Fíkn – kafli 3. Pleasure and the Brain
When each minute brain component has been located, its function identified and its interaction
with each other component made clear - the resulting description will contain all there is to
know about human nature and experience.
– R. Carter, 1998
Your brain creates your world. It is the hardware of your soul. It is the very essence of you as a
human being. It is the brain, which distinguishes us as humans, not skin color, body structure or
facial characteristics.
Daniel Amens
Neurochemistry 101
The brain is the most complex entity in the universe!
Neurons are separated by a • The brain can be considered an – Axon – a long fiber attached
gap known as the synapse electrochemical computer, as to the soma, whose
well as a chemical factory function is to help transmit
or synapse junction. The comprised of over 100 billion messages – the message
message is carried from neurons must travel through on its
• Neurons are made up of 3 main way to the next neuron
one neuron to the next by
parts – • Myelin sheath – an
molecules known as – Nucleus of cell body insulating cover that
neurotransmitters. (Soma) – the mini-brain some axons have to
that decides whether or help increase the
Chemical changes that not to transmit speed of
occur in these neuronal messages by means of transmission
electrochemical – Dendrites –branches on the
spaces determine how we
impulses from one receiving cell: function is to
respond to each “message” nerve cell to the next, receive messages, each
This process of that is to fire or not to neuron has ~10,000
fire dendrites
communication between
neurons known as neurotransmission, is largely responsible for the brain functions that determine
what we are as individuals including our personalities, intellect and character.
“The astonishing hypothesis is that you, your joys, and your sorrows, your
memories and ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact
no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated
molecules. As Lewis Carroll’s Alice might have phrased it: ‘You’re nothing but
a pack of neurons.”
- Francis Crick (1995)
1
, Norepinephrine (NE) which is found
in the part of the brain known as the
locus coeruleus. One of and NE
primary functions is to produce
arousal and Excitability Including the
fight or flight phenomenon associated
with the release of adrenaline. The
rice in NE levels in terms of danger or
stress results in an increase in
adrenaline
Chemical messages flow from
the axon on the top presynaptic
neuron, across the synapse to the
dendrite of the postsynaptic neuron on
the bottom, and then on to the soma
of the postsynaptic neuron. As the
impulse reaches the presynaptic terminal,
specific channels open in the membrane of this
neuron Which allows doubly charged calcium
atoms (ions) to enter the cell.
2
When each minute brain component has been located, its function identified and its interaction
with each other component made clear - the resulting description will contain all there is to
know about human nature and experience.
– R. Carter, 1998
Your brain creates your world. It is the hardware of your soul. It is the very essence of you as a
human being. It is the brain, which distinguishes us as humans, not skin color, body structure or
facial characteristics.
Daniel Amens
Neurochemistry 101
The brain is the most complex entity in the universe!
Neurons are separated by a • The brain can be considered an – Axon – a long fiber attached
gap known as the synapse electrochemical computer, as to the soma, whose
well as a chemical factory function is to help transmit
or synapse junction. The comprised of over 100 billion messages – the message
message is carried from neurons must travel through on its
• Neurons are made up of 3 main way to the next neuron
one neuron to the next by
parts – • Myelin sheath – an
molecules known as – Nucleus of cell body insulating cover that
neurotransmitters. (Soma) – the mini-brain some axons have to
that decides whether or help increase the
Chemical changes that not to transmit speed of
occur in these neuronal messages by means of transmission
electrochemical – Dendrites –branches on the
spaces determine how we
impulses from one receiving cell: function is to
respond to each “message” nerve cell to the next, receive messages, each
This process of that is to fire or not to neuron has ~10,000
fire dendrites
communication between
neurons known as neurotransmission, is largely responsible for the brain functions that determine
what we are as individuals including our personalities, intellect and character.
“The astonishing hypothesis is that you, your joys, and your sorrows, your
memories and ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact
no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated
molecules. As Lewis Carroll’s Alice might have phrased it: ‘You’re nothing but
a pack of neurons.”
- Francis Crick (1995)
1
, Norepinephrine (NE) which is found
in the part of the brain known as the
locus coeruleus. One of and NE
primary functions is to produce
arousal and Excitability Including the
fight or flight phenomenon associated
with the release of adrenaline. The
rice in NE levels in terms of danger or
stress results in an increase in
adrenaline
Chemical messages flow from
the axon on the top presynaptic
neuron, across the synapse to the
dendrite of the postsynaptic neuron on
the bottom, and then on to the soma
of the postsynaptic neuron. As the
impulse reaches the presynaptic terminal,
specific channels open in the membrane of this
neuron Which allows doubly charged calcium
atoms (ions) to enter the cell.
2
