Reply to comment

        It was interesting to learn about the nervous system as a system of boxes.   I found the examples using crickets very helpful once it came time to relate them to the different possibilities the nervous system was capable of (such as taking in inputs with no outputs). Also, the fact that the frog brain was so similar to the human brain was amusing because when I think of a human brain, I would have never thought of comparing it to an amphibian’s brain. This does bring up the important point that the key difference between frogs and humans is how the building blocks are arranged in the brain, which is also something that was new to me. I had originally thought that the building blocks were significantly different from animal to animal, so the positioning of the building blocks wouldn’t matter much.   This makes me wonder how many more animals there are with brains that have similar building blocks to the human brain.

       Also, the point about an isolated nervous system having the capability of producing outputs was surprising to hear about in class. It is fascinating that even though we may not see a particular output, the nervous system is still able to generate it. This somehow reminded me of a recent finding that I read about in which brain activity was detected in some patients that are in a vegetative state. Despite the fact that they are unable to even blink their eyes, the patients’ brains were conscious. The technicians that took part in the research would instruct the patients clearly to “Imagine you are playing tennis” while they would scan their brains. For some patients, the brain scans showed nothing. However, for others, their brain scans would flash just as a normal and healthy human brain would as a response to the question. Basically, some patients in a vegetative state were found to respond with their thoughts and “living silently in their bodies.”