Characteristics of the Brain, Essay Example

The human brain is a very complex organ that regulates human behavior and it is the command center for the body’s activities such as visual experiences, sleep cycles and brain plasticity. As part of its complex structure, the brain contains 100 billion neurons that work to regulate involuntary functions and processes of the body such as the heartbeat, blood pressure, breathing, hunger and thirst sensations and also sexual drives. The brain’s neurons also generate thought processes, emotional responses and perceptions, and they guide behavior as well. The brain is also responsible for the energy that executes commands for bodily actions and it is a receptor of consciousness and awareness in the mind (Carter, Aldridge, Page, & Parker, 2009).

All of these are important characteristics of the brain; however, three specific functions of the body the brain is responsible for are highlighted in this paper, as noted above (visual experiences, sleep cycles and brain plasticity).

Visual Experiences

According to (Kolb & Whishaw, 2009), the brain continually generates visual experiences through photoreceptors that convert light into energy that transmits signals to neurons in the brain. Two types of photoreceptors are responsible for this process in the brain: rods and cones.

As it relates to visual experiences, rods help with night vision because they react to low luminance levels and dim light and are responsible for visual illuminance. Rods do not react from brightness. Adversely, cones do respond to brightness and are responsible for visual color perception and fine detail ability of the sight sense (Kolb & Whishaw, 2009).

The total visual experience is dependent on how the rods and cones are distributed across the retina of the eye. The retina is made up of cells that form the visual pathways from the eyes to the brain. These pathways make up what is called the optic nerve. This optic nerve pathway stems from both the left and right eyes and when light falls on the retinas, impulses rapidly send information to the brain. When the information reaches the brain, axons form a pathway called the geniculostriate system which sends the relayed information to the retina and then to the occipital lobe via the primary visual cortex and this creates sight (Kolb & Whishaw, 2009).

Sleep Cycles

Another characteristic of the brain, as indicated above, is the sleep cycle. During the sleep cycle it is interesting to note how physiological and behavioral changes occur during a typical night’s sleep. According to Carskadon & Dement (2011), normal sleep cycles in humans are characterized by two separate states, and these states are 1) rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and 2) non-REM (NREM) sleep. Generally, in a typical night, a person usually goes through these two cycles (REM and non-REM), and if they do not go through these cycles during sleep, they may exhibit out-of-the-ordinary behavior.

When a person is asleep, he is essentially unaware of the physical (or waking) environment, and during sleep there is also an involvement of distinctive physiological and behavioral processes such as closed eyes and lying down. However, these behaviors can change during sleep, if anything unusual occurs. These changes can cause people to talk in their sleep, walk in the sleep, grind their teeth or snore loudly (Carskadon & Dement, 2011).

Brain Plasticity

Brain plasticity is a characteristic defined by the brain having a natural ability to change its structure over a lifetime. Some guiding principles of brain plasticity are 1) changes in the brain causes changes in behavior, by the creation of constantly changing thoughts and actions; 2) brain plasticity changes are directly related to age because the brain’s responses to the same stimuli differ according to age; 3) brain plasticity is affected negatively or positively by events during the prenatal stages of development; 4) human and animals alike have the same general brain plasticity responses; 5) brain plasticity changes are see in specific regions of the brain at any given time; and 6) the brain changes according to life experiences (Kolb & Whishaw, 2009).

These guiding principles are directly related to and associated with brain-behavior relationships and are serve as guides for current and future research on this subject.

Conclusion

It is without question that the human brain is extraordinary and it is the most dynamic part of the body. It is the seat of emotions and passions and the storehouse of memories. It is the producer of thought and the creator of ideas. It is the awareness of consciousness and the orchestrator of life processes within the body. Without it, the body dies and with it, the body is full of life. Man has yet to discover the full potential of the brain, but what has been discovered is quite interesting at the least and phenomenal at best. The rest remains a mystery.

References

Carskadon, M. A., & Dement, W.C. (2011). Monitoring and staging human sleep. In M.H. Kryger, T. Roth, & W.C. Dement (Eds.), Principles and practice of sleep medicine, 5^th edition, (pp. 16-26). St. Louis: Elsevier Saunders.

Carter, R., Aldridge, S., Page, M., & Parker, S. (2009). The Human Brain Book. London, New York, Melbourne, Munich & Delhi: DK ADULT.

Kolb, B., & Whishaw, I. Q. (2009). An Introduction to Brain and Behavior (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.