Chapter 3

The Science of Perception: The Nervous System

Why do we have a nervous system?

While it is true that one could go into a bookstore and potentially find books that promise

to reveal the mysteries of how every element of nature works, and while there is significant

research regarding our efforts to understand how hope works in humans, there are few biologists

who would state, unequivocally, whether things such as the spirit or the soul even exist, let alone

how they are produced in the body. In later chapters, we will take these questions up explicitly.

But, for the moment, we will focus on the nervous system, where there is reasonable consensus

that complicated states like hope and belief are produced. If one wishes to understand hope,

therefore, it is necessary to have a rudimentary understanding of the nervous system and what it

does. Chapters 3-5 will provide this background. And despite the fact that it requires some

specialized understanding of neurobiology, the goal is to keep the biology at a basic level and

provide just enough information to facilitate understanding of how hope and belief are produced.

An experiment conducted 30 years on an early prototype of the robot will be our starting

point. The robot was given a seemingly simple task: to roll across a small room and open a red

door (Figure 1). While the experiment seems like a simple logistical maneuver, it proved to be

astonishingly difficult. The robot (Figure 2.) began to move forward, which was a fairly simple

undertaking since it was equipped with wheels to roll on and a forward command button. The

robot was also endowed with sensors with which it could detect its orientation in space and other

elements of the surrounding environment. Thus provisioned, it seemed like a simple task for the

robot to move across the room and open a door. It was not, after all, rocket science. And yet it
was. Every time the robot inched forward, its orientation within the room changed. While that

change was all but imperceptible to human eyes, for the robot, it was dramatic. Thus, in order to

execute the simple command to move across the room, the robot required an hour of analysis for

each couple of inches it moved forward. Was it still upright? Was it still headed towards the

door? Was the door still red? All of these were questions that had to be checked and rechecked

with each plodding advance of the robot.

Figure 1. The Red Door Figure 2. The Robot

No doubt the scientists involved in this experiment left the robot to its own devices, in the

meantime, so that they could go out for a beer or catch up on The Big Bang Theory. Eventually,

however, the industrious little robot made it to the other side of the room and, incredibly,

managed to open the door. But scientists never satisfied decided to give the robot a new task:

they returned the robot to its point of origin and asked it to move across the room and open the

door once more. This time, however, a large red X was placed on the door (Figure 3), which

completely flummoxed the robot (Figure 4.). Why? The answer is rather simple: the robot knew

nothing of Xs. Was the object adorned with the X still a door, or was it something completely

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different? Could a door with an X be opened? The new experiment baffled the robots

mechanical brain, and it froze in its tracks.

Figure 3 Figure 4.

Why is this? Unlike a human, the robots limited arsenal of skills left it deficient in two

marked ways. First, the robot couldnt generalize an experience (i.e. the robot could not

understand that a red door marked with an X was still a door that could be opened). Second, the

robot could not learn from experience. The robot could not incorporate information from the

success of the first trial into its database and apply the information to the second trial. The

disheartened robot literally turned away from the door unable to adjust to its new situation.

In the robots world, any change at all meant total change. And, as previously noted,

experience (even simple ones) did not produce meaningful information from which the robot

could evaluate new experiences. The robot, in short, was incapable of learning beyond its basic

programming or ability to be reprogrammed. What interests us about this experiment today is

that while there have been marked advances in robotic technology, even the most sophisticated

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machine is nowhere close to being able to perform routine tasks of which even toddlers are

capable. Even a mouse or a lowly ant could easily outperform a robot.

Basic Functions of the Nervous System

The question, thus, becomes: how did living organisms become so incredible? Even the

simplest organism has to regularly perform some very complicated tasks that are far beyond a

robots ability to simulate. Our brains are processing an endless stream of sensory information

from the external environment whos knocking at the door?, where did I misplace my keys?,

who allowed Sean Hannity to keep speaking?, etc. Even without consciously thinking about it,

were absorbing this information, evaluating it, and deciding whether to act upon what we have

perceived. Our survival might depend on it or not. The point is, humans have an amazing

nervous system that helps us decide which things we should react to and which we can safely

ignore.

Thus, we see that monitoring and responding appropriately to external stimuli is one

major function of the nervous system. There is a second, general function that is equally

important: namely, the maintenance of the internal environment inside our bodies within

acceptable biological limits. These limits are well known to us even if we rarely think of them.

For example, we know that our body temperature needs to be around 98.6 degrees F. We know

that if it goes too high or too low, trouble ensues, and we must take corrective action. Similar

limits exist for many physiological functions like your level of hydration, heartbeat, breathing

rate, etc. There are prescribed limits for all of these functions, departure from which can be

harmful. Regulation of these functions is not something that one would want to bequeath unto

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conscious memory. If we had to remember to breath, for example, we would not would not be

alive today. At some point, it would have slipped our minds to draw breath and we would no

longer be counted amongst the living. Luckily, all of this is taken care of by our friend, the

nervous system.

Because humans are endowed with a nervous system, we are capable of incredible things.

On the low-end of the scale, we possess the requisite skills to avoid being eaten by large

carnivores. On the high-end, we are capable of performing complex tasks such as playing a

musical instrument, riding a bicycle and using symbolic reasoning. Compared to the tasks asked

of the robot, these tasks are immensely more difficult. But even with that degree of comparative

difficulty simple organisms, like bacteria, can detect and avoid predators while more complex

organisms such as elephants and birds have a repertoire of basic survival skills and and are also

capable of creative functions such as performing music.

So what do living things have that robots do not, at least at the present time? High-

functioning living organisms have a nervous system. Yes, it is true that plants do a very

respectable job of earning a living and certainly have the capacity for regulation of the internal

environment, but in plants it is not done with a nervous system. Also, plants lack higher-level

processes like consciousness. Humans, and more advanced vertebrates, have a nervous system

that allows much more complicated methods of processing. These include transducing and

understanding cues from the environment, comparing new signals to previous ones, evaluating

possible responses and choosing one of several possible responses. All of this is possible

because complex vertebrates have a nervous system composed of billions of neurons shaped by

natural selection over geological time. The possible permutations of the basic nervous system

are vast. Luckily, however, all organisms with a nervous system operate on the same basic

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model, i.e., the neuron (Figure 5.). The largest difference in functionality between organisms is

derived from the number of neurons they possess the more complicated the organism, the high

level of processing capability, the more neurons it possesses.

Neurons: the Basic Operating Unit of the Nervous System

Figure 5. The Basic Neuron(1=dendrite; 2=axon; 6=soma or cell body; 7=nucleus).

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 All organisms with a nervous system operate using a specialized cell called a neuron

(Figure 5.). There is, of course, the cell body or soma (labelled 6 on Figure 5.) which contains

all of the usual organelles found in eukaryotic cells, such as the nucleus, mitochondria, golgi

bodies etc. We will discuss this again when we get to chapter 5.

There are 3 basic types of neurons. First are the sensory neurons that carry information

from the sense organs (eyes, ear mouth, nose, etc.) to the spinal cord and brain. This is how

organisms perceive what is going on in the environment around them. The brain processes and

evaluates signals and threats posed to the organism, should they exist , and prepares the organism

to take appropriate action if a threat is perceived. Second, motor neurons carry messages from

the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands around the body. This is the pathway by

which an organism will respond to information the brain has processed from external stimuli.

One major potential action is to tell the glands to release hormones that induce the organism to

flee. Additional signals will then be sent to the muscles to carry out that action. Finally,

interneurons carry messages from sensory neurons to motor neurons, completing the circuit and

allowing the seamless processing of messages and responses.

We know that neurons are relatively standard from organism to organism, without much

variance in the way they look or how they perform. However, there are huge variations among

organisms in terms of the number of neurons they possess. Simple organisms like worms will

have a relatively small number of neurons. Complicated organisms like parakeets, pandas, or

people, however, will have billions of neurons. Thus, as the number of neurons increases, the

number of responses available to that organism in any given situation also increase. For

instance, if a worm perceives that it is about to get eaten, its main defense is to try and escape

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from the predator by fleeing. If a human perceives a similarly mortal threat, on the other hand,

the human will have many more potential remedies, beginning with prevention. A human might

simply avoid areas where he or she is likely to face danger, or he or she could make a pre-

emptive plan to help mitigate the threat should it arise. If all else fails, the human might try to

run away, like the worm, or turn and face the threat directly.

Given this information, it is not difficult to understand that part of evolutionary history

of living organisms, particularly animals, has been to increase the number of neurons, thus,

affording greater complexity of capabilities as the number of neurons increased. As an

evolutionary process, our understanding of this phenomenon is that those individuals which were

endowed with more neurons had a greater prospect for survival and would have left more

offspring. Over time, and through continuous selection, the proportion of individuals having

more neurons increased. Similarly, as the number of neurons increased, so did the complexity of

the nervous system and its structure. Indeed, in humans, there are so many neurons that they

become clustered into units to permit advanced, efficient processing. In addition, the number of

connections between neurons and other structures is increased in complex nervous systems to

allow efficiently distributed processing, multilayered perceptions and an increased ability for

response. Finally, as the number of neurons increased, experiences themselves can be stored as

memories, recalled when needed, and used to make future decisions.

Humans, therefore, are the pinnacles of neuronal processing as far as we know. Our

large brain helps us execute basic survival functions, but that is just the beginning. We can do

amazing things, like anticipate a future and then undertake actions to secure that future. We

might share our goals with others in advance of achieving them and get input from those who

have more experience or resources. When were finished with our plan, we might reflect on its

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utility or beauty. We might choose to share our accomplishment with others and allow them to

use the resources weve just acquired because it is the right and moral thing to do. Then, in our

free time, we might compose a piece of music to commemorate our success and encourage others

to do the same. We all have inner Einsteins and Mozarts; it is just a matter of finding the time

and giving the requisite effort to create great things. Its also a matter of how many neurons we

have.

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 Chapter 4
Structure of the Nervous System

To most average humans, the nervous system and how it works is basically like rocket

science and thermodynamics. Most of us dont know anything about them and are content to

remain that way. They are all really complicated ideas with a surfeit of terminology that are

completely beyond comprehension of mere mortals. Certainly, these are not matters that one

brings up at a party ---even if it is well stocked with alcohol and other mind-altering substances.

Why, then, do I bring it up here?

The reality is that in order to understand hope and religion as biological phenomena, we have

to know something about the nervous system and how it functions. In chapter 3, we looked at

what the nervous system is how it underscores all human endeavors in ways that range from the

mundane (like getting out bed in the morning) to the near miraculous (like writing a symphony

or understanding thermodynamics). In this chapter we will look at the gross structure of the

nervous system and its component parts. We will also talk, in more depth, about the structure of

the brain and its subunits so that you will be able to understand their roles in really sophisticated

phenomena like hope and belief. I will keep the offending terminology to a minimum and

connect specific structures to processes of interest that we will study in subsequent chapters. In

short, I will be mindful of the fact that you are not aspiring neurosurgeons but people who

merely need enough information to understand the biology of hope and belief.

Major Divisions of the Nervous System

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In Chapter 3, you learned that the basic subunit of the nervous system, regardless of size, is the

neuron. You further learned that there are 3 general types of neurons: sensory, motor and

interneurons. A very large animal like a human will have billions of neurons in his nervous

system. Importantly, these neurons are further organized and bundled into functional units, of

which there are two major divisions in the human body: first, the central nervous system (CNS),

composed of the brain and spinal cord (Fig. 1) whose basic function is to receive and process

information coming in from the sensory organs, analyze that data and help the organism respond

appropriately. The brain is also the center of higher level thought processes such as cognition

and analysis. It sounds simple when reduced to two sentences, but it is important to remember

the previously mentioned robot experiment, and how difficult it was for the robot to simply move

across a room without constantly stopping to recalculate its spatial orientation. Our nervous

system is bombarded with a constant stream of information from which it must parse out what is

potentially important and what is not. As one could imagine, it is absolutely critical to the

survival of our species that this nontrivial undertaking is executed efficiently and accurately.

This is a major reason that the neurons are organized into units.

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 Figure 1. The Central Nervous System

Brain

Spinal Cord

Photo Credit: Jordi March I Nogue

The second major division of the nervous system is the peripheral nervous system (PNS),

which receives information from the organisms internal and external environments, and helps

information travel from sensory organs to the spinal cord and the brain and back again. In

addition, the PNS is the mechanism by which homeostasis is maintained in the body.

Homeostasis

It is important for the body to maintain critical body functions within certain defined limits,

the idea being that these physiological functions must occur and take place within a certain range

so that the rest of the body can function properly. This is what is meant by homeostasis, or

steady state. For example, in most homes or apartments there is a thermostat that measures the

ambient temperature. A typical range for the thermostat to be set is around 68-70 degrees F.

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When the room temperature drops below 68, the thermostat tells the furnace to kick on and

produce heat. The furnace will continue to do so until the room temperature climbs above 70 at

which point the thermostat will tell the furnace to shut off. As long as all the equipment is

working properly, the room should maintain a comfortable temperature that averages 68-70

degrees.

The human body works in roughly the same way. Internal detectors measure when the

body is too hot and executes processes that will reduce body heat when the temperature exceeds

98.6 degrees F. Sometimes, it is something as simple and voluntary as taking a rest from activity

or something involuntary, like sweating. In either case, both actions will reduce heat. Similarly,

if the body temperature is too low, the brain will send a signal to the body to engage in what

physiologists refer to as futile cycling. In this process, glucose, an energy rich sugar is

simultaneously produced and subsequently destroyed, the net result of which is the generation of

heat, and the external sign that this is happening is a chattering sound often referred to as

shivering.

Temperature regulation is very important to the function of a higher organism because so

many processes depend on body temperature being maintained within a specific rage. But, of

course, its not just body temperature that requires constant supervision and adjustment to assure

physiologically appropriate limits, or steady state. Several other processes require this sort of

control, making it all the more amazing that this can go on in the human body without the owner

of that body even being aware that it is occurring. The job is assigned to the PNS, and it will

take care of many of these things without our being consciously aware of it.

The Brain

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 As was previously mentioned, the basic components of the CNS are the brain and the

spinal cord. The brain, as it turns out, is a most amazing organ. It consists of, roughly, 100

billion neurons in the average human. Yes, thats billion with a B. The importance of the brain

and the spinal cord are revealed in the lengths the body has gone to protect them. The skull and

the vertebral column are the first lines of defense for the brain and the spinal cord, respectively.

The brain is also covered with thick layers of tissue called meninges, which provide additional

security. Finally, the brain and spinal cord are bathed in a special fluid whose job is to absorb

shock such that the underlying structures are not jostled excessively in a collision. Collectively,

these protections keep the CNS safe from many kinds of trauma.

Despite the endowment of the CNS with protective features, there are other dangers to its

integrity. Disease and specific behaviors can also kill brain cells leading to particular conditions

as the neurons die. For instance, diseases such as Alzheimers or Parkinsons, are degenerative

(i.e. there is progressive death of brain cells) meaning that the condition will worsen as more

brain cells die. A humans behavior can also be the source of its own undoing. It was a long

held axiom that excessive consumption of alcohol kills brain cells, potentially leading to loss of

function among those who drink to excess. It was a biological axiom that mature brain cells do

not reproduce themselves. Therefore, if you drink too much and kill a lot of neurons in your

brain, they will not be replaced by new ones. But biologists are now learning that under certain

circumstances, neurons can be created anew in a fully formed adult. Thus, at some point,

humans may be able to overcome the loss of brain cells. Until that time, it is wise to do

everything possible to preserve the brain cells you currently have.

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Functions and Structure of the Brain

The brain is the site of executive function, high-level decision-making, cognition, and

consciousness. It may also be the location of religious feeling, the spirit, and the soul. The jury

is still out on the later, and may always be a matter of faith rather than science. Nevertheless, the

3.5 pounds of human brain cells can do some pretty amazing things even if mechanisms by

which they do these things are yet unexplained.

One thing that scientists have gotten pretty good at, however, is describing and understanding

the structure of the brain. We know that the brain is attached to the skull with small ligaments

another of those protective structures that prevents damage to the brain. We also know that the

brain, itself, is highly structured and were aware that different cognitive and regulatory

functions are assigned to different parts of the brain. We suspect that the capacity for hope and

religion reside somewhere in the brain, although the specifics are still pretty fuzzy. Nonetheless,

it is important to have a basic understanding of the structure of the brain in order to later discuss

hope and religion.

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Figure 2. The Brain and its Major Subunits. Four lobes of the cerebrum on the left. The right
shows functional units of the brain.

The cerebrum is the most prominent part of the human brain. It is the large, mass that

occupies the top part of the brain when seen from a lateral viewpoint. In Figure 2., you see that

the cerebrum is further subdivided into its constituent lobes which are the frontal lobe (shown in

lavender), the parietal lobe (purple), the temporal lobe (green) and the occipital lobe (tan). In

higher mammals (like humans), further structures can be identified within the cerebrum. The

main part of the cerebrum is called the cortex; however, higher mammals have an additional

piece that developed later in evolutionary time, and is referred to as the neocortex or the

forebrain, as it is located in the forehead. The cerebrum is a very important evolutionary

development because it is the site of both voluntary and conscious action. It is also the site

where high cognitive functions, loosely referred to as intelligence, the ability to learn, to make

advanced judgments, and the creation of a sense of self resides. Structurally, the cerebrum can

be divided into two halves or hemispheres (Fig. 3), , connected to one another through a series of

neurons collectively called the corpus callosum (Fig. 4 ). This structure allows for information

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to pass back and forth between the two hemispheres, which are otherwise physically separated

from one another.

Figure 3. The Human Brain Divided into Right and Left Hemispheres

Left Hemisphere Right Hemisphere

The left hemisphere receives and analyzes information coming from sensory neurons located

on the right side of the body, and is responsible for motor activity, language, and math skills. By

contrast, the right hemisphere receives information coming from the left side of the body, and

creates a holistic, integrated view of the world, which includes visual-spatial understanding of

the physical world as well as the ability to perceive and express emotions. It would not be

unreasonable to wonder how, if the right and left hemispheres are doing entirely different things,

humans are able to function at all. The answer is the corpus callosum, which allows information

being generated in one hemisphere to flow into the other.

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Figure 4. Top View of Brain Showing the Corpus Callosum (red arrow) Joining the Two
Hemispheres

Humans often enjoy assigning different characteristics to either side of the brain. If one is

left brained, they are viewed as analytical and rational. If one is right brained, they might be

considered creative or artistic. Right brain vs. left brain characteristics are summarized in Figure

5. That seems to be the prevailing prejudice, at least. Regardless, there is at least one author

who has taken this idea very serious. In a recent book entitled Master and the Emissary, author

Ian Gilchrist, who is both a psychologist and philosopher, attributes the mindset of western

culture to left-brain dominance. He also asserts that in the historical record of western

civilizations, many of their excesses and problems arise due to the fact that western cultures are

not properly in touch with our creative, nonrational Master side, which acts as a regulator for

our excesses. It is an interesting idea which, if nothing else, brings considerable attention to the

structure and functioning of our brains.

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 Figure 5. Characteristics of the Right and Left Brains

Photo Attribution: Chickensaresocute

Another way to look at the cerebrum, other than as the sum of two hemispheres, is to

understand that each individual hemisphere is itself divisible into 4 different areas called lobes.

Each lobes name is derived from the part of the skull that covers it. The front part of the

cerebrum is the aptly named frontal lobe. If you go back to figure 2 image on left side,

look for the portions of the brain highlighted in different colors. Please connect each lobe with

its proper name. We will use these names and locations many times in the rest of the book.

It might be helpful to give a demonstration on how form is connected to function and,

also, highlight the amazing ability of the brain to make sense of the world. Take, for example, a

student listening to a lecture on their favorite electronic device. The sound of the lecturer enters

both ears and an electrical message in which the sound is encoded and will be sent via the

auditory nerve to the brain. In the brain, the sound of the lecturer will be sent to the main

language center in the temporal lobe, situated above the left ear. The student has heard the

sound, but the process is not nearly completed; the student must make sense of the message, and

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it is here that all sorts of ambiguities and nuances become relevant. Suppose, for instance, that

the lecturer says the word, write. The word is spelled out here to serve as a placeholder. But,

if this were a completely sound-based experience, as speech often is, the student might not know

if the lecture meant write, right, or rite. Here, the analytical left-brain kicks in and

analyzes the sentence in terms of context and syntax to determine which spelling of write is the

intended meaning.

While this seems like a lot in itself, the process is still not done. The student cannot yet

fully understand the statement by the lecturer. At this point, the corpus callosum engages, taking

the partially digested message from the left temporal lobe language center and sends it to the

secondary language center in the right hemisphere. The right brain, which is better at gauging

subjective things like emotional content, goes to work to decode potential meaning in tone of

voice (loud or soft), emotional content (happy, angry, sad, etc.), and even highly nuanced verbal

inflections (did the speaker hold on to certain syllables too long and, if so, what did it mean?).

Do these things communicate something different than the understanding generated on the left

side of the brain? With all of these considerations addressed, the whole brain agrees on a

meaning.

Generally, scientists dont perform invasive experiments on human subjects at least, not

without a lot of paperwork. So, it might be reasonable to ask, then, how we know so much about

the brain? One major source of information about how the brain is supposed to work comes

from people who have suffered some sort of brain injury. A lot of our information regarding the

corpus callosum, for instance, comes from people who have had epilepsy and, to control the

seizures, the corpus callosum was severed. Such a patient is said to have split brain cognition.

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He or she could be shown a spoon, and the image of the spoon in an experimental system that

only permitted the left eye to see the image. The information encoded in the picture would be

taken to the right side of the brain for processing. Thus, the patient would know that he saw was

a spoon. However, because the corpus callosum is no longer intact, the patient couldnt say the

word spoon, since the information cant be shunted from the visual center of the right

hemisphere to the language center of the left. From such studies as these, scientists have learned

a lot about what specific parts of the brain do.

Focusing now on the brain and the issues of hope and religion, we can report some of the

established functions of different regions of the brain. Hope and religion are the result of

sensory information that is further refined by specific processing in association centers in the

brain. It is, in a way, the one-stop shopping plan for understanding very sophisticated ideas.

There are four such centers that neurologists currently believe are relevant to hope and religion:

the visual association center (ViAC), which adds information from other senses such as

emotion and memory after visual images are processed; the orientation center (OC), which

receives information about touch, vision, and hearing to create 3d images of the body in space

and defines the self relative to other objects (in certain mental states, such as religious reverie,

the OC may behave strangely or become less active); the attention association center (AAC),

whose main job is to form intentions and act upon them and, if damaged, causes a loss of

concentration and an inability to plan the future or carry out complex conceptual tasks; and the

verbal association center (VeAC), which generates abstract concepts and relates those concepts

to words. To operate properly, the VeAC requires (at minimum) an understanding of language,

an ability to compare concepts, and to categorize and properly use grammatical and logical

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functions. Without this center, consciousness is impaired, as is the expression of consciousness

through language.

What are the potential actions the brain might tell one to take once the information has

been processed and understood? There are four general potential outcomes. First, some sort of

emotional reaction that involves the production of an internal state that we would call a feeling

might be created. Second, there might be a motor response. If the brain signals that danger is

present, one might decide to get the heck out of dodge by having the brain send a message to the

muscles to run away as quickly as possible. Third, there might be a verbal response one might

shout for joy if they perceive a happy thought or they might yell or scream at someone they think

is a threat. Finally, if the event is significant, one might record it, along with a record of how it

made them feel in their memory. And since these responses are not the sole province of the

brain and central nervous system, we may logically move to a discussion of the peripheral

nervous system.

The Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)

The PNS basically consists of all the neurons that are not contained within the brain or

the spinal column. The PNS innervates all of the diverse parts of the body outside the CNS, and

connects to the CNS so that information can be traded back and forth. This includes motor

neurons which are nerves connected to muscles; here, information from the CNS might result in

motor neurons sending messages to muscles and glands or sensory neurons which then send

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signals from sensory organs to the CNS. Many of the functions of the peripheral nervous system

emanate from the other structural components of the brain, i.e., the cerebellum, medulla and

organs of the limbic system. These will be discussed in due course.

Fig. 6. The Peripheral Nervous

System. PNS nerves appear in
blue, CNS in red.

The kingdom of the PNS (Figure 6.) is vast, so it typically is subdivided

into several parts: namely, the somatic nervous system, which controls voluntary muscle

movement (e.g. I want to flee from the bear, therefore I will make my legs move quickly), and

the autonomic nervous system, which controls involuntary responses that are executed through

organs, glands, and smooth muscles. Just to make life a little more fun, the autonomic nervous

system is further subdivided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The

sympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system contains the suite of functions that respond

quickly to stress and helps us take appropriate action. The collection of responses by the

sympathetic nervous system effectively prepares the body for a stressful event by heightening

energy levels, increasing the heartbeat, elevating respiration levels, and increasing metabolism.

If one encountered a large predatory mammal, this collection of responses would help you

escape from it by inducing the running from the bear functions just described. Assuming that

youve successfully escaped from the predator, and are now resting comfortably in your favorite

Barca lounger (forgive the mixing of metaphors), the parasympathetic nervous system will kick

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in to reverse what the sympathetic nervous system has done in times of crisis, thus restoring

functions to their normal level. In this way, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous

systems are the very model of homeostasis by acting in opposition to one another.

With the cerebrum thoroughly examined, it is time to move on to other parts of the brain.

Next is the medulla, or the reptile brain. The medulla is a very primitive part of the brain

found even in animals like reptiles; it also looks, basically, like an extension of the spinal cord

(See figure 2). The primitive nature of the medulla is brought home when we compare the

medulla of a shark to that of a human being. In humans, the telencephalon (or cerebrum)

dominates and is highly visible, whereas in sharks the telencephalon is much smaller as a

percentage of total brain mass (Figure 7). So, a shark could be expected to be less analytical than

a human, and certainly not interested in spiritual matters. In the shark, the medulla is the largest

part of the brain; whereas, in the human, the medulla is much smaller. Thus, shark life is

governed by the medulla and the cerebrum governs human life.

Figure 7. Comparison of Shark and Human Brains

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Structurally, the medulla consists of a collection of nerve cells with cell bodies at the center of

the organ. Its nerve cells are surrounded by a protective layer of myelin. The main function of

the medulla is the control of autonomic functions like breathing, blood pressure, pulse, etc. The

shark has these covered with little issue. Humans, however, can do this and all of the things that

involve higher parts of the brain.

The other undiscussed section of the brain is the cerebellum, which literally means little

brain (appears in red in Figure 7). It plays a significant role in coordinating body movements,

sending signals from the brain to position sensors in the muscles and joints and, by comparing

information coming from these sources, correctly orients the body in space. The cerebellum,

therefore, has the potential for involvement in spiritual endeavors, which will be discussed later.

Finally, the cerebellum is the source of muscle memory, working in conjunction with the

cerebrum. That is, the cerebrum makes decisions and the cerebellum stores information about

those decisions and their consequences.

Finally, we must acknowledge the so-called organs of emotion which comprise the

limbic system shown in the diagram on the right side of Figure 2 and are sometimes referred to

as the emotional brain. These discrete organs are found buried underneath the cerebrum. Like

the cerebellum and the medulla, the limbic organs are considered primitive and are very old in an

evolutionary sense. The main organs comprising the limbic system are the thalamus,

hypothalamus, amygdala, and hippocampus. Each organ within the limbic system performs

multiple functions, but the ones of potential consequence to the biology of hope and belief are as

follows: the thalamus is a relay station that sends information from all senses except olfaction

to the cerebral cortex; the hypothalamus contains groups of neurons, some of which can

release neurohormones when stimulated (other functions are the maintenance of homeostasis in

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processes that involve water balance [e.g. blood pressure]); the amygdala produces a sense of

pleasure in response to a variety of stimulants (sex, chocolate, cocaine, music, et al.), channels

fearful stimuli, and is required to recognize faces; and the hippocampus, which is involved in

long term memory storage, especially in recalling those functions that involve learning. In

migratory birds, the hippocampus is known to be involved in place learning. Similarly, London

taxi drivers are reputed to have very well developed hippocampi as the streets of London require

an excellent place memory to negotiate streets that are not intuitively laid out.

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 Chapter 5
How Neurons Work

Now it is time to get somewhat reductionist and consider how the individual units of the

nervous system, the neurons, act to make possible all the amazing things the nervous system can

do. As previously mentioned, all neurons are basically the same structurally, and they do

basically the same thing regardless of whether theyre sensory, motor, or interneurons. This is a

good thing, because humans have over 100 billion neurons in our brain alone, and it would be a

real pain if we had to deal with multiple modalities. There are changes in the technical details of

precisely how different neurons work, but they are similar enough that those details can be safely

ignored. At its most basic, the job of a neuron is to receive information in the form of an

electrical impulse from somewhere and to send it somewhere else. Along the way, the

neurological message will change form and, in the last part of the process, special chemicals

called neurotransmitters are involved. We will go over all of that in this chapter.

The quickest way to get a grasp of how neurons work is to consider whats going on

when nothing at all is happening. That is, we will first consider whats going on when a given

neuron is at rest, or is between receiving and conducting electrical messages. When a neuron is

at rest, we say that it is in its resting state. Indeed, neurobiologists are very clever with

terminology. The events that take place at the neuronal level to achieve this resting state set the

neuron up to do its job of receiving and conducting electrical signals. And, best of all, once we

understand the resting state, the bulk of understanding what the neuron does is simply a variation

on that theme.

Each of the 100 billion neurons in your brain is connected to approximately 1000 other

neurons, which is a fairly impressive thing and gives us some idea of the complexity of the

nervous system. At this point, we need to consider in a bit more detail the structure of an

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individual neuron so that we can understand how these connections are established. Each neuron

contains 3 basic parts: a cell body that contains all of the organelles that are familiar to those who

have taken a basic biology course (things like the nucleus, mitochondria, ribosomes, etc.), and

two processes or long extensions of the cell that branch off from the cell body (Figure 1). The

first process is called the axon, and is basically a straight-line projection with branches only at

the end of the axon. The second process is highly branched, as its name dendrite implies.

Dendrology is the study of trees, so it follows that dendrites are branched like trees.

Figure 1. Structure of a Neuron (1=dendrite, 2=axon, 3=node of ranvier, 4=synapse, 5-

myelin, 6=cell body, 7=nucleus).

Photo Credit: NickGorton

When it comes time for the neuron to do its job, the basic task of the neuron can be

described as signal transduction. What the neuron will do is receive a message from another

neuron in an electrical form and change the signal to a chemical form. This change allows

the neuron to communicate with other neurons by sending a chemical message to the next

neuron, which is then transduced back into an electrical signal, thus completing the

communication loop. This is the basic mechanism by which one neuron communicates with

another neuron.

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 In order for this process to occur, that is, for messages to change from an electrical signal,

to a chemical signal, and then back to an electrical signal in the next neuron, electrical currents

must be generated. This, in turn, is done by setting up a charge differential across the

membrane that covers the axon (the long, relatively unbranched process that comes off the cell

body). The charge differential is created by the neurons ability to move charged atoms and

molecules, called ions, in and out of the cell.

Armed with even a cursory knowledge of biology, we can recall that biological

membranes are both complicated and useful things. The membrane consists of two layers, and

its basic job is to regulate what goes into and out of the cell. It would be a very bad situation if

things could enter and exit the cell at will; there might be poisons in the environment that could

cavalierly enter the cell and kill it if there were no way to regulate what gets in and out.

Fortunately, cells are well endowed with things like receptors that bind to things the cell needs

and allows to enter.

Neurons are in the business of regulating how salts or charged ions get across the

membrane that covers the axon. The traffic of substances like sodium (Na+), chloride (Cl-), and

potassium (K+), is highly regulated and, when the neuron is in the resting state, there will be a

specific distribution of these ions across the axonal membrane. At rest, there will be much more

sodium (Na) outside the cell than inside because, when the neuron is in its resting state, the

axonal membranes wont let sodium in. Also, when the axon is in its resting state, there will be

much more potassium (K) inside the neuron than outside. Again, this is because the axonal

membrane will not allow potassium to leave the axon when the membrane is at rest. Both

sodium and potassium are positively charged, so this arrangement wont create the charge

differential that is needed to generate an electrical current. However, theres another ion that

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now becomes important: chloride, which is somewhat more abundant inside the resting axonal

membrane than it is outside. Additional negative charges accrue on the inside of the axon are

due to negatively charged molecules such as proteins.

As a consequence of the unequal distribution of Na, K, and Cl and organic molecules,

there are more negative charges inside the resting axon than there are outside, and more positive

charges outside the axon when it is at rest (Figure 2). The resting potential is maintained by the

axonal membrane, which wont allow these big ions to freely move across the cell membrane. It

is the difference in ion distribution across the axonal membrane that creates the charge

differential that the resting axon needs to conduct and transduce electrical signals. That

difference amounts to about -70 mV in the resting neuron, which is simply a way of quantifying

how much more negative the inside of the axon is relative to the outside.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

---------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------- Axonal Membrane

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Figure 2. Distribution of ions across the axonal membrane during the resting state. The preponderance of positive outside the axon is
indicated by the (+)charges and the preponderance of negative charges inside the axon is indicated by the ( )signs.

When a resting neuron receives an electrical signal from another neuron, everything just

discussed regarding the resting neuron will change. Under normal circumstances, the axonal

membrane wont allow free passage of ions across the membrane. However, when the axon

receives an electrical signal from another neuron, major changes will take place in the axonal

membrane to facilitate sending the electrical message on to the next neuron.

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 Receipt of the electrical signal by the axon causes a change in the axonal membranes

permeability to sodium. There are sodium gates in the axonal membrane whose job is to regulate

the traffic of sodium in an out of the cell. While in the resting state, the sodium gates are closed.

In this state, sodium can neither leave nor enter the axon (Figure 3.).However, the receipt of an

electrical impulse from another neuron causes the sodium gates in the axon to open and sodium

begins to move from the outside to the inside of the axon. In fact, a rush of sodium enters the

axon and, with it, a flush of positive charges enters the inside of the axon.

Photo Credit: CK-12 Foundation

Figure 3. Ion gates in axonal membrane. The blue gate is embedded in the amber axonal
membrane. The small pink hexagonal shapes represent the ions. The gates open and close to
allow specific ions to travel into or out of the axon depending on what is needed by the cell to
conduct a neurological message.

As sodium moves into the axon, a strange thing happens. In fact, this is a rare example of

positive feedback in biology. Here, the initial influx of sodium further increases the rate at

which sodium will enter the cell. As a result, the charge differential of -70 mV established in the

resting state begins to move towards zero as more and more positive charges enter the cell.

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When the charge reversal reaches a critical threshold, an action potential will be triggered. This

is the mechanism by which depolarization will sweep down the length of the entire axon.

Photo Credit: CK-12 Foundation

Figure 4. Top: as sodium enters the axon through the membrane gates, the voltage
across the membrane climbs towards 0 as a result of positive charges entering the axon triggering
an action potential. Bottom: Current flow between adjacent areas of axon with reversed charges
propagates the action potential down the length of the axon.

For the record, and just to keep an accountants hold on the ions, it turns out that the

following the influx of sodium, the axonal membrane will become more permeable to potassium

as well. When this happens, potassium starts to move out of the axon down a concentration

gradient. For a finite period of time, however, massive entry of sodium into the axon causes a

localized reversal of charge across the axonal membrane resulting in the depolarization of that

part of the axon. Depolarization means that in that localized area, there is a reversal of charge

across the axon with more positive charges inside an more negative charges outside.

Now were ready for some real action. The rapid influx of sodium through the sodium

gates has resulted in a reversal of charge across a localized area of the axonal membrane. Since

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the depolarized region of the axon now is oppositely charged relative to the area adjacent to it, it

is possible to generate current flow between the depolarized area and the next small area of the

axon which is still at the resting state (Bottom half of Figure 4).

To reiterate what we just discussed above, once the depolarization of the local action

reaches a threshold, an action potential will be triggered. That is, as sodium rushes in and, prior

to the exodus of potassium from inside to out, the charge differential starts to climb from -70mV

towards 0 as positive charges enter the axon. Eventually, the charge differential will overshoot

0 and become positive. This, in turn, causes an action potential to spike and it will carry the

neurological message down the length of the axon. This is critical because the electrical message

received by the axon and resulting in depolarization has to reach the end of the exon in order to

set in motion the final sequence of events that will result in the message being sent to the next

neuron.

Propagation of the action potential down the length of the axon is also a process of

reversing charges. When the action potential is spiked, a small part of the axon is depolarized,

but the rest of the axon is still at the resting state. However, it is possible for current flow to take

place between oppositely charged areas of the depolarized axon and the adjacent part of the

axonal membrane which is still at the resting state (Figure 4bottom half.). The receipt of

electrical current in the new area of the axonal membrane causes the membrane to become more

permeable to sodium; Na gates open and sodium begins to rush into the next part of the

membrane, causing depolarization in a localized area. This process sets up current flow between

the newly depolarized area and the next section of the membrane at resting potential. By this

mechanism, the action potential sweeps down the entire length of the axon.

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 To summarize, the membrane begins at a resting potential of -70mV. At some point, an

electrical stimulus from another neuron is received, causing Na channels to open. The voltage

differential decreases in a localized area, first moving towards and then eventually surpassing 0

mv. At this point, an action potential will be spiked and through a series of successive

depolarizations, the action potential will move down the length of the entire axon.

The charge reversal leading to localized depolarization reaches a maximum of +30 mV,

at which point the sodium channels close and the potassium channels begin to open, allowing

potassium to move outside the axonal membrane. After a few milliseconds, the potassium

channels also close. Finally, once the action potential has reached the end of the axon, the cell

enters a refractory phase in which it uses Na/K ATPases to exchange Na for K and restore the

resting potential. At this point, the neuron is ready to receive and conduct a new neurological

message.

The final task at hand, at least in terms of the neuron, is to explain how the neurological

message gets from the end of the axon that has spiked and propagated an action potential to the

next neuron that must receive and process the message. This is also the process by which an

electrical message becomes a chemical one. The chemical signal is called a neurotransmitter,

and the name gives a fairly good idea of its function. The neurotransmitter will transmit the

neurological message that was just sent down the length of the axon to the next neuron. This

message, thus, needs to get from the first axon to the next neuron in the sequence in order to

execute a particular function.

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 Photo Credit: CK-12 Foundation
Figure5. The membrane of vesicles filled with neurotransmitter molecules (see circular inset at top) fuses with the axonal membrane
in the presynaptic neuron. This results in the release of neurotransmitter molecules into the synaptic cleft or space between two neurons. The
neurotransmitter molecules move across the synaptic space by diffusion and will bind to specific receptors on the dendrite of the post synaptic
neuron to initiate an axon potential in the second neuron.

Enter, the synapse. The synapse is the place where the axon of the neuron that has just

spiked the action potential comes in proximity with the dendrite of the next neuron to which the

neurological message must be sent. This is a process that will be taking place between an axon

and a dendrite, essentially. The receipt of the action potential at the end of the first neuron

causes the membranes of small vesicles filled with neurotransmitter chemicals to fuse with the

axonal membrane. Once the vesicle fuses with the axonal membrane, the neurotransmitter

molecules held within the vesicle are released into the synapse between the axon of the first

neuron and the dendrite of the second neuron. The neurotransmitter molecules move across the

synaptic space by diffusion, and eventually will reach the dendrite of the second neuron where

the neurotransmitter will bind to specific receptors on the receiving dendrite. When that binding

takes place, electrical changes occur in the dendrite that will eventually result in an electrical

message reaching the axon of the second neuron, and the processes described previously will

take place in the second neuron.

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 After the message has been successfully transmitted to the second neuron, the first neuron

must be reset so that it can receive and communicate further neurological messages. It must take

its depolarized axon and repolarize it to restore the resting potential. Na and K must be

exchanged so that the resting potential can be re-established, which then completes the process

of sending a neurological message. As previously noted, the exchange of sodium and potassium

takes place courtesy of an enzyme called a Na/K ATPase that is lodged in the axonal membrane.

After the exchange takes place, there is once again more sodium outside the membrane, more

potassium inside the membrane and a voltage differential of -7-mV across the axonal membrane.

And now, you have enough information to learn about the BIOLOGY of hope and belief.

We will be using the concepts discussed in chapters 3-5 throughout the rest of the book, so

please review as necessary.

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