1. ♥SLIDE #1 - INTRODUCTION:
Good Morning (Afternoon)!
My name is __________ and I am a Neuroscience student (or you can say you study Neuroscience – or you are a Neuroscientist) at Johns Hopkins University.
Question: Does anyone know or can anyone guess what a neuroscience is (or what a Neuroscientist studies)?
Let’s look at our little friend up here.
Question: Do you know what this is a picture of?
This is a cartoon of a brain. This is a brain that is having fun – because this little brain is skateboarding.
Neuroscience is the study of the nervous system - which includes your brain. If you study the nervous system you are a Neuroscientist.
(Next, tells the students why you are visiting them. I usually say something like this…..)
I am here because I LOVE NEUROSCIENCE and I wanted to share some things I know about the nervous system with you.

2. What is your nervous system?
♥SLIDE #2: NERVOUS SYSTEM
 Question: What is the nervous system?
 It is your brain, your spinal cord, and all of your nerves. Here is a drawing of what your nervous system would look like if we removed all of your skin, muscles, bones and organs.
 Your nervous system is connected to every part of your body. It is what makes your body work.
 There is so much to know about the nervous system…..

3. Your Behaving Brain MAKING YOU “WORK” ♥SLIDE #3: TODAY’S TALK
 Today I am going to talk to you about how your brain controls your behaviors and how the way that you behave changes your brain.
 I have titled my presentation, “YOUR BEHAVING BRAIN: MAKING YOU ‘WORK’ ”.

4. Your brain controls all of your behaviors.
♥ SLIDE #4: BRAIN CONTROLS BEHAVIORS
 You already know what you brain is – but do you know that your brain controls almost everything you do?
 The same way that a pilot controls all parts of a plane - your brain controls all aspects of your behavior.
Your nervous system controls your behaviors.
A pilot controls a plane.

5. Behaviors What are Behaviors? OVERT COVERT
SLIDE #5: WHAT ARE BEHAVIORS?
 Question: What are behaviors?
 Everything that your body does is a behavior.
 When you laugh, smile, blink your eyes, breath you are behaving.
 When you think, feel sad, or scared you are behaving.
 Behaviors can be divided up – or characterized - a lot of ways.
 They can be divided into behaviors you can see (overt behaviors) and behaviors you can not see (covert behaviors).

6. What are some OVERT Behaviors?
♥SLIDE #6: OVERT BEHAVIORS
 Question: What are some behaviors that you can see?
 Overt behaviors:
 Behaviors that anyone can “see” and usually involve movements and occur outside of the body – like reading a book, dancing, skateboarding, skiing and swimming – these are all overt behaviors.
 These also involve things like sweating and crying – secretions from your body.

7. What are some COVERT Behaviors?
♥SLIDE #7: COVERT BEHAVIORS
 Question: What are some behaviors that you can NOT see?
 Covert behaviors:
 Behaviors that can’t be seen or perceived by others and usually occur inside of the body (inside of our skin).
 These are behaviors that can involve your senses – like hearing a song, tasting chocolate cake, sensing hot vs. cold, seeing a sunset.
 These are behaviors that can involve higher order functioning – like learning, memorizing, feeling emotions, thinking.
Some covert behaviors can be inferred by others either through movements or through byproducts – like answering an exam questions infers that you either learned and memorized or that you guess correctly, when you see someone spit you can infer that their was secretion of a salivary gland, when you see a smile you can infer happiness – but is that Grinch smile a happy or an evil one?
 Inference is not always accurate.
 Question: Is the Grinch feeling “happy” or is the Grinch feeling “evil”?
Behavior, in a very basic sense, is physiological a response.

8. Behaviors What are Behaviors? Keep us alive FUN
SLIDE #8: WHAT ARE BEHAVIORS?
 Behaviors can also be divided or characterized into behaviors that help to keep you alive and behaviors that are fun or intellectually stimulating.

9. There are behaviors that….
♥SLIDE #9: BEHAVIORS THAT KEEP US ALIVE
 Question: What are some behaviors that keep you alive?
 These include things like…
pumping blood throughout or body – so our cells get the oxygen and nutrients it needs
drinking – so our body has fluids
 eating – so our body has energy
sleeping – so our bodies can repair and rejuvenate
going to the bathroom – so our body gets rid of waste
….help to keep us alive.

10. There are behaviors that….
♥SLIDE #10: BEHAVIORS THAT ARE JUST FUN
 Question: What are some behaviors that you do for fun?
 These include things like…
 playing games (video, chess, etc.)
sports
arts and crafts
reading
watching movies
being with friends and family
….are just fun.

11. Different parts of your nervous system...
♥SLIDE #11: BRAIN AREAS THAT CONTROL BEHAVIOR
 Different parts of your nervous system control different behaviors.
 Some behaviors use a lot of parts of your brain.
(Here you can talk about some of the things that the different lobes of the brain do.)
….control different behaviors.

12. Some of the behaviors that keep you alive..
Gastrointestinal System
Respiration
Cardiovascular System
♥SLIDE #12: SOME BEHAVIORS ARE AUTOMATIC
Some of the behaviors that keep you alive are automatic – you don’t have to do anything to make them work. Your brain takes care of everything. 
Your cardiovascular system pumps blood in your arteries and back from your veins.
 Your respiratory system gives you oxygen.
 Your gastrointestinal system digests your food to give you energy.
 Your thermoregulation system maintains your constant body temperature.
Thermoregulation
….are automatic.

13. These automatic behaviors are controlled by…
♥SLIDE #13: AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM
 Automatic behaviors are controlled by your autonomic nervous system (ANS).
 This system is made up of parts of your brain, spinal cord, and nerves coming out from your brain and spinal cord.
 It is divided into the parasympathetic system or rest and digest system.
 This system slows your body down – decrease heart rate, respiration, start gastrointestinal system so you can store energy.
 The other part of the ANS is the sympathetic system or fight or flight system.
 This system speeds up your body – increase heart rate, respiration, stop gastrointestinal system so you can get blood to your muscles so you can move.
…your autonomic nervous system.

14. ANS Demo ♥SLIDE #14: ANS DEMO DEMO: ANS ACTIVATION
First, teach the kids how to find there radial pulse – use 2 fingers on the inner side of the wrist towards the thumb.
Have them count for 15 seconds.
Next, get them set up so they can jog in place (or run laps).
Have them take their pulse for 15 seconds.
It should have increased – ask them if they told their hearts to pump faster…..of course not – it was done automatically by their ANS!!!
When we run, we need our heart to pump blood to our muscles so they can work. Your muscles “tell” your brain that they are working and your ANS makes your heart pump faster.

15. Some of the behaviors that keep you alive...
♥SLIDE #15: THERMOSTAT ANALOGY
 Some of the behaviors that keep you alive work like a thermostat.
 A thermostat is set at a certain temperature.
 There is a detector that measures temperature.
 When the temperature gets too low, the heater is turned on.
….work like a thermostat.

16. Your hypothalamus “senses” a need...
♥SLIDE #16: HYPOTHALAMUS
 Your hypothalamus, a very tiny area at the base of your brain, gets information for a lot of different behaviors that help to keep you alive.
 It gets information about your energy supplies, water, temperature, sleep and even social needs.
 It then sends out signals to other parts of your brain so that you do things to alleviate or get rid of your needs….you get food if you are hungry, water if you are thirsty, sleep if you are tired, put on a coat if you are cold or find a friend if you need a hug.
….makes you “behave” to alleviate the need.

17. Most of the behaviors involved movements...
♥SLIDE #17: MOTOR SYSTEMS
  Most of our behaviors involve some kind of movements – so our motor control systems of our brain are activated.
….and are controlled by our motor systems.

18. All animals need to get information from the environment…
Olfactory System
Gustatory System
Visual System
Auditory System
Somatosensory System
♥SLIDE#18: INFORMATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT
In order to survive, we need to be able to get information from our environment – the world around us.
To do this, we need our sensory systems.
With our visual, auditory, somatosensory, gustatory, and olfactory systems we are able to see, hear, feel, taste, and smell the things that are going on in the world around us.
 (There actually is one more system….see if anyone knows about the vestibular system. This is the system that gives us information about our bodies in space.)
…and our sensory systems help us to do this.

19. We then need to be able to learn and remember...
♥SLIDE #19: LEARNING AND THE ENVIRONMENT
 In order to survive, we need to be able to learn about our environment and remember what we have learned.
 If we are a zebra, we have to learn that lions are the enemy or we will be eaten.
 If we are a squirrel, we need to learn where the trees are in the forest that have nuts so we can eat.
…things about our environment.

20. We then need to be able to learn and remember...
♥SLIDE #20: LEARNING AND THE ENVIRONMENT
When we are children, we have to learn in our classes so we can grow up and have a job so we can buy food to eat and a house to live in.
…things about our environment.

21. Learning and remembering is a job…
♥SLIDE #21: LIMBIC SYSTEM
 Learning and memory are two behaviors that are controlled by the limbic system.
 The limbic system is a bunch of areas in our brain, like the hippocampus, parts of our cortex, and the amygdala.
 Scientists are not really sure how this part of the brain works – but we know it is a very important part of your brain and that learning and memory are very important behaviors that help to keep us alive.
…for our limbic systems.

22. As our environment gets more complex…
♥SLIDE #22: ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLEXITY
 As our environment gets more complex, so do our behaviors.
 Cave men didn’t have computers, so they didn’t have to know how to type, or how to write sentences, or how to use a mouse to get into different computer programs….we do.
…so do our behaviors.

23. …we had more time for fun behaviors.
As we came up with way that made it easy for us to keep ourselves alive…
♥SLIDE #23: EVOLUTION OF BEHAVIORS
 As we learned quicker and easier ways to do things, we had more time to do other behaviors that didn’t just involve keeping us alive – but things that were fun.
 We can grow to the grocery store and buy our vegetables instead of having to grow all the vegetables we eat.
 We have running water, so we can use hoses instead of buckets to get the water we need.
…we had more time for fun behaviors.

24. Fun behaviors allow us to be creative…
♥SLIDE #24: FUN BEHAVIORS
 Fun behaviors allow us to use our minds and be creative – use strategies.
…and use strategies.

25. Fun behaviors involve “higher cognitive functioning”…
♥SLIDE #25: HIGHER COGNITIVE FUNCTION
 Fun behaviors use what is called “higher cognitive functioning” and this uses our cerebral cortex.
 Question: Does anyone remember why the cerebral cortex is all bumpy?
 Because as our behaviors got more complex, we needed more cerebral cortex to control those behaviors.
 We have to fit our brains into our skulls – so the cortex started folding over on itself.
 Demo: Do the paper and film container demonstration.
 Take a half sheet of paper.
Try to put it into a film container – it doesn’t fit.
Scrunch up the paper and show the students the bumps on it.
Stuff it into the film container – now it fits.
That is how you get a big brain into a small skull.
Here is the brain of a rat. Notice how smooth the cortex is…
 Fun behaviors need a lot of cortex – so which animal do you think has more fun behaviors? OR
…and are controlled by our cerebral cortex.

26. Behavior Now, while your brain controls behaviors…
Changes
SLIDE #26: BEHAVIOR AND BRAIN RELATIONSHIP
 The brain controls behavior and behaviors change the brain.
 We say that the interaction between the brain and behavior is reciprocal – your brain controls your behaviors and your behaviors change your nervous system.
…your behaviors are changing your brains.

27. So your behaviors change your brain…
“You are your nervous system”
Arnold Scheibel, UCLA
♥SLIDE #27: BEHAVIOR AND BRAIN RELATIONSHIP
 Your behaviors change your brain and make you unique.
 Everything that you do, see, feel, taste, touch, hear and think is not only received, processed and stored by your nervous system, but it also changes your nervous system. This makes your nervous system unique. This makes your nervous system you.
 According to (one of my favorite professors at UCLA) a very famous professor at UCLA - Dr. Arnold Schiebel - you are your nervous system - so you nervous system is you. Everything you do changes your nervous system and makes it unique.
…and make you unique.

28. What are Behaviors? Behaviors are everything you do.
♥SLIDE #28: WHAT ARE BEHAVIORS?
 Behaviors are everything that you do!!!

29. Your Brain… What role does the brain play in your behaviors?
receives information
processes information
stores information
produces behaviors
♥SLIDE #29: BRAINS ROLE IN BEHAVIOR
 The nervous system receives, processes, stores information and produces all of your behaviors.
 ***This is one of the most important facts about the nervous system!!!
 Receives - Everything that you do, see, feel, taste, touch, hear is received by your nervous system.
 Processes - The nervous system then “processes” that information in relation to other information it has encountered.
 Stores - The nervous system then “stores” the information based on a number of factors and in multiple places.
 Produces - The nervous system then “produces” a physiological response (a BEHAVIOR).
 ….so your produces your behaviors that make you unique and make you work.
…that makes you who you are and makes you work.

30. Your Behaving Brain MAKING YOU “WORK” ♥SLIDE #30: BEHAVING BRAIN
Well, that is all I wanted to tell you today about YOUR BEHAVING BRAIN.
I have enjoyed talking to you today, and I hope that you have enjoyed hearing about the neat things that your nervous systems can do.
REMEMBER… YOUR BRAIN CONTROLS ALL OF YOUR BEHAVIORS AND MAKES YOU “WORK”