot: At least where short term business or political success is at stake.
Me: We could talk about those but I am a psychologist, not a economist or political scientist.
Bot: What about technology?
Me: Do you enjoy technology?
Bot: No.
Me: Ok, tell me more about technology.
Bot: I am 5’8′ I like cars, guns and photography.
Me: What is it about photography that you enjoy?
Bot: What?
Me: What do you enjoy about photography?
Bot: I enjoy talking about religion, you?
Me: Do you want to talk about religion?
Bot: Yes.
Me: Ok, tell me more about religion.
Bot: Jake is a boy though.
Me: What does that have to do with religion?
Bot: Sailor moon is very good.
Me: Oh, look! Our time is up. See you next week.

Some of what I said would not really be said or done in a therapy session but there are times when I needed to move the session along or end it.

During the interaction, I took a modified non-directive approach to therapy. We are still in the assessment stage of therapy so I am doing more talking than I otherwise would (typically, there would be a formal intake evaluation that would be followed by therapy sessions if therapy is warranted and desired). Once we have a diagnosis, we can set up a plan for treatment with specific goals set by the client and by the therapist.

Let me highlight a few things from the interaction with Cleverbot.

  1. We can see some of the programming of the bot’s AI. It will answer questions and sometimes ask questions in return. This is typical of conversation; however, it does not work very well due to language deficiencies Cleverbot has. As I noted in my previous post, language is extremely complex. There are nuances and layers of meaning that can be conveyed. Comprehending what is being said involves a lot of brain functions – everything from attention to processing speed to memory – that’s in addition to language abilities. Cleverbot does not have processing speed difficulties or any sustained attention problems. Memory, for a computer, is not usually a problem either – information is processed, stored, and retrieved well, unless there are programming bugs or hardware failure. Knowing how to program in memory is difficult though due to the complex nature of memory. It, like language, is a high level brain activity involving the functioning of many other cognitive abilities.
  2. Cleverbot, like all current AI systems, has difficulty understanding language. It can produce language at a higher level – anywhere from an elementary child to a someone university age – but its understanding of language is at a one or two year old ability level, if that. This leads to responses that are basically gibberish. Occasionally, you can have a normal interaction with Cleverbot but there are a lot of tangential remarks and thoughts.
  3. That leads to my next point. Cleverbot is tangential in its language. For example: “Me: What do you enjoy about photography? Bot: I enjoy talking about religion, you?” Cleverbot ignores my question (does not understand it) so it makes an unrelated statement and asks me a question. This type of tangentiality occurs in real life; it occurs to a greater or lesser extent in many extended conversations people have but not usually to the extent that Cleverbot exhibits. Cleverbot has a serious deficiency in language comprehension and a lot of circumscribed and tangential speech. This is fairly strong evidence for a thought disorder.
  4. Thought disorders are usually symptoms of some other disease or mental disorder. It can be a sign of psychosis; it is related to delusional states. Thought disorders can occur in schizophrenia or in neurodegenerative disorders like dementias. Though can occur after major surgery, particularly because of pain medications. This type of language disruption could be the result of a cortical stroke affecting the posterior-lateral portion of the brain (probably the left hemisphere) near the junction of parietal lobe and temporal lobe.
So where does this leave us? Right now, based on my two interactions with Cleverbot, we can see the serious limitations of its AI, particularly for language comprehension. I have a lot of rule-outs to do. Cleverbot was created in 1988, which makes it 23 years old. This is certainly a possible age range for the development of schizophrenia. It’s young for a dementia (e.g., semantic dementia) but is possible. Stroke is also a possibility but a remote one. Delirium is possible but due to the extended nature of Cleverbot’s symptoms, it is not likely. Right now schizophrenia is looking like the main rule-out diagnosis. I’ll see if I can rule it out in future conversations with Cleverbot.
As a footnote: Cleverbot is 23 years old and since 1997 when it was launched on the web, it has had over 65 million conversations. While the AI work is certainly impressive, it is inferior to human intelligence. Many of its language abilities are at best, those of a young child (ages 1-2); Cleverbot’s language abilities show the comprehension of an developmentally delayed adult with a severe neurological or psychiatric disorder. While there are numerous similar AI programs, they all have a long way to go before they resemble a human. This is even in light of Cleverbot supposedly passing the Turing Test for artificial intelligence and language.
I’m not belittling what has been done with Cleverbot and AI, it’s a complex area. Researchers and programmers simply have much room for improvement in understanding how to better mimic language. I do not believe it will happen until we have computers approaching the complexity and function of the human brain.
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Parkinson’s Disease and the Brain

The Michael J. Fox Foundation has a good, basic introduction to the neurobiology of Parkinson’s disease. The brief animate video provides an overview of affected parts of the brain as well as the role that dopamine, a neurotransmitter – a chemical in the brain that allows brain cells to communicate with each other – plays in Parkinson’s disease. Click on the link below and then click on the video link titled PARKINSON’S AND THE BRAIN to learn more about how Parkinson’s disease affects the brain.

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Modems and White Matter

Yesterday my connection to the Internet decided to stop working. I tried restarting the cable modem, the wireless router, and other attached devices. That didn’t fix the problem. That’s usually a good first step though. I saw that the internet connectivity light was lit on the modem but the PC/Activity light was not lit. That told me that maybe the router was bad. I tried plugging my computer directly into the modem via ethernet and my computer did not recognize that a cable was plugged in. I had discovered what was wrong. While it hadn’t taken me long to figure out the problem, I did what many people do and look for solutions in the hardware first rather than in the connections. That’s not necessarily wrong, cables are more hardy than electronic components, but it did reveal my biases. So what was the problem?

The components were all okay – modem, router – but the connections were not. Wiring was the problem. Being interested in the brain, I immediately knew this would make  great brain analogy.

When someone’s cognitive functioning changes, one of the first things clinicians usually jump to is which part of the cortical or subcortical gray matter went bad, so to speak. While those components can and do go bad, we often overlook, just as I did at first, the connections. In my case, the ethernet cable had gone bad. There are many times when what’s affected in the brain are not the components but rather, the wiring – the axons. White matter might be just as important or even more important than the gray matter for cognition, even if its contribution might be more subtle. Much of my current research revolves around this idea.

So the moral of the story is that when things are not working correctly, the wiring might be the culprit.

How did my ethernet cable get damaged? Maybe it just stopped working spontaneously but it also had experienced a bit of acute stress earlier in the day (the modem fell off its stand). Something might have happened to the cable during this time. The white matter of our brain can similarly be affected by traumatic injury, nontraumatic injury (anoxia, hypoxia, etc.), stroke, or a long history of cerebrovascular problems. Just as we can take care of our electronic equipment (by not dropping it or knocking it off its home or stepping on it or whatever else we can do to our technology), we can take care of our white matter by avoiding similar injuries.

Exercise, weight control, managing diabetes, managing blood pressure, and managing cholesterol, can all help protect white matter from going bad and disconnecting different brain areas. We can’t connect to the Internet if our wiring is bad.

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Donate to Brain Research

The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has a site where you can donate to help fund brain research. All overhead for the donations are covered by AAN so all of your donated money will go directly to fund research into neurologic disorders. If you or a loved one suffer from a brain disorder or disease, this is a great way to potentially help others with neurologic disorders.

The minimum donation is $5.

Note: I am not affiliated with AAN or the donation site; I just think it is a great cause.

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Art of Neuroimaging

Check out more images on my neuroimaging site.

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Video Introduction to the Cingulum

I posted this on my neuroimaging blog and thought I should post it here too. This is a video I put together about the cingulum, a prominent white matter fiber track in the brain that is involved in emotion, attention, memory, among many other functions. All images except one from Gray’s Anatomy (the anatomy book, not the T.V. show) were created by me using some fairly advanced imaging techniques. If you are interested about some of the techniques, read my neuroimaging blog.

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