I mentioned in an earlier post about the psych lecture series I’m taking (The Great Courses’ Introduction to Psychology) that I was a bit surprised (I guess?) about the more biological and physiological aspects of the course. Surprised is a little strong of a word, I suppose. I know that the biological and physiological aspects of the body can affect the brain, of course. I just never really thought of that work as part of “psychology” which I see as mental health rather than physical health/medicine, which is where I would put the other stuff.

Lecture 4 talked about the early knowledge and the realization in the 1800s with advances in medicine and the scientific study of the brain that different parts actually do different things aka the “localization of function”. More recent work can use EEGs or MRIs and functional MRIs to do better monitoring.

But I was surprised (there’s that word again) when the lectured covered three different parts of the brain:

• The hindbrain, including the medulla (carrying messages to the spinal cord), the pons (messages within the brain) and the ever-popular and more well-known cerebellum (for fine muscle movement and balance);
• The midbrain, including the reticular formation (for consciousness) and the substantia nigra (for providing dopamine); and,
• The forebrain, including the limbic system (for emotions and memory with amygdala and hippocampus), thalamus (switchboard for sensory info from the rest of the body), hypochalamus (for temperature, basic motives and drives), and cerebral cortex (thin surface layer for more complex behaviours and high mental processes).

Of that long list, I only recognized medulla, cerebellum, thalamus and cerebral cortex, but probably would have only correctly identified the function of the cerebral cortex. I’m not even sure I would have understood the cerebellum and cerebral cortex were different, to be honest. In defence of my ignorance, I never took biology or anatomy; my focus was on physics, so sue me. The lecture also covered the hemispheres and lobes, but I wasn’t that interested until it started talking about neuroplasticity.

I love the idea of the brain fixing itself or rewiring lost connections. For my son, with cerebral palsy-like symptoms, the general medical diagnosis for CP is that there is a break in wiring somewhere. As such, muscles get told to “flex” — and they never get an off signal. They are CONSTANTLY on. So, people with full CP can be diagnosed with an MRI that can point to the actual breakage, and they do physiotherapy, surgery or drugs to treat the symptoms. One of the surgeries goes into the spine and snips a wire so that the signal to the legs is “cut”, no more “on” signal being sent. Of course, that’s pretty major, and you have to restart learning how to walk, but it “corrects” the first problem by giving a second problem that they CAN solve. But the original pathways never change…you don’t have CP and suddenly stop having it. The wires don’t reconnect in that instance (and wouldn’t help my son anyway as that isn’t what he has).

Yet neuroplasticity is the ultimate idea of a cure for a lot of broken connections in the brain. On its own, the brain will repair itself. Physical damage from an injury that affects memory can sometimes be self-repaired as the brain finds a new connection pathway to the old area. I’ve read about it before particularly where it has affected personality, which seems almost bonkers from a purer-psychology perspective. The metaphor is simplistic, but it’s the idea that if you’re trying to get from the living room at the front of your house to the kitchen at the back of the house, and there’s something blocking your way in the dining room, you could theoretically go through the second floor if there are front and back stairs, or out the front door and come in the back door (although the metaphor breaks down). Alternatively, if you’re in an office building and have to get from one office to another, there is a direct way down Hall 1, or an indirect way down Hall 2. Neuroplasticity is the name given to the brain’s ability to heal itself, to find another hallway to get to the same spot and re-establish a link. That repair happens with some medical conditions, but it doesn’t happen with some others. And there isn’t necessarily a solid answer of how it works in the first place or why it doesn’t work in similar injuries elsewhere in the brain. It feels almost like “hacking” your own brain.

Nevertheless, I find it fascinating as an idea. Particularly with the idea that perhaps certain drug cocktails could speed up the routing process and help the brain heal faster. We already know the effects of certain drugs on the brain’s ability to access and retain information (both in good ways and bad), often exaggerated as plot devices in movies and books, even though the basic operations are sound. More obvious and less sensational to me is the finding that the brain actually physically changes with use of certain pathways — like learning to read Braille expanding the language centre of your brain.

Fascinating, I admit. But I’m still not sure I’d classify it as psychology unless the elements change personality or active behavioural cues. I’m not ready to embrace the larger holistic view and the ties to the physiological aspects. I want to believe that consciousness is more important than biology.