NSCI426 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Inner Core, Brainstem, Hypothalamus
19 Mar 2019
School
Department
Course
Professor
Madison Newman
NSCI 426
Tuesday 2/12/19
Lecture 1
• Outer part of brain (cortex)-controls outward-looking functions
o Conscious awareness, under voluntary control
o Frontal lobe-judgement, planning, decisions, executive function
o Makes humans more unique; awareness, human characteristics
• Inner core of brain-controls inward-looking functions
o Hypothalamus & brainstem
o Unconscious, involuntary
o Shared with other animals
• Inner→ outer-control of more complex functions increases
o Forward within cortex-control of abilities that makes humans unique;
makes each person unique
• Subdivisions:
o Central nervous system-consists of brain and spinal cord
o Peripheral nervous system-peripheral nerves
• Cells of brain:
o Neurons=nerve cells; capable of carrying electrical signals without
decrement (action potentials), even over large distances
▪ Large distances: adjacent brain areas are not always connected,
and may be unrelated (not related to each other)
▪ A given part of the brain will often contain both nuclei (cell
bodies) and fibers (axons) passing through
▪ Nothing in nervous system is “wireless”
• Compare to 20th century telephone cables
o Glial cells=“support cells”
