Adam Pilarski 10/10/2013 Notes for Psych-Oct.

10th Endorphins-There are various ways to utilize endorphins for practical purposes. Naloxone is an endorphin antagonist. Therefore, if we were to inject that into people with pain relief and such, it can release endorphins and release the pain. Neuropeptides have been involved in aerobic training. This is responsible for what's known as the "jogger's high." In addition, neuropeptides are released during overeating. The act of eating releases endorphins. Substance P and Enkephalin aid in mediating pain. It is suppressed by enkephalin, however, and this full-circle nature of these neuropeptides balance themselves out. The interneuron, with the enkephalin, the enkephalin receptors, stop pain by inhibiting the release of Substance P. Enkephalin, thus, can lead to obesity. Bombesin is something that will try to prevent you from overeating. It is only natural, then, that an exogenous version of bombesin should be employed for weight loss. Functional Groups of Neurons: A great many things vary from neuron-to-neuron: Inside CNS (Central Nervous System), Outside CNS, and what: cell bodies, axons and dendrites, with the nucleus. The nucleus lies inside the CNS, and the ganglion lies outside the CNS. In addition, the nucleus has tracts, whereas ganglions house nerves. Nerves are not synonymous with neurons. The somatic nervous system bridges you with the outside world. First, there is the skin (which has transducers) and they transfigure phenomena into action potential, through the aid of the afferent neurons, which run through the spinal cord, and then the efferent (motor) neuron travels from the spinal cord through the muscle.

Sensory Autonomic Motor Element With biofeedback, it is possible to control the autonomic (unconscious) functions of the body. It is the communication with our internal organs. The autonomic is subdivided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Sympathetic: Clustered-This leaves bandwidth for even more interconnectivity amongst the nerves, Parasympathetic: Scattered-They will more likely be more piecemeal. The parasympathetic is most active when the body is at rest. It is not doing it due to the cells, it is functioning because it is a basic body function. Sympathetic is employed for response to emergency, unexpected events. The spinal cord is, of course, central to spinal reflexes. Things such as simple spinal reflexes don't involved the brain. The messages that are conveyed through the spine to the brain are known as supraspinal functions. Homunculus translates to "little man." There is no size relationship but, rather, what parts of the area are necessary to control other functions of the brain. It's simply a matter of control. It is central in controlling other parts of the body. There are two homunculi: There is a motor homunculus and a sensory homunculus. If an individual has brain surgery, there are no brain nerves in the area itself. During surgery, however, it is imperative that the subject be awake. There are no nerve endings in the brain that receive pain. Mapping the Motor Homunculus:

Remember the clip from Brain Dead. The electrical probe, the size of a ballpoint pen, is used to map the different parts of the brain and their respective functions. The motor and sensory homunculi are side-by-side in the brain. Remember that creepy thing that Ms. Love showed us in middle school. The phaaaaaaaaaaaantom of the amputated limb, inside your mind (that doesn't work, I know). This phenomena can be attributed to the fact that the brain needs to remap itself; and that the right limbs are controlled by the left hemisphere of the brain. The brain will continue to generate signals from the nonexistent limb. There is a nucleus inside the brain known as the putamen. Electrode Implantation: These must be inserted into different areas of the brain to see which areas of the brain serve different purposes. An older equivalent of this procedure is the process of implanting lesions. To implant the electrode, you increase the voltage to a greater than usual, and this burns out the nuclei. Ablation: This is resorted to when a legion doesn't have the scope to remove the adverse area of the brain. It removes neural tissue, treats neurological and psychiatric disorders, etc.