Week 14 - Neurobiology and Behavior

In contrast to Darlene’s post, I do not feel as though the undergraduates in the class were any more impressionable than any other group of students I've encountered. I think this has something to do with Professor Grobstein teaching us about actual neurobiology and experimental observaions and conclusions (this is all actual science). I don't feel as though we've been force-fed any one philosophical perspective, but rather been encouraged to broaden our knowledge base of neurobiology and behavior and in so doing, develop  our own perspectives (reading through the message board each week this seems very clear). Reading through classmates' posting throughout the semester, it was very interesting to see how student attitudes changed each week in relation to that weeks' topics (just as my own attitudes and understanding were being altered).                                                                                         Personal Reflections:                                                                              I came into the course both nervous and excited. Excited, because the course heading suggested, in my view, the provision of a series of answers to the deepest questions of human thought, experience, and spirituality. My nervousness stemmed from the expectation that these items were wholly, or at least partly contained within the functioning of neurons (following Emily Dickenson, that all of our experiences are byproducts of our brains’ activities, and that the brain truly is, "wider than the sky"). What I’ve come to appreciate, over the course of the semester, is that although the brain really does prove to be "wider than the sky", [it] is also by that same toke an enormously complex organ, which, through further experimentation and study, can yield greater insights into human experience, behavior, and disease. I won't go into detail about every single thing I've learned this semster, but will say briefly that the course really sparked my interest in neurobiology and behavior, and provided me with a valuable foundation of knowledge from which I can pursue further research and learning on my own.                                                                                                                                                                                         As someone interested in a career in neurology, I also felt that the issues discussed in the course provided a valuable groundwork for thinking about how proper and abnormal neural functioning affect patients' experiences and quality of life (e.g. pain generation in the brain),  I’ve also come to realize that there are far more questions than answers when dealing with brain and philosophical questions experience (how do we treat consciousness, free will etc.). I think the ability to objectively (through neurobiology) approach large philosophical questions definitely appeals to me. I’m not sure whether we will ever map out every analogue associated with conscious (neocortex) and unconscious activity, (especially given that the brain often functions as a distributed system), but what I've learned this semester has definitely helped me become a more informed, interested, and avid consumer of information related neurobiology and behavior. 

I think this class has given us a lot to think about when it comes to the relationship between brain and behavior. I definitely didn’t expect for the nervous system to be as complex as I found out it was. I was surprised over the course of this semester to find out about how the nervous system acts and the different ways in which it acts. There is a complexity that I didn’t appreciate before about the nervous system and this has brought that to light. The nervous system cannot be confined to neurons and synapses and neurotransmitters, it is a system which “thinks” in many ways for the entire body unit. I placed ‘thinks’ in quotations because I believe that what I have learned about the nervous system has also changed how I consider the process of thinking. Brain processes in general seem much more complex (and somewhat overwhelming), and this wasn’t the case before. Although I knew different areas of the brain frequently work together to produce a behavior, it is startling how that has been taken to a new degree.

In writing this post I feel as though I sound naïve. I think this course has really been able to get me to think about the nervous system in a different way and to think about neural processes as much more of communication. I am still not sure how I feel about where the I-function fits into all of this. I can’t decide if I like the I-function or if I am disappointed by it. It never seems to work quite the way I hoped it to. I think the I-function complicates what are traditionally thought of as conscious and unconscious processes. For me, the jury is still out about how I feel about the idea of an I-function. In many ways I feel I need more time to think about and discuss such an idea, since it seems mind-boggling and frustrating all at the same time. I think I always had attributed consistency with the nervous system. There was one way the nervous system did something and there were maybe one or two ways that the nervous system compensated if the ideal process wasn’t available. That isn’t the story anymore! There are multiple ways to do the same thing, many of which we can’t even predict. The nervous system lacks the consistency I thought it had. I think this is more surprising that disappointing. I feel like this semester the more I started to learn about the nervous system the more I realized how little we know. There are so many ‘why’s’ and ‘what if’s’ in the nervous system and I don’t even know that we have brushed the surface. I certainly don’t think it is as easy to map out a behavior, or certainly not as simple as I thought before.

In the last class we attempted to discuss free will. I don’t know that it came together for me as much as I wanted. I think I still feel very challenging about free will and how the nervous system has affected (or maybe even compromised) free will in the romanticized sense. It’s difficult to visualize free will through a filtered reality, and now I am attempting to figure out what that means. Brain and behavior are very closely linked and I am less sure about the whole of implications which result from that.

When I enrolled for this course, I was expecting to learn stuff about the brain and how the brain controls behavior, you know, science stuff! That is what I am used to, being a biology major at Haverford and all. However, this class was actually a breath of fresh air! I enjoyed it because it was science at a slant. This course was taught with a philosophical point of view and I enjoyed getting some science with a little thinking. I liked thinking about the science behind the brain and all its mysteries differently than I would have had I taken a more "sciencey" class.   

I enjoyed Professor Grobstein as a professor. He was intellectually stimulating, for he ALWAYS had me thinking from week to week. I liked that. I also enjoyed the intense discussions in class; they really had me  interested and involved fromo class to class.

Thanks for the wonderful experience and I do hope to have another class like this sometime before I graduate! Thanks again!!

Jayme E. Hopkins, '08

I've liked this class because neurobiology was looked at from a very conceptula point of view. The challenge to think outside of our preconceived notions about the brain and behavior was incredible. I realize I have a lot more to learn about neuroscience, but I feel much more confident when discussing the matter. This course has triggered a new found interest in neurobiology and I'm exicted to take more classes in this field.

The webpapers, though very open-ended, have allowed me to research neuro topics I've been interested in but have never explored in depth. I apprecaite the relaxed curriculum becuause I tend to learn better with less stress of a test or final.

I've had a great year and have come a long way from the first day of class. Thanks for blowing my mind!

I must say that this class was much different from anything I expected. When I signed up for Neurobiology and Behavior I expected to learn about the different parts of the brain and their function, to be tested on labeling where the hypothalamus is located, etc. I ended up with a philosophy class that's main lesson came from a secluded poet who was probably crazy. But in the long run I much preferred our philosophical debated over what I thought would be mindless memorization. I think that I've come to the conclusion that Emily Dickinson was right in her poem. The unit on sight was the real turning point in my mind that made me believe her ideas. The brain clearly manipulates how we see the world. It fills in the missing pieces and interprets the wave lengths of light to give us color vision. Sight is the main function with which we each interpret our reality, which is why this unit really stuck out for me. If the brain can control our reality, then I think it is definitely fair to say that the equals behavior.

 Other neurobiological courses I have taken previously in the bi-co have basically encompassed categories of summarized previous research on powerpoint slides. This method of teaching is essential to develop what has become factual knowledge in detail, and allows us to be aware of how the brain works. For me, neurobiology and behavior has added a component of intense analyzation to make me think about not only this is how it is, but what does it mean because it is this way.

As the weeks went on, one idea that grew stronger in me that our I-function, or consciousness, is only one part of the brain and not the whole brain. This notion that there  is another part of the brain apart from our concsiousness, gained more and more influence as we learned more about the functions of this part of the brain. I started to embrace this dichotomy of the conscious and unconscious brains and I was first scared and questioned how much actual control I have over my own body.

Learning about such things like our neurons, cells I thought to just transmit information, actually can do much more than that such as arithmetic which decides if information gets passed on or not, without me being aware of it. Also that we have proprioceptors and corollary discharge signals which allow different parts of the brain to communicate information to each other, and central pattern generators which are programmed patterns of behavior innate in our brains as we saw by studying lobsters and grasshoppers. Furthermore studying spastic paralysis and how those with damage to the cortex could not move their arms, but when a beach ball was thrown at them they could block it especially highlighted the differences between conscious and unconscious control. Also studying about how the picture in the head is different from the picture on the retina, our brains fill in the blind spots  and is a creation of our brain highlighted how reality is subjective for each individual and is a creation of the unconscious brain.  Our brain creates many things including colors that dont exist. When we see two different wavelengths of light our brain combines them together. Color is the creation of our unconscious brain.

 These conclusions that we drew during every class enforced the idea of an unconscious and conscious nervous system, and that our realities are creations of the brain. It put reality into perspective for me in that I am aware of the differences in realities for each person. Furthermore, these functions of the unconscious brain even though at first caused fear in me, I have come to realize that even though the I-function is not central to the nervous system, the rest of the nervous system exists so that our I-function can focus on other things. If we had to constantly be spatially figure out where things are, or looking at worlds with blind spots, or figuring out how to move our body instead of just being able to do it when we want to, our minds would be forever occupied. These central pattern generators, arithmatic neurons, and functions that fill in the blind spot serve to allow our I-functions to be free from these responsibilities so we can focus our conscoius attention elsewhere and lead our own life. I realize, this unconscious part of the brain, allows my I-function to create a reality for myself and control my own destiny. This course has led me to understand and appreciate this other part of the brain much more, and further motivate me to achieve my lifelong goals because I can, and because my brain is constructed in such a way that makes it possible. Furthermore it has also made me question reality, and what truly exists, and what is a creation of my brain. I have become more analytical about the world, more apt to second guess my thoughts and experiences and what can be attributed to this other part of the brain, and this understanding has enhanced my experience of reality.

  At the start of the course I KNEW that my observations were what made up reality.   If I could hear it, see it, etc, then it was real. I was wrong.  Little did I know my brain is making all sorts of stuff up for me.  Filling in the blanks, if you will.  At this point I had a mini-panic attack. 'You mean I've never experienced reality?' Through the guidance of Grobstien and the rest of the class, I was able to calm down and go with the flow.This was just one example of how this class changed my perspective.  I'm still partial to Emily Dickinson's "the brain is wider than the sky" idea, but I now feel more flexible in how I view brain and its processes.But I think the most valuable thing I learned was from the research I did for the web papers.  If you have a question, some one out there has an answer for you.  Probably mulitple answers exist, and the web has made it easy to find many answers in without too much effort.  When you have a question, it's just a matter of looking for the answers, combining them into a story that seems less wrong to you.  Science is all about the interprutation. The story you can tell.  

I have enjoyed the semester. As a post-bac student I have come from a slightly different perspective than most of my classmates. As an undergrad, I focused on classics and history. More recently I did graduate work with a focus on the history of science and medicine. From these experiences, I walked away with a strong sense of the ever changing nature of science. Indeed, it is one of the reasons I strongly believe that anyone pursuing scientific research or a career in medicine makes an effort to become familiar with the history of science. Even a cursory examination reveals that knowledge is constantly being re-negotiated and redefined.

What has surprised me in this course is not the fact that the brain does not work in a simplistic input-output loop, nor the fact that the brain makes things up, but the beliefs of some of my fellow classmates who seem firmly attached to the scientific tenets only recently learned. Indeed, it has occasionally been discouraging. If young scientists are already firmly fixed in their opinions about the nature of “how things work”, how will we develop creative and new ideas? Mastering the basics of any science necessarily demands oversimplification initially. However, flexibility and creativity and a willingness to think outside the box are necessary prerequisites, I think, for good science.

Like A.Kyan I also have a vested interest in integrative medicine and have become more interested in the neurology as a result of this course. Initially, I was slightly uncomfortable with the reductionistic view that the mind=brain. Yet after this course, I have begun to share more common ground with biologists who do not fear that the mind will be trivialized by understanding the brain as series of specific molecules and cellular processes. Indeed, this course has emphasized the versatile and creative and long lasting effects that a knowledgeable manipulation of the nervous system can perform. Thus it makes perfect sense to me on a molecular level why meditation is not only beneficial but can result in long lasting and beneficial physiological changes.

I come from a very strong belief that the mind is separate from the brain, and that the mind can control the brain.  My proof?  I've experienced it through mindfulness meditation like many other meditation practioners.  Throughout the discourse of this class, the compelling evidence that all thoughts and actions are manifestations of the brain and central nervous system are enlightening in their own right and have made me even more interested in neurobiology.  But, it hasn't changed my opinon on the mind and the brain.  I refuse to believe that only the brain controls the mind and not vice versa!  Perhaps, I'm overly optimistic...  but, I believe the mind can change the brain with focused thought processes, make the brain calmer and  function better, and improve our overall well-being.  Essentially, I believe we all possess the "will" to change how our brains work.  It's a difficult position to proove in a materialistic world.  The mind has no substance, location, or tangibility, and as a result "scientists" are less likely to acknowledge it.  But, I have to say this class has continually challenged me to try to prove otherwise, and I've loved it!   

As a post-bacc, I'm continually asked what speciality I'm leaning towards, and my answer often included 5 different fields.  However, Professor Grobstein's questions and all of your responses have made me more focused on the field of neuropsychiatry.  It combines my interests in integrative medicine, Buddhist philosophy, and psychiatry to name a few.  So, thanks guys, for helping me figure out how to combine all of my interests into one.  Even though the semester is over, everything we've learned is in my mind, to be continued...

I am not sure if I can say concretely what I learned after taking this class. I know that I solidified the fact that I am not by nature a philosophical thinker, and that after a fairly short amount of time, I lose patience with philosophical discussion because it seems so futile and pointless. I guess this sort of ties in with what I think I learned in the class as a whole. I think the most important thing that I learned is that I feel like I didn't learn anything. I know that doesn't make a lot of sense but it is the only way I know how to describe what I feel. The brain and the nervous system is so complex and variable that even the things we talked about in class about didn't really seem to illuminate the true nature of the nervous system. This isn't to say that I didn't discover new things about the brain and nervous system that I didn't know before, but I just feel like now that I know about those things without really knowing the true cause, I am worse off than I was before. They say ignorance is bliss and I feel that is definitely true in this case. Now that I am aware of things that the brain does without knowing why or how, I am just frustrated.

However, I did enjoy the class and the discussions (despite their philosophical leanings) and I suppose that the knowledge we were given throughout the course is a step in the right direction of finding the why and how so that future generations can benefit and maybe not be as frustrated as I am now!

I guess if we’re sharing how we developed in the class, here’s where I started: “Behavior is a continuous interaction between this marvelous evolutionary creation called the brain and the environment it has created and feeds off of. Our world is what we make of it, and in turn our behavior is what our world makes of us through its interactions with the brain. It’s a never-ending cycle.” I think I didn’t really agree with Descartes mainly because I hate ambiguity and his suggestion that we are controlled by our mind and brain is somewhat ambiguous. What is the mind anyways? Now that the class is concluded, I am more sure of myself in believing that behavior is a construct of the brain. However, this does not mean that I didn’t get anything out of this class, because I DID. One thing that this class emphasized was the variability of the brain. We continuously talked about how our realities may differ, how our perceptions differ, and this idea is probably what makes studying the brain the most difficult and the most interesting. This class was as juicy as it was only because of the variability in the audience. Thanks you guys for making me see things differently. Another important thing that I learned was that our brain does a lot more for us than we realize or are conscious of. (However, I also want to emphasize that I believe that we are still responsible for our actions.) Finally, I really liked how the web papers could be on any topics we desired because I learned a lot more about the brain in just the selection of a topic. I explored a number of topics before choosing one and read a lot of papers on that one topic before I actually narrowed it down and eliminated a bunch of sources.

I loved our last class in particular. I initially made a “story” up to describe the relationship between the neocortex and the rest of the brain saying that the neocortex is the captain of the ship while the rest of the brain is the crew that does basically all the work. However, the crew is subject to insubordination should the captain be doing a bad job, for example forcing the body to stay up and not get enough sleep. However, by the end of the class I revised my story to say that it’s somewhat like a checks and balances system of our government where the neocortex is the brain but doesn’t have absolute power.

I thought this was cool, because Dr. G said that the main benefit of having a bipartite brain is so we are able to continuously learn and revise ourselves. I also love how this revision process is fueled by brain to brain interaction. I was only able to revise my story after hearing more of what Dr. G and the class had to say.