What Is Neuroscience? The Brain Makes Us Who We Are

What Is Neuroscience? Function of Neurons  The human brain contains an appalling number of neurons (hundreds of billions)  The number of synaptic connections (communication nodes) between neurons is even more appalling (hundreds of trillions)  The brain is the ultimate ‘Social Network’  How does this Network, uh, work?

Organisms are made of several distinct components - organs In turn, each organ is made of several distinct components - cells

Integration Through Communication How can we get a bunch of different parts (cells) to work together?

Integration Through Communication This fundamental insight drives the major research goals of modern neuroscience and psychology: TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE BRAIN GENERATES OUR EXPERIENCES, OUR THOUGHTS, OUR MEMORIES AND OUR EMOTIONS…. COMMUNICATE WITH ONE ANOTHER COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER WE MUST FIRST UNDERSTAND HOW THE CELLS OF THE BRAIN COMMUNICATE WITH ONE ANOTHER, AND HOW THE BRAIN AND THE OTHER ORGANS OF THE BODY COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER. 5

Integration Through Communication For example, what is memory? – Ah-ha! A ‘memory’ would be a relatively permanent change in the way that a particular group of brain cells communicate with each other. How about something clinical, like depression? – Ah-ha! Depression is going to be some sort of abnormality in the way that brain cells communicate (why we think that some types of depression can be treated with drugs that influence neurotransmitter signaling in the brain). 6

Integration Through Communication Let’s take one more example: How do sex differences in brain and behavior develop? While some limited aspects of brain sex are determined genetically, large portions (perhaps most) of the cells in the brain don’t really know what sex they are. The gonads (ovaries, testes) must communicate this important information to the brain by the release of sex steroids (estrogen, testosterone). This is strange – every cell has sex chromosomes. Why do this? Think about development… 7

An Example of ‘Real-World’ Success The Cochlear Implant How is the stimulus for sound (vibrating air) turned into neural information? And how is that information communicated to the brain? Both of these problems were solved by psychologists and neuroscientists, who then worked with electrical engineers to design a device that could interface with the brain.

Neuroscience is Interdisciplinary Studying the brain requires several different types of expertise – must have a broad curiosity and enjoy working in teams. To name a few: – Psychology (the functions of the Brain) – Biology, Genetics, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Statistics (the underlying structures of the Brain) A DIS is a good place to start – research experience a must. Career outlook is research and/or teaching in academic or governmental setting, although careers in industry are slowly emerging (e.g., several companies develop and market cochlear implants).