Last Tuesday, as part of an educational project, we attended a conference about neurology and behaviour. It is important to specify that the speaker was Dr. Nogués, an eminence in the field now retired. Before explaining in detail what was discussed during this conference we must say that it was a pleasure to hear him speak about something he knew so well.
First of all he detailed the different parts of the brain. It was only a little part of the conference since the last pretended to focus in conductual issues rather than anatomical ones. Regarding the structure of the brain from that other point of view he said that we can distinguish 4 different levels, and he proceeded on talking about each one.
The deeper one, or most primary, is the one responsible for receiving the external information, transporting that information to the brain and carrying back the response towards any part of the body. It is identified with the nervous system, central and peripherical, in general. It is clear that this level is shared with most of the animals.
The second one controls the most basic and involuntary reactions in our body, and it is obviously common with the animals as well. An example of such unconscious activities is the beating of the heart or the swallowing. Anatomically speaking, this second level of the nervous system is controlled by the brainstem.
After these two levels of activity comes what is known as the central pulse system. It is far more complex than the previous ones and includes a huge variety of hormones. This level generates and controls the five basic instincts that most superior animals have which are: hunger, territoriality, fear, agressivity and reproduction. Such instincts are essential for any living organism if it is to survive, as an individual but also as an specie. Despite being more sophisticated in many aspects, as it will be seen next, humans also have this level and many of our daily activities are ultimately driven by the mentioned instincts. These are controlled by the hypothalamus and the pituitary.
Finally, there is a 4th and last level known as the limb if system. It is by far the most complex of them all and it hasn't been completely understood yet. This part of the brain is the one responsible for feelings and emotions.It is controlled by the hippocampus and the animals have it as well, although smaller.
Apart from the mentioned levels there are other parts of the brain not included in this classification but also important such as the cortex. This section, which is found in the most external part of the brain, controls the reasoning and the logic, and it is almost exclusive of the human specie.
Dr. Nogués also explained that the brain is composed by to hemispheres, the right and the left. They have different functions and are attributed opposed characteristics. While the right one is said to be the "hippy" part of the brain, where feelings dominate the reasoning, the left one is exactly the contrary and rationality rules there. Due to this fact, many curious situations have aroused throughout the history whenever one of them has been damaged in somebody. This originated problems such as complete irresponsibility and permanent happiness (when the damaged area was the left hemisphere) or people with very mild emotions, almost robots. Apart from this, though, having the brain organised this way allows us to pay attention at different things simultaneously.
As a summary it can be said that the conference was incredibly profitable. In fact, we are preparing a very interesting document which we will post soon in this blog. We hope you have learned at least a part of what we learned during the act. If you have any question, you can ask it in the comment section below.
