Organ Systems Coordination Control Navigation Table Organ Systems

Organ Systems Coordination & Control

Navigation Table Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Click a link below to take the pre-test for this unit! • Google assessment

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Quick Now! What is the organ of personality? Of course, the answer is your brain. Maybe you never thought about it that way, but what makes you YOU is your brain. Your body is made up of cells. Cells come together to make tissues. Tissues come together to make organs. Organs come together to make organ systems. Those organ systems come together to make your entire body. Now, we want to look at more than your body. Now we want to explore your mind! We want to consider how the brain creates your mind and your personality.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary • After completing this lesson, each student should be able to: Ø Explain the structure and function of the nervous system including neurons Ø Understand the direct actions of the brain and spinal cord on controlling: v Detection of environmental change v Consciousness v Learning and memory v Emotions v Movement Ø Understand what is known about common hazards to the nervous system

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary The Brain is the Organ of Personality If the brain creates who you are, what could be more important to you than your brain? Teenage brains are rapidly changing, due in part to surging hormones, and also because the "finishing touches" are being added to the sculpting of the neural circuits (interconnections between the nerve cells) in your brain. Social environment and thoughts will affect that sculpting. Recent research, based on brain scans, indicates that the most profound changes during this time occur in the front of the brain, the part that is crucial for advanced functions such as critical thinking, self-control, and judgment. Brain scans indicate that the frontal cerebral cortex (outer layer of the cerebrum) does not mature until about age 25.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Your Brain has a mind of its own Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Brain affects mind. Mind affects brain. Brain affects behavior and hormone release. Later in this unit, we will discuss more about the makeup of the mind.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Knowing How the Brain Works Can Help You Learn Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary A new movement in education is called "neuroeducation" or "brain-based learning. " That is, we can use our knowledge of certain ways that the brain works to make teaching, learning, and remembering more effective. This module explains some of those brain functions that relate to learning and remembering.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary The Brain is Programmable The brain is programmed by your experiences. You can also program your brain by the choices you make and by training. You can train your brain to have certain attitudes, beliefs, capabilities. You can also abuse your brain by feeding it bad ideas, unhealthy attitudes, or drugs that affect the mind. Unlike eating junk food, feeding junk ideas, information, and feelings to your brain can program your brain and behavior permanently. Behavior has consequences that can last a lifetime. What you do tonight might affect your brain for the next 80 years. Be kind to your brain. That is being kind to yourself.

Coordination & Control Brain Diseases and Disorders Can Be Devastating Organ Systems: Coordination & Disease of the brain can cripple us, make us behave badly, or even destroy our personality Control and sense of self. Pre-Test Introduction Major nervous system diseases: Traumatic Brain Injury: concussion ruptures microtubules inside of neurons and nerve-tonerve contacts due to mechanical forces (such as sports injuries, car crashes, etc. ) Epilepsy: random episodes of convulsions due to overactive neurons Stroke: interruption of blood supply to brain, due either to hemorrhage or to blocked arteries that can damage function associated with the affected area of the brain (ex: partial paralysis) Parkinson's disease: a disease of old age causing continuous trembling that progresses to depression and poor ability to move Alzheimer's disease: a disease of old age that kills nerve cells, starting in the outer parts of brain (cerebral cortex) Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Image from: https: //journals. plos. org/plosone/article/figures? id=10. 1371/journal. pone. 0078490

Coordination & Control Brain Diseases and Disorders Can Be Devastating Cont’d Organ Systems: Coordination & Some mental disorders include: Control Pre-Test Introduction Depression: severe state of sadness that is continuous most of the time Anxiety: distress, fear, worry and related emotional upset Why It Matters Schizophrenia: complex disorder with abnormal behaviors and thought disorders like hallucinations, delusions, lack of emotion, and disorganized thoughts, speech, and behavior What We Know Mental and behavioral diseases and disorders are found in people all countries How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary • • in all societies in women and men at all stages of life among the rich and poor among people living in urban and rural areas Analyses done by World Health Organization show that about 10% of people in the world suffer from a neuropsychiatric condition. This calculates to be about 450 million people! These neuropsychiatric conditions included unipolar depressive disorders, bipolar affective disorder, schizophrenia, epilepsy, alcohol and selected drug use disorders, Alzheimer's and other dementias, post-traumatic stress, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and primary insomnia.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary

Coordination & Control What Makes Up the Nervous System? Organ Systems: Coordination & The main purpose of the nervous system is to facilitate Control communication between the different parts of the body. Pre-Test Introduction That’s a big job! The cells that do this job are called neurons. The nervous system is broken into two main segments: Why It Matters the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The CNS is made up of the What We Know brain and spinal cord and are the main coordinators and processors of nervous activity. They decide what your How We Know body does and when it does it. The PNS is the messenger to and from the CNS. It is composed of all of our sensory Story Time neurons that detect touch, taste, vision, smell, and Common sound, which report to the CNS, as well as all the Hazards neurons that carry out the instructions from the brain and spinal cord to our muscles, organs, and glands. Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Author: Open. Stax Source: https: //cnx. org/contents/FPt. K 1 zmh@8. 25: f. EI 3 C 8 Ot@10/Preface

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary What Makes Up the Nervous System? Cont’d Below is a flowchart diagramming the components of the nervous system.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control What are Neurons? Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Diagram of a nerve cell, called a neuron Source: Texas Gateway Nerve cells are called "neurons. " They make up both the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). They have various shapes that are different from a “typical” animal cell. Their cell membranes form many small branches. Those branches around the cell body are called dendrites and receive information from other neurons. There also branches at the ends of long extensions of the cell, called "axons" which can send information to other neurons. The message carried by a neuron is called an impulse.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Different Types of Neurons Not all neurons do the same job. There are three types of neurons in your body. Sensory neurons receive and send impulses to the brain or spinal cord. Interneurons relay these impulses to motor neurons. Motor neurons then conduct impulses from the brain or spinal cord to muscles or glands throughout the body. Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Different types of neurons occur in the body. In this diagram, the purple spot is the nucleus of the cell. The round part of the cell containing the nucleus is the cell body, which also contains most of the organelles. Sometimes it is hard to tell which extension is the axon and which extensions are just branches on the cell body. Source: Texas Gateway

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Different Types of Neurons Cont’d Nerve cells can also have an insulating material, called myelin, that surrounds certain axons. Myelin keeps the electrical impulses that move through the neuron contained (we will talk about those electrical impulses next) and allows those impulses to move quickly down the cell. Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Image from: https: //science. education. nih. gov/supplements/webversions/Brain/guide/infobrain. html

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary What Do Neurons Do? Neurons communicate with other cells. Neurons: • • Generate electricity Secrete chemicals These two actions are what allow neurons to communicate with each other and with other tissues. The place where two neurons meet, where there is a tiny gap, is called a synapse. When one neuron has been excited, it can carry an electrical nerve impulse (message) down its axon and release chemicals called neurotransmitters into the synapse that can excite or inhibit the next neuron. A synapse is where two neurons meet. From: http: //www. chm. bris. ac. uk/webprojects 2006/Cow lishaw/synthesis. htm

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Generating Electricity Neurons are like batteries. The battery is created because electrically charged atoms, especially sodium and potassium, have different concentrations inside and outside of the neuron. When the neuron battery is discharged or "shorted, " the charged atoms move across the membrane, creating an electrical current called a nerve impulse (also called an action potential). The current of each impulse spreads down the extensions of a neuron, like a burning fuse. The neuronal battery can be discharged by electrical stimulation, similar to a defibrillator can start a heartbeat, or chemical stimulation, like norepinephrine that is so important in your fight-or-flight response. Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary A detailed diagram of a synapse showing the secretion of neurotransmitter molecules and the passage of electrical nerve impulses. By user: Looie 496 created file, US National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging created original http: //www. nia. nih. gov/alzheimers/publication/alzheimers-disease-unraveling-mystery/preface, Public Domain, https: //commons. wikimedia. org/w/index. php? curid=8882110

Coordination & Control Generating Electricity Cont’d Organ Systems: Coordination & Ions (charged atoms) of sodium (Na) and potassium (K), not electrons, are the carriers of electrical current in nerve tissue. When a neuron is stimulated, molecular pores in its cell Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know membrane open. The pores are created by proteins that have a donut-like hole that can open for sodium and potassium ions. Sodium ions are the first to move. They move in because there is an electrical pulling force (inside is negative and sodium ions are positive) and an osmotic force (sodium is more concentrated on the outside). But as sodium rushes in, the inside becomes positive, and that forces out positively charged potassium. In the resting state, potassium is concentrated on the inside of cells. How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary For an excellent simulation of this, see PHET Interactive Simulations. A nerve impulse moves in one direction, from axon to dendrite. https: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Action_potential#/media/Fi le: Action_Potential. gif

Coordination & Control Secreting Chemicals Organ Systems: Coordination & When the electrical impulses reach the end of an axon, they trigger the release of neurotransmitter chemicals. These chemicals then come in contact with receptor molecules Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know on the membranes of target cells (see "Proteins " and "Membranes" in the "Cells are Us" Module). Target cells of neurons are glands, muscles, or other neurons. The message differs with the chemical and the target, but basically it is to promote activity in the target cell or suppress it. This is done in steps: How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Neurotransmitter binds with a protein on the target cell membrane Binding activates a protein on the inside face of the membrane that serves to trigger actions on other cell chemicals. One of the activated chemicals may even migrate into the nucleus to change the expression of genes.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control What Do the Brain and Spinal Cord Do? Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Remember, the nervous system is broken into two sections, called the central nervous system (CNS), and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The brain and the spinal cord make up the CNS. The brain is located within the skull. The spinal cord extends from the brain, down the center of the body through the vertebrae (bones of the spine). Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary In this diagram, you can see the CNS (brain and spinal cord) and the PNS (peripheral nerves shown in blue). Diagram from: https: //rarediseases. info. nih. gov/Glossary. Description/65/0

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Brain Basics Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary The brain coordinates your body’s activities. You will learn much more about what the brain does in the next section, but for now we are going to look at the basics. The brain is made up of around 86 billion neurons! The brain is divided into three major sections- the cerebrum, the cerebellum, and the brain stem.

Coordination & Control Brain Basics Cont’d Organ Systems: Coordination & The cerebrum is where the higher functions like thinking takes place. It is the largest part of the brain. Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary It is where the impulses from the senses (vision, hearing, taste, touch, and smell) are interpreted, where your memory is stored, and where the fine control of the movements of your body are directed. It also performs functions like reasoning, emotions, and learning. The outer layer or covering of the cerebrum is called the “cerebral cortex. ” Sometimes the cerebral cortex is referred to as the “cortex” in this unit. Later in this unit, we will go into more depth about the functions of the cerebral cortex. The cerebellum functions to coordinate muscle movements, maintain posture, and maintain balance. The brain stem acts to connect the cerebrum and cerebellum to the spinal cord. It performs functions such as breathing, heart rate, body temperature regulation and other involuntary actions. For an excellent tour of the brain, click here. This is from the Alzheimer’s Association. It also explains how Alzheimer’s disease affects the brain.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control What Do Brains Look Like? They differ a lot, depending on the species. Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Brains of many different species, shown to scale of relative size. See more pictures of brains from many species by clicking here and here.

Coordination & Control What the Spinal Cord Does Organ Systems: Coordination & The spinal cord is a long, thin structure made of neurons. It runs from the brain stem, down Control the body, and through the vertebrae. The primary function of the spinal cord is to carry Pre-Test Introduction impulses (messages) from all parts of the body to the brain and from the brain to all parts of your body. In other words, it is like an impulse super highway! If you cut the spinal cord of any higher animal in cross section, it looks like this. There is a Why It Matters central "H" zone containing millions of neurons surrounded by white substance, which is actually many nerve fibers cut in cross section. Some fiber bundles go toward the brain, What We Know while others are bringing information to the spinal cord from the brain Two-way Cabling How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Like electrical wiring in your car or your house, neurons in the spinal cord communicate with the brain by insulated cables. The axons that descend from the brain or ascend to the brain are covered with an insulating coat of membrane. The membrane coating comes from nearby cells ("glial cells") that wrap their membranes around the axons and create electrical insulation. Knowing this, can you see why damage to the spinal cord causes paralysis? Can you see why that paralysis might be permanent?

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary What Peripheral Nerves Do The peripheral nervous system, or PNS, takes in stimuli from the body and relays them to the spinal cord where they can be transferred to the brain. It is like a messenger system that takes in information and then carries instructions for what to do next! It is made up of 12 pairs of nerves that come from your brain (the cranial nerves) and 31 pairs of nerves from your spinal cord called spinal nerves. Many of these nerves include both sensory and motor neurons. The peripheral nervous system also includes ganglia, which are oval shaped structure that contain the cell bodies of various nerve cells. The peripheral nervous system is divided into the somatic and autonomic systems. The somatic system controls voluntary actions. The autonomic system controls involuntary actions. Image credit, https: //www. khanacademy. org/science/biology/apbiology/human-biology/neuron-nervous-system/a/overview-of -neuron-structure-and-function, modified from “Nervous system diagram, ” by Medium 69 (CC BY-SA 4. 0).

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Putting it all Together The CNS and PNS work together to take in information from around or inside of you (stimuli), carry that information to the brain for processing, and then send out messages directing the body how you react or respond to those messages. A nerve impulse pathway is a specific pathway -from sensory neuron to interneuron to motor neuron- that many impulses follow to bring about a response to a stimulus. Think of it like a relay race, but instead of carrying a baton, the nerves are carrying messages. First, the sensory neurons take in a stimulus from the environment or from within the body. The sensory neuron carries the message to an interneuron in the brain. Then, the brain processes the information and decides what response is needed. Finally, the motor neuron conducts the message from the brain to muscles or glands where a response or action can take place. Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Image from: https: //www. quora. com/What-are-the-functions-of-afferentand-efferent-neurons

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Putting it all Together Cont’d Pain-relieving medicines can act at different places in this pathway. Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Pain information is carried into the lateral (side) part of the spinal cord and on to the brain. Common pain-killing drugs act at different levels of the pathway.

Coordination & Control Putting it all Together Cont’d Organ Systems: Coordination & A Reflex Action Control Pre-Test Some actions need to happen so quickly that their messages do not go all the way to the brain for processing. These types of actions are called “reflexes. ” If you touch something extremely hot, pain information comes into the spinal cord by Why It Matters way of the sensory neurons and excites peripheral motor neurons which then What We Know activate flexor muscles that flex the elbow How We Know and wrist of the arm on the same side as the stimulus. The brain is not a part of this Story Time reaction. At the same time, the painful stimulus excites an inhibitory neuron that Common prevents contraction of the muscles that Hazards extend the arm. Why is this necessary? Activities What would happen if both flexor (the muscles that bend the arm) and extensor Self-Study (the muscles that extend the arm) muscles Game of the same arm contracted at the same Post-Test time? Introduction Glossary Image: Wikipedia Commons

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Putting it all Together Cont’d In summary, in a reflex, the PNS brings sensory information into the CNS which takes that information and tells the motor neurons in the PNS what to do. Note again that all of this occurs locally. There is no need for the brain. Of course, the painful information is sent to the brain by way of some of the other neurons that run from the spinal cord to the brain. You actually move the hand away from the heat before you feel the pain of the burn! That’s fast! Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Now, let’s go much deeper into the functions of the brain!

Coordination & Control More Detailed Structure Organ Systems: Coordination & For this next section, we need to know a little more about the Control structure of the brain. As we showed before, there are three Introduction basic parts of the brain: the cerebrum, cerebellum, and Why It Matters brainstem. The outer layer of the cerebrum is called the cerebral What We Know cortex. The cerebrum is further divided into two sides or How We Know “hemispheres, ” each with four sections or “lobes” that control Story Time different body functions. Each lobe Common may also be divided into areas that serve very specific functions. It’s Hazards important to know that each lobe Activities of the brain does not function alone. There are very complex Self-Study relationships between the lobes of Game the brain and between the two Post-Test sides or hemispheres of the brain. Pre-Test Glossary Image from “Brain Anatomy and Functions” by the National Cancer Institute at the NIH: https: //www. cancer. gov/rare-brain-spine-tumor/tumors/anatomy

Coordination & Control More Detailed Structure Cont’d Organ Systems: Coordination & There also some deep brain structures that will be discussed in this portion of this lesson. Control These structures include thalamus, hypothalamus, and the pons. Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Image from NIH U. S. National Library of Medicine: https: //toxtutor. nlm. nih. gov/14004. html (Image Source: Adapted from i. Stock Photos, ©) What is the “mind? ” Some people equate it with some kind of immaterial soul. But these can be two different things. Whatever the mind is, it is generated by the brain. Here is why we say that:

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary The Mind is Nerve Impulses Man-made computers represent and process information about the world with 1 s and 0 s. Brains represent and process information about their world with nerve impulses, in terms of the discharge rate (how often), distribution of intervals among impulses (how far apart), and the degree of synchrony with impulse discharges in other neurons and circuits. As with computers, if you turn off the electric current, the computer becomes non-functional. In humans, the point has been made experimentally: for example, one can inject an anesthetic into a carotid artery (blood vessel that supplies the brain) and disrupt all impulse traffic—and the corresponding thoughts—in the area of the cerebral cortex (the outer layer of the cerebrum) supplied by that artery.

Coordination & Control The Mind is Nerve Impulses Cont’d Organ Systems: Coordination & Recording nerve impulses by way of electroencephalogram (EEG) reveals that there are two proofs that the mind is constructed from nerve impulse patterns: Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary 1. Changing electrical activity changes the associated thought. Various studies show that applying low-level electrical stimulation to regions of cortex changes the underlying impulse discharge and changes the thought. One example: during brain surgery, when the patient is awake, localized stimulation evokes emotions, music, silent speech, and a variety of effects depending on the area stimulated. 2. Changing the thought changes the electrical activity. Neurons that are active during a given thought change or cease impulse discharge as the thought changes. EEG readings change in distinct ways that correlate with shifts in mental states along its continuum of alert wakefulness, drowsiness, sleep, dream sleep, anesthesia, and coma. There is latent (hidden or concealed) thought however. In the above example, those anesthetized circuits in the cortex still have a capacity for thoughts stored as memories in their synapses and connection pathways. In other words, they have not lost their capacity for thinking. However, thought itself is not expressed because the anesthetic disrupted impulse discharge. The computer analogy applies here also. Information in a computer resides in stored hard-disk memory and can get expressed when you turn on the computer.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game The Brain Makes Us Aware What would it be like if you "saw" all the radio signals in the world? There is short-wave radio, AM, and FM. There is communication among pilots and airports, military communications, satellite uplinks and downlinks. If we could see all that, we would go crazy. Fortunately, our brains are wired to see only what we have to see for effective operation in this world. We don't need to see radio signals, but we do need to see objects that we would otherwise walk into. Similar things could be said about sound. The point is that we are aware of only part of what is "out there" in the world. We humans have detector cells for: Post-Test Glossary Light waves (eyes) Sound waves (ears) Chemicals that we smell (sensors in the nose) Chemicals that we taste (tongue sensors) Physical forces (touch, pressure, cold, heat) (skin sensors) Muscle tone and limb position (sensors in muscles)

Coordination & Control The Brain Makes Us Aware Cont’d Organ Systems: Coordination & Two things to remember about these sensations: Control 1. They tend to be mapped in our brains. That is mapped in terms of location outside of our body or location inside our body, depending on where the sensation is coming Pre-Test Introduction from. Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Image from The Dana Foundation: https: //www. dana. org/article/neuroanatomy-the-basics/

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control The Brain Makes Us Aware Cont’d Pre-Test The visual pathway with the course of information flow from the right (green) and left (blue) areas of the two eye's visual fields. Note that half of the fibers cross over to the other side. Introduction Why It Matters The lateral geniculate body is a relay station in the brainstem. Some processing of visual information occurs at this level, but conscious evaluation of what you see occurs in the visual cortex. What We Know How We Know Mapping can be very specific. For example, neurons in the visual cortex (see above) respond to a line on a TV screen, but the degree of response depends on the orientation of the line (vertical, horizontal, angular) and the line's location in the field of view. Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Image from: https: //nba. uth. tmc. edu/neuroscience/m/s 2/chap ter 15. html 2. We can be consciously aware of some of these stimuli. That is, we not only know this information, we are aware that we are aware of it.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary The Brain Makes Us Conscious Where Does Consciousness Come From? It comes from the interaction between: The cerebral cortex (outer portion of the cerebrum) A cluster of neurons in the core of the brainstem (reticular formation) Lower animals do not have nearly as many cells in their cortex as we do. Therefore, they cannot operate at the same high level of consciousness as we do. In both lower and higher animals, the brainstem core is crucial. Damage in this area can cause permanent coma. But the cortex is also crucial. Without it, we cannot see, hear, or think consciously, even if there is nothing wrong with the brainstem arousal system.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control The Brain Makes Us Conscious Cont’d Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary What Triggers Consciousness? Strong or meaningful stimuli wake us up (like a dog barking will wake up a sleeping cat). By whatever route stimuli arrive, some of the input goes to the brainstem reticular formation while the rest goes to the cortex. It is as if this allows the brainstem to say "wake up brain, information is coming in you need to attend to!”

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test The Brain Makes Us Conscious Cont’d Attention Determines the Registration of Stimuli Why It Matters You are aware of what you attend to and not aware of what is not attended. For a fun activity, see this video of a basketball game. What We Know Paying attention affects how well a stimulus is registered (scientists call this encoding). Introduction How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Neurons in the visual cortex are tuned to respond to stimuli at specific angles of orientation. Recording the number of a neuron's impulses from a stimulus at various angles produces what is called a "tuning curve. " This tuning curve shows that the strength of encoding for a visual stimulus is greatly influenced by paying attention. Moral of the story: if you want to learn and remember, pay attention!

Coordination & Control The Brain Makes Us Conscious Cont’d Organ Systems: Coordination & Stimuli That Trigger Emotions Grab Your Attention Control Rather than consciously focus our attention, our attention usually just drifts until something grabs it. Stimuli that are strong, especially meaningful, or have emotional Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary associations are most affective at grabbing our attention. When we let that happen, our environment controls our behavior rather than our conscious mind and will. Exerting will is called “executive function, ” and this function has to be learned. Very young children have little executive function ability. Eye movement tracking when two visual scenes are presented, one which has emotional associations (red bordered box) and one which does not (black bordered box). Without conscious intervention, eyes automatically move (colored part of track) from the center visual fixation point (red spot) to the emotional stimulus and spend most of the time scanning that stimulus. Switching left-right positions of the stimuli does not changes this basic response. Ability to focus and concentrate is learned. If we are continually distracted and shifting attention from one thing to another, we are training our brains to be scatterbrained. But if we willfully practice concentrating, we create a HABIT of attentiveness.

Coordination & Control The Brain Makes Us Conscious Cont’d Organ Systems: Coordination & Training Attentiveness Control Would you like to be able to pay better attention to things? You can train yourself to, and here’s how. Pre-Test Introduction 1. Recognize just how important attentiveness is, since your reality is constructed from what you attend to. Why It Matters 2. Live in the now. The expert on this philosophy, Eckhart Tolle, says, “The clock’s hands move, but it is always now. ” Grab the present intensely. You cannot know the future and you cannot re-do the past. What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary 3. Think in terms of targets for attentiveness, and take mental aim at them. Targets should be interesting or have a clear value. If these attributes are not apparent, you must consciously enable them. Choose challenging targets of attention, ones that push you to the edge of your competence. 4. Make tough choices about what to attend to. Attending orders but limits your experience. Attend to those things that best serve your own best interests. 5. Develop an eye for detail. See the forest, but also see the trees (and the leaves, bark, insects, birds, squirrels, and everything else there). Notice the small pleasures of life. It teaches you how to focus and makes you happier. 6. Shut out distractions. Stay on target. In memory tournaments, contestants wear plugs or wear glasses with side blinders. Some contestants face a blank wall.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary The Brain Makes Us Conscious Cont’d 7. Set goals and keep track of them and how you are getting them achieved. 8. Change the pace of your attention. Stay on task, but don’t let it become a drill. Enliven dull work by thinking of it in novel ways. Make targets of attention more engaging by creating competition or making them into some sort of game. 9. Don’t multitask. This is the arch enemy of attentiveness and profoundly interferes with the ability to learn and especially to remember. Multitasking creates a superficial way of thinking that also imperils the ability to think deeply in mentally demanding situations. It trains you to be distractible. 10. Be more self-aware of what you are doing, why, and how. 11. Develop a passion for what you experience, as that will rivet your attention. Use your emotions to focus attention. Both negative and positive emotions work. The kiss of death for learning is to be bored and detached from what you are trying to learn. Become emotionally invested in what you are trying to learn and remember. Emotions are well known to influence memory, and one of the main reasons is that emotions influence how you pay attention to events or information in the first place.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary The Brain Makes Us Conscious Cont’d 12. Practice attentiveness. Practice concentrating on routine tasks. Psychologist Ellen Langer suggests staring at your finger. Attentiveness is cultivated from the more you notice: the dirt, distribution of hair, pattern of skin folds, shape of the knuckles, and features of the nail (shape, color of quick, ridges, etc. ). Do similar exercises with any object you encounter. Learn how to meditate. See how long you can sustain focus on your breathing and keep out all intruding thoughts and the silent chatter you usually hear in the mind's ear. Notice all things associated with the breathing, but nothing else. Hear the sound of the moving air with each breath. Breathe slowly: six counts in, eight counts out. Notice the rhythm and the gradual slowing. Feel your clothes shifting position and the tension flowing out of your muscles, first in the jaw, then back and legs. Not only does meditation teach your brain how to concentrate, it also lowers anxiety and contributes to peace of mind.

Coordination & Control The Brain Puts Us to Sleep Organ Systems: Coordination & We say we "fall" asleep. But actually, the brain puts us to sleep if we are tired, bored, and unstimulated. The brain actually has circuits ("sleep centers") that, when stimulated under Control Pre-Test relaxed conditions, put us to sleep. Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Areas of the brain (in red), when active in an otherwise relaxed brain state, put us to sleep. Self-Study Game These areas may coordinate as a "sleep system, " but that has not been confirmed experimentally. Post-Test Glossary

Coordination & Control The Brain Puts Us to Sleep Cont’d Organ Systems: Coordination & Sleep as a Mixture of States Control Early night's sleep is a deep sleep, where you "fall into a deep pit. " Off and on during the night, you have dreams (most of which you do not remember). Toward early Pre-Test morning, dreaming increases, and you typically wake up in a dream. Introduction Sleep as a Mixture of Why It Matters States What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Deep sleep (stage IV) occurs soon after going to sleep and does not recur later in the night. REM is delayed, occurs on and off, and increases in duration as the night progresses. REM terminates in early morning just before waking. Post-Test Left: Change in sleep states during a typical night's sleep. Yellow: wakefulness; Green: dream sleep (called REM because rapid eye movements occur). Other shades: different stages of regular sleep, as indicated by associated brain-wave (EEG) changes on the right. Glossary Right: Brain-wave changes (EEG) during different stages of sleep. Note that pattern during REM is similar to that during wakefulness, even though REM occurs when one is asleep.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary The Brain Puts Us to Sleep Cont’d Why Do We Sleep? Nobody knows. Evidence that it is needed to help the brain recuperate from long periods of wakefulness: 1. True sleep only occurs in higher animals that have a relatively large brain that performs more than primitive basic functions. 2. Such a brain has a high metabolic rate, suggesting that periods of rest and recovery might be needed. Glucose consumption does decrease in the brain during regular sleep (but not REM). 3. Ion distributions and neurotransmitter systems may have to be regenerated after a period of wakefulness. Evidence against the "rest idea" is that: 1. Most neurons do not fire less during sleep; some even fire more vigorously. 2. The most obvious change in sleep is a shift toward more slowfrequency oscillation and synchrony among cortical areas. 3. The brain is "working" in all stages of sleep. It consolidates memories of the day's events.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary The Brain Makes Us Conscious Cont’d Why Do We Dream? Nobody knows. Evidence that it is needed to help wake us up: 1. A normal human nightly sleep is interrupted by episodes of brain activation (REM) in which brain activity resembles that seen in wakefulness. 2. Dreams occur in which events seem to be consciously perceived and in which the dreamer is an agent in the dream. 3. SWS and REM have apparently co-evolved, being most conspicuous in mammals. 4. Most people awaken after a normal night’s sleep in the morning at some point in a REM episode, often in the midst of a dream. 5. REM most likely arises from some of the same ascending brainstem arousal influences that create and sustain wakefulness. 6. REM shares many of the properties of wakefulness and thus may be a transitional state between sleep and wakefulness.

Coordination & Control The Brain Lets Us Learn and Remember Organ Systems: Coordination & How We Learn Control Pre-Test Introduction Learning involves the following: Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Attending to the new information Registering (encoding) Associating the new with prior knowledge Forming a temporary (working) memory Consolidating temporary memory into more lasting form How the Brain Represents Information 1. Encodes (made into a form that can be stored within the brain) as a pattern of nerve impulses, flowing in certain paths (circuits). 2. As long as the pattern is present, the represented information is available to be used. Activities 3. The longer the pattern is sustained, without disruption, the better the chance for remembering. Self-Study Game 4. Disrupting the pattern can be caused by a shift in attention, new information, or new actions and behavior. Post-Test 5. Interference that occurs too soon will prevent consolidation into lasting memory. THIS IS THE PROBLEM WITH MULTI-TASKING! Glossary

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary The Brain Lets Us Learn and Remember Cont’d Memory “Consolidation” Memories are stored widely in the brain. A major problem for school children is in getting the memories stored so that school lessons are not forgotten. Remember what you were supposed to have learned yesterday? One part of the brain, the medial temporal lobe and nearby structures, is responsible for converting temporary memories into more permanent form. Ventral (bottom) view of the adult human brain with the temporal lobe outlined in white. The temporal lobe connects by way of the parahippocampal gyrus (Black asterisk) with the hippocampus, which is folded underneath the temporal lobe. People who have strokes or another damage to these medial temporal lobe structures have significant problems in learning new things. Their memory for old knowledge is not affected, nor is their ability to learn certain kinds of conditioning and movement or skills involving movement.

Coordination & Control The Brain Lets Us Learn and Remember Cont’d Organ Systems: Coordination & The brain takes several days to weeks to make a new memory last. The first few minutes after learning are Control Pre-Test Introduction needed to encode new information firmly and start the consolidation process. Refreshing the memory several times over the next few days sustains and reinforces the memory formation process. Why It Matters The process continues subconsciously, even during sleep. What We Know How We Know Insufficient sleep interferes with memory consolidation. This conversion of short-term memory into more lasting form has certain requirements: Story Time Common Hazards The brain needs to pay attention so that the information actually registers (encodes). Motivation to remember promotes attentiveness and reinforces the encoding. Activities Time must elapse (seconds to minutes for encoding; hours to days for consolidation). Self-Study Game Post-Test Distractions and conflicting stimuli should be kept to a minimum because they will otherwise interfere with the conversion process. Glossary Does this provide any ideas for how to be a better student? See Activity #4 for a memory experiment.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary The Brain Affects School Work School lessons not only teach you things; they also teach your brain how to learn. The more you learn, the more your brain is learning how to learn. In other words, the more you know, the more you CAN know. Language is Important for Our Thinking We think most clearly and precisely with language. We remember best with pictures. Age and Learning A Second Language Foreigners who come here as young children can learn English as well as U. S. -born children. But children who come here in the 8 th grade or higher have a much more difficult time.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary The Brain Affects School Work Cont’d Reading Learn to read early. The first seven or eight years are the most sensitive time for learning how to read. The longer you wait to develop reading skills, the harder it becomes.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control The Brain Affects School Work Cont’d Brains of Young People are in a Critical Stage of Development Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary The parts that develop first represent basic senses and movement controls. The parts that develop later, in teenagers, are the "thinking" and memorizing parts of the cortex. Note that the frontal lobes and hippocampal areas are still developing in adolescents. Thoughts and experiences at this age will have lasting effects on brain "wiring" and capability.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control The Brain Affects School Work Cont’d Teenagers Do Not Read Much. They Do Read More as They Get Older. Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Yet, reading is the most efficient way to experience and learn large amounts of new information (assuming you know how to read well). Teenagers, on average, don't read much at all, even in school.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary The Brain Controls Emotions are Part of What Makes Humans Different Laughter is one clear difference from animals ("laughing" hyenas are not really laughing). For more on the brain's role in laughing, click here. Likewise, emotion-based crying seems unique to humans. All animals produce tears in response to eye irritants. Feel excited? . . . happy? . . . sad? . . . depressed? . . . mad? These and other feelings are called emotions, and they are controlled by the brain. They arise from outside stimulation and "inside" thoughts that may be influenced by memories.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary The Brain Controls Emotions Cont’d Emotions arise as reactions to stimuli. These stimuli can either be things we perceive from the outside world or our own thoughts. They can trigger both physiological (bodily function) changes as well as mental recognition of emotion. There are several different theories on exactly how we experience emotions. The diagram below illustrates some of these theories. The way in which these theories differ is the order in which emotional and physiological reactions occur. The Common Sense theory, for example, states that our emotional reaction to a stimulus causes our physiological reaction, so if you see a snake, you first experience the emotion of fear and then that fear triggers the bodily changes that come with fear (heart pounding, sweating, etc. ). Another theory, called the Cannon-Bard Theory, says that emotion and physiological changes occur at the same time after the perception of a stimulus, so after seeing a snake you feel fear and experience your heart racing at the same time. The different theories on how emotions arise are illustrated in the diagram.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters The Brain Controls Emotions Cont’d Emotions are processed by a group of brain areas known as the limbic system. Some structures are shown in the diagram. The limbic system is a highly integrated set of brain areas that process emotions. What you experience or think about is processed in this system to generate emotions. What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary The Limbic System

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards The Brain Controls Emotions Cont’d When emotionally relevant stimuli evoke activity in the amygdala, for example, neurons there send signals to forebrain areas that in turn trigger avoidance behavior or to the brainstem that trigger fear and freezing behavior. In both cases, fear and anxiety are part of the response. This is an example of how emotions can shape behavior and motivation. If you are scared of something, you are less likely to act in a way that would put you in contact with what you’re scared of. For example, if you are afraid of speaking in class, you might avoid raising your hand to answer a question. If this succeeds and you successfully avoid what you’re afraid of, this will reinforce the behavior (make a behavior more likely to be repeated). We will talk more about how this sort of motivation and reinforcement can influence learning in the next section. Activities This processing can be over-ridden by "executive functions" of the cerebral cortex, especially the part under the forehead ("frontal cortex"). Self-Study Game Conscious meditation, for example, can convert anxiety or fear to calmness. Post-Test Glossary

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control The Brain Controls Motivation The brain has systems that cause us to seek pleasure and to avoid pain or unpleasantness Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Pleasure-seeking system Reference: W. R. Klemm Pain/displeasure avoidance area Reference: W. R. Klemm As seen in a midline slice of human brain, areas outlined in white contain the indicated system (usually extends out laterally from the midline).

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know The Brain Controls Motivation Cont’d Illustrating the Pleasure-seeking System Image from: http: //acces. enslyon. fr/acces/thematiques/neuroscien ces/actualisation-desconnaissances/circuit-de-larecompense/contenus-et-figuresactivites-pedagogiques/imagesrelatives-a-lactivitepedagogique/Experience%20 Olds%2 0 Milner. JPG/image_view_fullscreen How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary LEFT- reward/pleasure pathway in brain. Stimulation along the darkened area of diagram induces pleasure. RIGHT – Small wires were implanted into the brain of the rat that deliver a small electric current stimulation. The stimulation of this pathway releases dopamine into many areas of the brain. Rats will work feverishly to press the lever to self-administer an electric stimulation to their brain reward pathway. This reward system has been confirmed to exist in humans and operate in a similar way.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary The Brain Controls Motivation Cont’d We tend to repeat thoughts and actions that seem beneficial (reinforcement) and avoid those that do not (punishment).

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Behavior Is Largely Learned Classical Conditioning Classical conditioning uses a natural biological response to one stimulus, like salivating when you smell food, to associate behavior with a stimulus that normally wouldn’t elicit that response (like a noise). Pavlov’s experiment is the original example of classical conditioning and is illustrated below. Conditioned learning: the learning depends on repeating conditions in which events are closely associated in time and meaning. In Pavlov’s original experiments the following was seen: 1) The dog naturally salivates when presented with food (no learning required – called “unconditioned stimulus”). 2) Sound from tuning fork is heard by the dog but has no meaning related to food (“neutral stimulus”). 3) When the sound is given immediately before food repeatedly, the dog learns to associate the two. 4) Upon hearing the sound, the dog salivates in anticipation of food, even though none is present. Both the sound (stimulus) and response are now conditioned.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Behavior Is Largely Learned Cont’d Another Kind of Conditioning: Operant Conditioning Another kind of learning is called "operant conditioning. " This is how animal trainers teach circus animals and show animals to do tricks. They "shape" a new behavior for an animal in a series of small steps, giving a reward when the animal accidentally performs the desired behavior. At each step, the animal learns an association between the behavior and the reward. When the animal reliably masters a step, the next step is added, and the process is repeated. There are two main aspects to operant conditioning: reinforcement and punishment. Reinforcement increases the likelihood of a behavior being repeated. Punishment decreases the likelihood of a behavior being repeated.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Behavior Is Largely Learned Cont’d Both reinforcement and punishment can be “positive, ” where something is added to increase or decrease the likelihood of a behavior or “negative” where something is taken away to modify behavior. An example of positive reinforcement would be getting ice cream after getting a good grade on your exam, whereas positive punishment would be being assigned more chores for failing your exam. In both cases, something is being added but one makes you want to keep getting good grades and the other makes you want to stop getting bad grades. The same concept follows with negative reinforcement and punishment. A negative reinforcement would be having your extra chores removed after acing your next exam, and a negative punishment would be having your phone taken away if your grades didn’t improve.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Behavior Is Largely Learned Cont’d Reinforcement Can Activate the Rewards System When a stimulus activates the "reward system " in the brain, repeating the stimulus can produce compulsive behavior to seek that stimulus. This can lead to addictions, such as drug addiction, compulsive gambling, or over-eating. In other words, the brain learns to become addicted. This system can also be used for good. For example, being compelled to study hard for the reward of ice cream and an A on your exam. The brain's "reward system" is driven partly by the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine. If neurons in the reward system are getting bathed in these transmitters, you feel good. Note the structural similarity of these two transmitters.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Behavior Is Largely Learned Cont’d People with Behavioral Dysregulation May Have Low Dopamine Brain scans, averaged over 5 people who were obese and 5 people who were not obese, with the scan tuned to detected receptor molecules for dopamine. The bright areas are where the dopamine receptors are. The people who were obese had fewer dopamine receptors. That is, their reward system was not getting the normal amount of stimulation. Similar dopamine-receptor deficiencies have been seen in drug addicts. Source: National Institute of Drug Abuse. This could be interpreted by saying that a dysregulation in the brain reward system may cause overeating and obesity. Another possibility is that their over-eating overstimulates the dopamine system and causes the dopamine-receptor system to "downregulate. " That is, the brain quits making as many receptors because there is a superabundance of dopamine. Receptor down-regulation from over-stimulation has been well documented in numerous other kinds of situations. Can you think how to test that possibility? Obesity has other causes as well, including certain medications, diseases, hormone imbalance, and even genetics.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Behavior Is Largely Learned Cont’d Drug Addictions Craving for any sort of drug (alcohol, tobacco, cocaine, etc. ), or even some actions (gambling, gaming) seems to involve this same dopamine reward system found in obesity. Normal rewarding things, like eating ice cream or a good steak, trigger the release of dopamine in the reward system. This dopamine is soon destroyed or taken back up. But taking addictive drugs tend to promote sustained high levels of dopamine - a chemical "flood. " This creates a problem. The neurons that make dopamine shut down for a while ("down regulate" as we mentioned above). To get the same happy, feel-good experience, ordinary rewards, like ice cream or steak, no longer make us happy. The addict has to take the drug to experience that same intense feeling of reward. The addict is also driven by the desire to avoid the suffering experience the he feels without the drug.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Behavior Is Largely Learned Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Practical Preventative Measures 1. Don't do things that can cause you harm, even if they "feel good" at the time. 2. Don't repeat behaviors that are bad for you. 3. Substitute "healthy" reinforcers for "unhealthy" or addictive ones.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary The Brain Helps Us Move Did you know that your body is mapped in the brain? On the outer surface of the brain, called the cortex, the cells send nerves to specific muscles. Therefore, when you tell your brain that you want to move your arm to scratch your face, the brain has a map of the muscles of the arm, and it "knows" which muscles to make contract. The motor-control cells operate muscles on the opposite side of the body. The surface ("cortex") of the human brain that contains the motor map is outlined in white. Cells here issue commands to move certain body parts. A similar sensation map of the body (the second circled area, lies just behind the motor cortex). These maps have been constructed by brain surgeons who applied mild electrical current to different parts of the cortex and observed which muscles contracted. Coordination of motor commands is accomplished by the cerebellum, which lies just above the spinal cord at the back of the brain. There also major motor control systems located underneath the cortex.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary The Brain Helps Us Move Cont’d Common Diseases of the Motor System Stroke. If an artery on the surface of the brain gets plugged up or if the vessels rupture, the blood supply to the motor cortex would be cut off. This is a common symptom of the condition called "stroke. " The lack of blood supply kills neurons in the affected parts of the motor map. The fibers coming from the motor map cross over in the brainstem to the other side. So, if a stroke occurred on the right side of the brain, which side would be paralyzed? The environment can affect the likelihood of stroke in the sense that clogging of arteries is often caused by eating too much of the kinds of food that raise the blood level of fats and cholesterol. Do you know what foods do that? A partial list is shown below: Cheese, ice cream, whole milk, and other dairy products "French fried" anything Greasy hamburgers and fatty meat of any kind

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary The Brain Helps Us Move Cont’d Parkinson's Disease. Have you known or seen someone with Parkinson's disease? In this disease, the limbs tremble and shake uncontrollably. The cause is not a damaged motor map but rather damage to one of the motor systems located beneath the cortex. This area, called the caudate nucleus, normally prevents trembling. But in Parkinson's disease, the cells in the caudate do not get enough stimulation by dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is supplied by cells in a particular part of the brainstem. Environmental toxins may cause this disease, although the research is not yet conclusive.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Learning What Nerve Cells Do Remember, when neurons are active, as they almost always are even when you sleep, they do two things: • Generate electrical pulses • Release chemical secretions Electrical Activity A famous experiment by Luigi Galvani in the late 1700 s showed that electricity was involved in the nervous system. He showed, for example: 1. Static electricity (like on a TV screen) can make an animal's muscles twitch 2. Touching a frog with a metal probe during a thunderstorm could make the frog's leg move These observations suggested that electricity is used in the body to send messages. It was soon observed that the messages were carried in yellow cords that connected muscles to the spinal cord. Next time you eat a chicken leg, look at the long yellow cord that lies near the major blood vessels of the leg - it is a nerve!

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Learning What Nerve Cells Do Cont’d Did you ever see a mechanic put a voltmeter on the battery in the family car? Meters like this register any flow of electric current. The electricity in a nerve involves such a small amount of high-speed current that it has to be amplified and displayed by a TV-like instrument called an oscilloscope. A complete electrical circuit is made by touching a nerve with a metal probe that connects to the oscilloscope that also has a return probe back to the animal. Then, as pulses of electricity are generated in the nerve, they will be detected by the oscilloscope, which generates a light beam that changes with each pulse from the nerve. Instruments like this prove that nerves generate electrical pulses and can be used to study what the pulses look like and the number of pulses over time under various conditions. Scientist looking at an oscilloscope. Several light beams are seen, each coming from a different source and showing different kinds of pulses.

Coordination & Control Learning About the Impulse “Messages” Organ Systems: Coordination & Neurons respond to stimulation in various ways to communicate to other neurons what Control the stimulus was. By putting metal wires next to a neuron, and viewing the electrical pulses Pre-Test Introduction on an oscilloscope or computer screen, we can see that nerve cell impulses are generated whenever the cell is stimulated. Examples: If you apply a stimulus, such as touching the skin, you can record electrical activity from the nerve that supplies that part of the skin. You would see that the impulse discharge begins a few thousandths of a sec (millisecond) after stimulus onset. Why It Matters What We Know When the touch is applied and held on the skin, the neuron fires a few impulses and then quits, even though the stimulus is still there. This is called “adaptation” or “habituation. ” How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary A similar approach can be used for any stimulus, such as flashing visual patterns on the eye and recording from electrodes placed at various points along the visual pathway that leads from the eye to the visual centers in the cerebral cortex. How do you measure impulses? From a given nerve cell, they are all the same size, but big differences can be seen in: • • • How many occur in a given time The intervals between spikes (action potentials) The sequential ordering of intervals

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Learning About the Secretion of Chemicals We can collect and analyze the chemicals that nerve cells secrete into the blood. Such chemicals are called hormones. But neurons also secrete chemicals directly on to each other. The chemicals acts as messengers (neurotransmitters) to convey information from one neuron to others. The action of transmitters varies with their chemical nature, but in general they either: Excite Inhibit Modulate (create a bias for being excited or inhibited) Neurotransmitters can be collected from the brain itself in experimental animals. If different parts of the brain of a euthanized animal are examined, we see that the chemicals released vary with different parts of the brain. Over 100 chemical secretions have been found in nerve tissue.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Learning What Nerve Cells Do Cont’d What these chemicals do can be tested by injecting them in the form of drugs or, in experimental animals, applying them directly on nerve cells by way of an implanted tube. One popular practice is to use several small glass microtubes bundled together. One is used as an electrode to record responses of nerve cells to chemicals that are injected by way of the other tubes. These chemicals can be seen to do one of three things when applied to neurons: • • • Excite neurons (make them fire impulses) Inhibit neurons (reduce impulse firing) Change the sensitivity of neurons (make them more or less responsive to other chemicals or electrical input)

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary How Do We Know How the Brain is Wired? Have you dissected a brain yet? . . . perhaps a frog or a sheep brain? You can find an Internet guide to dissection of the sheep brain by clicking here. Why It Is Hard to Know How the Brain Is Wired Neurons (nerve cells) are too small to see without a microscope. And even if you use a microscope, you only see a two-dimensional view, like this computer screen. A twodimensional view only lets you see information on one plane. Microscopes do not allow you to see three-dimensional depth. The third dimension extends perpendicular (at a right angle) to the two-dimensional plane. Neurons often have long extensions of their cell body that go in all three dimensions.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary How Do We Know How the Brain is Wired? Cont’d Look at this diagram of a neuron. At the top is the cell body with its nucleus. The cell body gives rise to a long extension (called an axon) that projects to a target, either a muscle, a gland, or another neuron. Near the end of the axon are many, many small branches. Now, think what this would look like if you cut across the neuron and saw a two-dimensional picture of the cut at the top line. Can you draw it? You would see a green dot on the left, followed by a large white space, followed by a blue piece of nucleus, followed by another white space, and ending in a small green dot on the right. Make similar two-dimensional drawings of what you would see at a cut in the middle and another cut at the bottom of the picture. Such cross cuts would not tell you much about what a neuron looks like, would it? It would show even less about where this neuron's extensions go to connect with other neurons. So how do scientists figure out where neurons go? Click here for a video on how scientists learned about axons in squids.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary How Do We Know How the Brain is Wired? Cont’d Tracing Neural Pathways Several techniques help scientists know where neurons go. Much of this research is done on anesthetized animals, but the major pathways have been confirmed in various ways in humans: 1. Kill the neurons (with toxins or heat), and see where else in the brain degeneration appears. Other regions of the brain that received information from the killed neurons will also die. 2. Electrically stimulate an area and record in various other places to see where you get electrical responses. The responses have to be quick (less than a few thousandths of a second) to be a meaningful indicator of a direct connection. By various multiple links, you could say that everything in the brain eventually connects to everything else. 3. Inject radioactive tracers into a known area, and observe where the radiation shows up. Neurons transport materials (including certain radioactive compounds) down their axons. Not only can you see where the tracers end up but the rate of their appearance tells you the transport rate.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Learning What the Whole Brain Does Brain Waves – Known as EEG (electroencephalogram) The brain generates electrical currents. Some of these currents in the part of the brain that is nearest to the scalp are large enough to be detected with electrodes placed on the scalp. This electrical activity is small (on the order of 20 to 100 thousandths of a volt). The activity detected by any one electrode is a summation of the voltage fields created by thousands of neurons nearest to the electrode. By placing electrodes in an orderly way, it is possible to know what areas of the cortex are being monitored by any given electrode. Pictured here is the standardized electrode placement system used in clinical medicine. A useful Web site that explains the EEG and how it changes in different diseases is found by clicking here.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Learning What the Whole Brain Does Cont’d Imaging The EEG can be used to create a mapped image of the electrical activity over the surface of the brain. Other kinds of images allow scientists to see what is going on deep inside the brain, where the voltages are too small to be detected by electrodes at the surface. These other techniques indirectly measure either blood flow or oxygen consumption at various brain areas. Left: Example of a brain image, using the PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scan method. The more active an area is, the more oxygen it consumes and the more blood flow it gets. These more active areas show as bright red or orange colors in image maps. For more information on PET scans, click here. A newer imaging technique, seen to the right, is called f. MRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), which is easier to perform and provides similar information about blood flow and oxygen consumption. An f. MRI Image with the yellow areas showing increased activity. By Open. Stax https: //cnx. org/contents/FPt. K 1 zmh@8. 25: f. EI 3 C 8 Ot@10/Pre face, CC BY 4. 0, https: //commons. wikimedia. or g/w/index. php? curid=3014791 2

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Learning What the Whole Brain Does Cont’d Imaging allows us to test such questions as: "Can you walk and chew gum at the same time? " Well, of course you can, but the point is would you do things better if you did them one at a time. In one study, people were imaged while they performed two mental tasks, either separately or at the same time. The amount of brain activity devoted to each task was greater when the tasks were performed separately than when done at the same time. Common experience teaches this too. If you really want to "get into" a music recording, you close your eyes, right? Imaging equipment can be tuned to detect metabolic activity or volume of cells. Recent studies of brain volume show a marked maturation process in children. The rewiring causes cells to die at a rate of about 1% per year. This is a normal process of "pruning" away nerve cells that are not useful. In children who develop schizophrenia, the death rate is much faster, and they don't have enough neurons left to function normally. Click here for a complete middle-school level overview of all the methods used to learn about the nervous system.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Walter Cannon (1871 -1945) "Curiosity killed the cat. " As a child, Walter had been told that curiosity was a disease and a low vice. He had heard of preachers who said that it was curiosity that created the original sin of Adam and Eve in seeking the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Knowing that could not change Walter from being who he was. He was born curious. Later in his life, Walter came to proclaim that curiosity is a necessity for success in scientific discovery.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Childhood Years Walter was not an egghead. But his father, a manager on the Great Northern Railroad, helped train him to be independent and resourceful in ways that neither of them realized would someday equip Walter to become one of the most famous scientists of all time. As a child, Walter's father refused to buy him toys, even when they had the money to do so. Walter's father was an expert at using tools and worked with Walter to help him make his own toys. The skill at making toys later translated for Walter into making ingenious devices that were necessary for his experiments on bodily functions. In the picture you see Walter playing with his "big-kid" toys. Maybe you have heard the old saying, "The difference between a man and a boy is the price of his toys!" None of his ancestors were eggheads either. But his family was restless and even curious. Both on his father's and mother's side, the men and women were always moving into new ventures. Many of his relatives were pioneers on the Canadian and U. S. frontiers. His father, Colbert Cannon, never finished school because he needed to help support his family during the Civil War. After the war, Colbert worked for the Great Northern Railroad and eventually was promoted to the superintendent of transportation. His hobby was to tinker, always inventing new procedures and devices for the railroad. Unfortunately, his father was prone to bouts of deep depression, which made it difficult for Walter to have a completely happy childhood.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Childhood Years Cont’d Walter's mother was known for being meticulous - a "neatnik" as we might say today. She also worried a lot and was anxious about little things. Walter did not have many memories of his mother because when he was only 10 she caught pneumonia and died. One thing Walter never forgot was that on her deathbed she called Walter to her side and said, "Walter, be good to the world. " Few would have guessed that Walter would someday become a famous scientist. When he was 14, Walter was taken out of school by his father, who thought he was doing poorly. Walter worked for his dad's railroad for two years before going back to school and getting serious about learning. Eventually he became a productive student, but Walter's first love was sports. He especially liked ice skating, hockey, and bobsledding (he grew up in Minnesota and Wisconsin). During warm months, he played football, baseball, and tennis. His father was concerned about Walter's education. Though uneducated himself, Colbert Cannon knew that education was important and made sure that there was a good supply of books and serious magazines around the house.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Childhood Years Cont’d Walter was led to science in high school. At that time there was a raging national debate about Charles Darwin's theory of evolution (see Natural Selection: What We Know? ). The chief advocate for Darwin was a biologist named Thomas Huxley (see Natural Selection: Storytime). Walter became intrigued by these issues and spent many hours reading papers and essays on the topic by Huxley and others. In the process, Walter discovered that he understood what he was reading, and this motivated him to want to go to college. One of his teachers, Miss M. J. Newson, an English teacher, took a special interest in Walter and encouraged him. She also helped him get admission and a scholarship to Harvard.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Becoming a Scientist Walter had to work part-time jobs at Harvard. But despite that, he took an overload of courses, including graduate courses. He graduated in 1896 with high honors. Looking back on his college days, Walter concluded that one of the most important things he learned was how to manage his time. His hectic schedule required him to learn to focus on the task at hand finish it rapidly and correctly. Walter was admitted to Harvard Medical School. Even while going to Medical School, he was hired to teach animal anatomy to non-medical students. Walter finished Medical School in 1900, fulfilling his father's dream that he become a physician. But Walter never became the kind of doctor his father had wanted. In the process of getting a medical education, Walter became more interested in the science of medicine than in the practice of medicine.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Scientific Discoveries In research, Walter had many successes. He discovered much about how digestion occurs and invented the radioactive barium technique for following the movement of food and fluid through the gastrointestinal tract. He discovered what the adrenal gland does and discovered the adrenaline-like compound that many nerve cells release. He discovered a role for emotions in adrenaline release. He coined the idea of the "fight or flight" control systems of the body. Cannon was the first to use the word "stress" in a biological rather than engineering context. He helped explain how the body stays in functional balance through the opposite actions of different parts of the nervous system. This research led him to develop the concept of "homeostasis, " which is the idea that normal bodily function requires a steady balance in the function of various organ systems. The lack of such balance, or homeostasis, is disease. But Walter also had his failures. He spent several years trying to understand the function of the thyroid gland, work that was eventually accomplished by others.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Scientific Discoveries Cont’d Much of Walter's research was conducted under primitive conditions, even if he was at Harvard. After all, the research was done in the early 1900 s when they did not have the "high tech" environments that we have today. He recalls apologizing and complaining to a visitor to Harvard for small, dark, and ill-equipped laboratories, and the visitor replied, "I have never noticed that the nature of the cage determined the singing of the bird. " One thing that Walter did have at Harvard and in the culture of the United States was freedom. In his autobiography, Walter pointed out that other scientists have not fared so well. Galileo, the famous astronomer, was condemned by the Church of his day. Priestly, the discoverer of oxygen, had his home in England ransacked, his material possessions destroyed, and he was forced to flee to the United States. Lavoisier, the famous French chemist, was guillotined by French revolutionaries who had "no need of scholars. " Jewish German scientists, including Albert Einstein, were forced to flee Germany prior to World War II.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Scientific Discoveries Cont’d But science was good to Walter, and Walter was good to science. As his dying mother had requested of him, in being good to science, he was good to the world. As the end of his career loomed, Walter took comfort in the words of a poetic colleague, Dr. S. Weir Mitchell: I know the night is near at hand. The mists lie low on hill and bay, The autumn sheaves are dewless, dry; But I have had the day.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control References Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Wolfe, E. L. , Barger, A. C. , and Benison, S. 2000. Walter B. Cannon: Science and Society. Harvard U. Press, Cambridge. Cannon, Walter B. 1968. The Way of an Investigator. Hafner, New York. Cannon, Walter B. 1939. The Wisdom of the Body, 2 nd Edition. W. W. Norton. New York.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Cholinesterase Inhibitors Can you imagine a family of chemicals that have been used for everything from pesticides to medicines to biochemical weapons of war? Well, there is such a group of compounds. They are called cholinesterase inhibitors. The name says what they do: they inhibit an enzyme called cholinesterase. Remember in "What We Know" when we talked about how nerve cells communicate with each other and with muscle by releasing chemical messengers (neurotransmitters)? One of the more common neurotransmitters is acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is the transmitter at all junctions of nerves and skeletal and heart muscle, intestines, bladder, blood vessels, and glands.

Coordination & Control Cholinesterase Inhibitors Organ Systems: Coordination & So what do you think would happen if these acetylcholine nerves were continuously active Control and releasing acetylcholine to their target nerve, gland, and muscle cells? Would the buildup Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary of acetylcholine cause excessive action on their targets? Think about muscle, for example. Release of acetylcholine causes muscle cells to contract. But if acetylcholine were always there, your muscles would be constantly contracting - you would be in a constant state of convulsion.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Cholinesterase Inhibitors Even animals as primitive as insects have evolved a way to get rid of excess acetylcholine. They have an enzyme, cholinesterase, present in the junctions of acetylcholine neurons that destroys acetylcholine. What would happen if we had a pesticide chemical that could stop the action of cholinesterase in insects? With no enzyme to destroy cholinesterase, acetylcholine would “pile up” in the junctions. In the case of insects on which these pesticides are used, they die because they cannot pump air in and out and because their "heart" stops pumping. Many well-known insecticides are cholinesterase inhibitors (See table on next slide). These compounds are used in hand sprayers for home gardens as well as in crop dusting airplanes for large farms. Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Image: By Stefan Krause, Germany - Own work, FAL, https: //commons. wikimedia. org/w/index. php? curid=28262700

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Cholinesterase Inhibitors So where is the environmental hazard with pesticides? One potential hazard is in careless handling of the pesticide, which is highly concentrated as it is sold in garden and farm stores. Spilling the concentrate on your skin could cause poisoning. Residues on food that is not thoroughly washed before eating can create a hazard. Obviously, little children should be kept away from such chemicals, so they don't accidentally get exposed to concentrate. Common Pesticides that Inhibit Cholinesterase malathion parathion sevin diazinon

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Symptoms of Cholinesterase Inhibitor Poisoning in Humans • • Post-Test Glossary • • Blurry vision Vomiting Sweating Seizures, coma These compounds contaminate the environment. They are toxic not only to insects but also to fish, birds, and other wildlife. Because insecticides pollute the environment, people are becoming increasingly interested in utilizing nature's own weapons against insects. This has led to the practice called "integrated pest management, " an approach to insect and disease control that includes: Activities Self-Study Game Muscle weakness Difficulty walking Wheezing, coughing Difficulty breathing the genetic engineering of plants that either resist insects or that give off odors or tastes that repel insects the use of bacteria or viruses that are toxic to insects the use of animals (purple martin birds, wasps, frogs, snakes) that feed on insects "Integrated Pest Management" uses many approaches for controlling insects Click here for a history of integrated Pest Management (Be patient - may take a while to load this page)

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Cholinesterase Inhibitors - Medical Uses Cholinesterase inhibitors can have valuable medical uses. Acetylcholine is the chemical messenger at many points in the nervous system, notably the junctions between: nerve cells and skeletal muscle nerve cells and heart muscle nerve cells and glands nerve cells and other nerve cells, including in the periphery, the spinal cord, and the brain Many vital functions could be affected by drug manipulation of the acetylcholine messenger. There are cases where physicians might want to increase neurochemical signaling by increasing the amount of acetylcholine in these junctions.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Cholinesterase Inhibitors - Medical Uses Some conditions that are known to benefit from enhancing acetylcholine action with cholinesterase inhibitor drugs are: Alzheimer's disease/memory loss reversing carbon monoxide coma glaucoma A common prescription drug used for these purposes is physostigmine. Knowing what you now know about how cholinesterase inhibitors work, you no doubt realize that overdose can be dangerous. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Cholinesterase Inhibitors - Biochemical Warfare: Nerve Gas Weapons By modifying the molecules of cholinesterase inhibitor compounds, scientists have discovered ways to make them more potent. That is, a small amount of chemical has the same effect as a much larger amount. Scientists did this work in an effort to make insecticides more economical so that farmers would not have to use so much. Unfortunately, evil people realized that such potent chemicals could be used for terrorist attacks. On March 20, 1995, twelve people were killed and over 5, 000 were injured when a nerve gas called "sarin" was released in the Tokyo subway system. In Iraq, Saddam Hussein used nerve gas on his enemies in the Northern part of Iraq. People may have also been exposed to nerve agents during the conflict ("Gulf War") in the Middle East. Many countries either have access to these dangerous weapons or have the technical knowledge to make them. Some kinds of nerve gas are so toxic that a single drop on the skin can kill you in a few minutes. Click here for information from the CDC on sarin.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary Cholinesterase Inhibitors - Biochemical Warfare: Nerve Gas Weapons Treatment The same principles are used to treat any case of cholinesterase inhibitor poisoning, whether from pesticides, drug overdose, or nerve gas attack. Specifically, you want to use a drug that either destroys cholinesterase inhibitors or that blocks the action of acetylcholine. There are no good drugs that destroy cholinesterase inhibitors, but acetylcholine blockers have been used medically for many decades. One drug that you may have heard about is atropine. Atropine and related compounds work rather well for mild poisoning, but they are often inadequate for treating nerve gas attack. More information on cholinesterase inhibitors can be found in Unit 2 of the Properties of Hazards module.

Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & Control Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary

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A-Ins Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & action potential - (also known as spike or impulse) a rapid change in membrane voltage Control ("potential") from negative (-70 m. V in nerve cells) to positive and then back to negative. This Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters causes an electrical current that proceeds down an axon. Return to How We Know bipolar disorder - a personality disorder in which the person oscillates between a deep depression and elation or happiness. Usually the changes are gradual, but can be very sudden. This disorder used to be called manic depressive disorder. Return to Why It Matters cross section - a cut through a structure or tissue that is perpendicular to its main axis. What We Know Return to What We Know How We Know degeneration - the breaking up of cell structures in association with death of a cell. Return to Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary How We Know dementia - severe loss of brain capability that interferes with social ability or ability to work. Return to Why It Matters extensor muscles - in most cases, muscles that straighten joints (as opposed to flexing a joint). Return to What We Know flexor muscles - in most cases, muscles that bend joints so that the attachments move closer together. Return to What We Know insomnia - a disorder in which the person can't seem to get a good night's sleep. This can be due to the fact that the person can't fall asleep at all, keeps waking up in the night and then can't fall back asleep, or just does not feel rested after sleeping. Return to Why It Matters

Inv-N Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & involuntary actions - actions that occur without conscious choice or thought. Examples Control include breathing, digestion, heart beating, and reflexes. Return to What We Know Pre-Test Introduction ions - an atom that has lost or gained one or more electrons. Thus, a positively charged ion is one that has lost an electron and a negatively charged ion is one that has gained an electron. Return to What We Know Why It Matters lateral - toward the sides or away from the middle. For example, on your head, your ears are What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary lateral whereas your nose is medial (towards the middle). Return to What We Know nerve - a bundle of axons in the peripheral nervous system. It is like an insulated cable carrying electrical impulses to different parts of the body. Example: the sciatic nerve. Return to What We Know neuron - a nerve cell. These cells conduct electricity in the form of action potentials (pulses of electricity) throughout the nervous system in the body. Return to How We Know neurotransmitter - a chemical messenger secreted by a neuron at the end of an axon after an electrical impulse has travelled down the axon. These molecules then cross the synapse and bind to proteins on the membrane of the following neuron and cause an excitatory or inhibitory reaction. Return to What We Know

O-S Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & obsessive-compulsive disorder - an anxiety disorder in which the person has obsessive, Control repetitive thoughts and compulsively performs certain actions that are senseless and Pre-Test distressing (such as constantly cleaning or counting). Return to Why It Matters post-traumatic stress disorder - a common anxiety disorder that occurs after a severe tragedy in which the person was in grave danger or thought they were in grave danger. Why It Matters Family members or close friends can also get the disorder when someone experiences a grave tragedy. Common symptoms include flashbacks of the event, sleep disturbances, depression, What We Know anxiety, irritability, and outbursts of anger. Return to Why It Matters rupture - break or bust open. Return to What We Know Introduction How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary stimulus - anything that causes a neuron to react. Sometimes the stimulus is so small, that the neuron does not fire (does not send information) and the person does not "feel" anything or react to the stimulus. Return to How We Know synapse - the point of connection and communication between two neurons. This is a gap at which chemicals called neurotransmitters are released from one neuron and received by another. Return to What We Know

U-V Coordination & Control Organ Systems: Coordination & unipolar depressive disorder - (also known as major depressive disorder) a disorder in Control which the person to dives into a deep depression for weeks to years (if not treated). About one in five Americans will experience some type of depression at least once in their lifetime. Pre-Test Introduction Why It Matters Return to Why It Matters ventral - the lower side or underneath. Usually having to do with the chest. Opposite of dorsal (back). Return to What We Know voluntary actions - action that is consciously done and that an organism has full control over. What We Know Examples include talking, walking, typing/writing, etc. Return to What We Know How We Know Story Time Common Hazards Activities Self-Study Game Post-Test Glossary