Neuroscience, a way to understand the behavior of the mind

Neuroscience has traditionally had the objective of understanding the functioning of the nervous system.. Both at a functional and structural level, this discipline tries to understand how the brain is organized. In recent times it has gone further, wanting not only to know how the brain works, but also the impact it has on our behaviors, thoughts and emotions.

The goal of relating the brain to the mind is the task of cognitive neuroscience. It is a mix between neuroscience and cognitive psychology. The latter deals with the knowledge of higher functions such as memory, language or attention. So, the main objective of cognitive neuroscience is to relate the functioning of the brain to our cognitive abilities and behaviors.

The development of new techniques has been of great help within this field to carry out experimental studies. Neuroimaging studies have facilitated the task of relating specific structures with different functions, using a very useful tool for this purpose: functional magnetic resonance imaging.

The beginnings of neuroscience

One cannot talk about the beginnings of neuroscience without mentioning Santiago Ramón y Cajal, since he formulated the doctrine of the neuron. His contributions to the problems of development, degeneration and regeneration of the nervous system remain current and continue to be learned in the faculties. If we have to put a start date on neuroscience, it would be in the 19th century.

With the development of the microscope and experimental techniques, such as tissue fixation and staining or research on the structure of the nervous system and its functionality, this discipline began to develop. But neuroscience has received contributions from numerous areas of knowledge that have helped to better understand the functioning of the brain. We can say that The successive discoveries in neuroscience are multidisciplinary.

It has received great contributions throughout the history of anatomy, which is responsible for locating each of the parts of the organism. Physiology more focused on knowing how our body works. Pharmacology with substances external to our body, observing the repercussions on the body and biochemistry, using substances secreted by the body itself, such as neurotransmitters.

Psychology has also made important contributions for neuroscience, through theories on behavior and thought. Over the years, the vision has changed from a more localizationist perspective, in which it was thought that each area of ​​the brain had a specific function, to a more functional one in which the objective is to understand the global functioning of the brain.

Cognitive neuroscience

Neuroscience covers a very broad spectrum within science. Includes everything from basic research to applied research that works with the impact of underlying mechanisms on behavior. Within neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience tries to discover how higher functions such as language, memory or decision making work.

Cognitive neuroscience has as its main objective study the nervous representations of mental acts. It focuses on the neural substrates of mental processes. That is, what impact does what happens in our brain have on our behavior and thoughts?

The association areas, which do not have a specific function, are responsible for interpreting, integrating and coordinating sensory and motor functions. They would be responsible for higher mental functions. The brain areas that govern functions such as memory, thinking, emotions, consciousness and personality are much more difficult to locate.

Memory is linked to the hippocampus, located in the center of the brain. Regarding emotions, it is known that the limbic system controls thirst and hunger (hypothalamus), aggression (amygdala) and emotions in general. It is in the cortex, where cognitive abilities are integrated, the place where our ability to be conscious, to establish relationships and to make complex reasoning is found.

Brain and emotions

Emotions are one of the essential characteristics of normal human experience, we all experience them. all the emotions are expressed through visceral motor changes and stereotyped motor and somatic responses, especially facial muscle movements. Traditionally, emotions were attributed to the limbic system, which is still true, but there are more brain regions involved.

The other areas to which emotion processing extends are the amygdala and the orbital and medial aspects of the frontal lobe. The joint and complementary action of these regions constitute an emotional motor system. The same structures that process emotional signals participate in other tasks, such as rational decision-making and even moral judgments.

The visceral and somatic motor nuclei coordinate the expression of emotional behavior. Emotion and the activation of the autonomic nervous system are closely linked. Feeling any type of emotion, such as fear or surprise, would be impossible without experiencing an increase in heart rate, sweating, trembling… It is part of the richness of emotions.

Emotions are an adaptive tool that informs others about our state of mind. Homogeneity has been demonstrated in the expression of joy, sadness, anger… in different cultures. It is one of the ways we have to communicate and empathize with others.

Memory, the warehouse of our brain

Memory is a basic psychological process that refers to the encoding, storage and retrieval of information learned (Bajo, 2016). The importance of memory in our daily lives has motivated various investigations on this topic. Forgetting is also the central theme of many studies, since many pathologies cause amnesia, which seriously interferes with daily life.

The reason that makes memory such an important topic is that a good part of our identity resides in it. On the other hand, although forgetting in the pathological sense worries us, the truth is that our brain needs to discard useless information to give way to new learning and significant events. In this sense, the brain is an expert at recycling its resources.

Neural connections change with their use or disuse. When we retain information that is not used, neural connections weaken until they disappear. In the same way that when we learn something new we create new connections. All those learnings that we can associate with other knowledge or life events will be easier to remember.

Knowledge of memory increased following the study of cases of people with very specific amnesia. Specifically, they have helped to better understand short-term memory and the consolidation of declarative memory. The famous HM case emphasized the importance of the hippocampus in establishing new memories. On the other hand, the memory of motor skills is controlled by the cerebellum, primary motor cortex, and basal ganglia.

Language and speech

Language is one of the abilities that differentiates us from other animals. The ability to communicate with such precision and the great amount of nuances to express thoughts and feelings, makes the language our richest and most useful communication tool. This unique characteristic in our species has led many researches to focus on its study.

The achievements of human culture are based, in part, on language, which enables precise communication. Linguistic ability depends on the integrity of several specialized areas of the association cortices in the temporal and frontal lobes. In most people, the primary language functions are located in the left hemisphere.

The right hemisphere would be in charge of emotional content of language. Specific damage to brain regions can compromise essential language functions, potentially causing aphasia. Aphasias can have very different characteristics, with difficulties found in articulation, production or understanding of language.

Both language and thought are not supported by a single specific area, but are the association of different structures.. Our brain works in such an organized and complex way that when we think or speak, it makes multiple associations between areas. Our previous knowledge will influence our new knowledge, in a feedback system.

Great discoveries in neuroscience

Describing all those studies of importance in neuroscience would be a complicated and very extensive task. The following discoveries shattered some previous ideas about how our brain works and opened new avenues of research. This is a selection of some important experimental works among the thousands of existing works:

Neurogenesis (Eriksson, 1998). Until 1998, it was thought that neurogenesis only occurred during the development of the nervous system and that after this period neurons only died and new ones were not produced again. But after Eriksson’s findings it was found that even during old age, neurogenesis exists. The brain is more plastic and malleable than previously thought. Contact parenting and cognitive and emotional development (Lupien, 2000). This study demonstrated the importance of physical contact with the baby during parenting. Those children who have had little physical contact are more vulnerable to deficits in cognitive functions that are usually affected in depression or in high-stress situations, such as attention and memory. Discovery of the mirror neurons (Rizzolatti, 2004). The ability of newborns to imitate gestures led to the initiation of this study. Mirror neurons were discovered. These types of neurons start when we see another person perform a task. They facilitate not only imitation, but also empathy and therefore social relationships.Cognitive reserve (Petersen, 2009). The discovery of cognitive reserve has been very relevant in recent years. It postulates that the brain has the ability to compensate for injuries produced in the brain. Different factors such as years of schooling, work done, reading habits, or social network influence. A high cognitive reserve can compensate for damage in…