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THE ENDOCRINE SYSTEM
The endocrine system is a network of glands that manufacture
and secrete chemical messengers called hormones into the
bloodstream.
Our brain's hypothalamus and the pituitary gland, direct the
autonomic nervous system to activate the endocrine system to
stimulate the release of hormones in our body. These hormones
are secreted into the blood, and travel throughout the body to
control a wide variety of bodily activities. |
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Types
of hormones
Adrenaline, central to emotions such as fear, anger and aggression
Somatotrophin is our growth hormone, evident throughout infancy,
childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.
Oxytocin
Insulin
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Central
Nervous System (CNS)
CNS is our brain and spinal cord. Brain has three parts, forebrain,
midbrain and hindbrain
Function of brain: to take in information (via senses) about
stimuli in our world; to process and interpret this information, and
then to direct us, consciously and unconsciously, to think, feel,
and/or behave towards it in some way.
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Click on image above to see a
larger
more readable version of this diagram
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Brain
Structures and Language
Verbal language biological in origin.
Broca's area
(1869, speech articulation).
Wernicke's area
(1878, speech comprehension).
Brain Structures & Memory
Our brain organizes and stores different types of memory on the
basis of different properties in different parts of the brain.
We store and retrieve memories of/for sounds in our
temporal lobe,
We remember what we see using our
visual cortex.
We recognise and remember patterns using our
parietal lobe,
We store and retrieve our memories of faces in our
frontal lobe
etc. |
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Other
Interesting Structures
The thalamus, at the centre of
the forebrain is a pivotal structure in the direction of
information throughout the nervous system, and governs the flow
of sensory information around our brain. It is a kind of relay
station for all our senses, and helps relay commands between the
motor cortex and our skeletal muscles.
The
hypothalamus
is just below the thalamus, and plays an important role regards
our physical needs. Parts of the hypothalamus of note here would
include the dorsal hypothalamus, concerned with pleasure
seeking, the posterior hypothalamus concerned with sex
drive, and the ventromedial hypothalamus, concerned with
hunger. The hypothalamus thus influences eating,
drinking, and sexual activity.
The limbic system, almost at the junction of the
forebrain and midbrain, is important to our emotions, or how we
feel. |
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One
structure in our limbic system, the amygdala, is often
called 'the window to the soul', and is crucial to our
ability to perceive and respond instantaneously to danger in our
world. The amygdala provokes us to feel fear and be
aggressive, important behaviours to self-survival since the
beginnings of time. Damage to the amygdala is linked to
psychological difficulties such as panic attacks, anxiety and
depression, and sometimes,
psychosis.
Panic attacks; anxiety, and depression may involve feelings
of overwhelming fear, while the symptoms of some psychoses may
feature feelings of overwhelming aggression.
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