Home » Post Item » 26 Jan 2008 (INSIDE MY BRAIN)
26 Jan 2008 (INSIDE MY BRAIN)
February 3, 2008
It’s a Saturday and I am relaxing in a lovely beach somewhere in what they call Pasacao, the beach capital of Camarines Sur. I am enjoying a privilege card given to me by my Professor who invited me to visit Surfer’s Paradise owned by her sister. The sun is high, but the wind is cool and the waves are playful. The foods are inviting and my diet, which I call HUNGER STRIKE, is temporarily cancelled. Who could resist seafoods against the backdrop of tempting ocean and the smell of sea breeze. I have been boy watching, duh, and girl watching… errr!
I’m on my two piece and a pair of classy sunglasses. I’m on my flip flops and dangling earings, bangles and a white flaring cap. Some young couples just walked by; some children are busy building toy houses on sand. At my left are teeners playing volleyball. Close to me is a handsome guy, holding my hand (all right all right, I just added him to the picture! His invisible. I mean, non-existent, haha!) What a nice way to treat myself on a hot weekend. This is what I call pleasure!
But duh, I’m here! In front of the desktop, merely imagining that scene over and over! I wish I were there savoring the ocean breeze, munching the seafoods being served and sipping a cool penacolada. This is what’s nice in being a writer, if you cannot go to the place you want to be, you can bring the whole place to where you are! So I am bringing that paradise in my head and into this piece of what do you call this? – ahh, “LITERARY- TRASH-AND-TREASURE.”
I am on my writing mode right now. But I’m not going to imagine more things for a while. As I have decided, I will use my passion in writing in trying to understand something about medicine. So I am bringing my passion in writing into some good use but this time, not about literature but about matter-of-fact issues. In this way, I study and have fun at the same time because writing is already an appendage to me. It’s in my lifeblood! The only way to learn fast is to put what I know into my MEDICAL JOURNAL.
Since I started with imagination, I’d like to discover something about how the brain works and how we create images or retrieve memories. In short, I’d like to know the power of the mind – the PSYCHE and its pathways.
I came across a very interesting topic on neuroanatomy and behavior just now. It said that CEREBRUM is the most superior part of the brain, composed of two hemispheres, the RIGHT and LEFT, each divided into FOUR LOBES. I always get confused with which lobe is responsible for what particular function. I hope that I’ll get this right this time.
The FRONTAL lobe controls higher order THINKING, abstract reasoning, decision-making, speech and voluntary muscle movements. So when I decide, logically think, abstract and talk, I am actually triggering my frontal lobe. If something bad happens to this lobe, illogical and psychotic thinking will ensue, uninhibited behavior will manifest and speech will be incoherent.
Meanwhile, the TEMPORAL lobe is responsible for judgment, MEMORY, smell, sensory interpretation and understanding sound. So when I recall something or make a judgment, hear or smell (like the smell of delightful camaroon rebosado, spicy squid or hear the waves splashing on rocks), I have activated my temporal lobe. Any problem with this area will pave the way for aggressive and violent behaviors, olfactory and auditory hallucinations, as well as LANGUAGE abnormalities. (Tragic, isn’t it?)
The PARIETAL lobe controls SENSORY functions and body POSITION. So whenever I “sense,” feel pain, pleasure or temperature or whenever I am aware of my positions or where I am, my parietal lobe is at work! When I see a ball coming right at me from the teen players of volleyball at the beach where I just imagined, I would respond to evade it! Otherwise, I would be in terrible pain of being hit. The awareness of space and the ball coming right at me is the function of my parietal lobe. Impaired spatial ability and body image and the inability for self care are some of the problems associated with a defect in this area.
Meantime, visual function, the ability to SEE, is the work of my OCCIPITAL lobe. Visual Illusions and hallucinations indicate impairment in this part of the brain.
Now, embedded in the cerebrum is what we call DIENCEPHALON. It’s actually superior to the brainstem and consists of three structures: THALAMUS, HYPOTHALAMUS and LIMBIC SYSTEM.
What receives and relays sensory input (related to the parietal function) and processes memory (related to temporal function), as well as regulates mood is what we call THALAMUS.
Known as the control center of the body, the HYPOTHALAMUS is responsible for homeostasis. It regulates the Autonomic Nervous System, temperature, food intake, water balance, biological rhythms and drives (and the more familiar term, BIOLOGICAL CLOCK) and hormonal output of the anterior pituitary gland.
Meantime, known as the EMOTIONAL BRAIN, the LIMBIC SYSTEM regulates emotional responses. It consists of the LIMBIC LOBE and frontal cortex, hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, brainstem (the respiratory center) and ANS. So it is the limbic system which is actually responsible for my emotions!
It is such a wonder how the brain works and it will always remain a mystery to me how such a tiny part can regulate all kinds of responses. The brain is one thing but the mind is another. How stimuli are perceived, relayed, interpreted and eventually how responses are generated and effected are interestingly complicated! Any defect in the structure of the brain due to trauma, lesion or congenital anomalies, hormonal imbalance. or any deficiency in the neurotransmitters responsible for regulating mood, transmitting impulses or initiating an action potential automatically lead to pathological conditions (abnormal functioning).
Well, I think I’ve had enough of this brainwork for today so I’m up for another stretching at the beach. Zaaaaappp! There goes the people enjoying the waves as they plunge into the water; the kids continue with their architectural designs made of sands. Meantime, let me put my towel on the white sand and let me lie under the sun for a summer tan. I really hate to cut this conversation but you see, I’ve just spotted a charming beach guard coming towards my direction!
