THE PROCESSING & INFORMATION AT HIGHER LEVELS

Tutik ermawati

FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION

The human body has about 10 million sensory neurons, 20 billion interneurons, and one-half million motor neurons. The interneurons are organized into a smaller number of neuronal pools. A neuronal pool is a group of interconnected neurons with specific functions. Neuronal pools are defined on the basis of function. A pool may be diffuse, involving neurons in several regions of the brain, or localized, with neurons restricted to one specific location in the brain or spinal cord. Estimates of the actual number of pools range between a few hundred and a few thousand.

Each pool has a limited number of input sources and output destinations, and each may contain both excitatory and inhibitory neurons. The output of the entire pool may stimulate or depress the activity of other pools, or it may exert direct control over motor neurons or peripheral effectors. The pattern of interaction among neurons provides clues to the functional characteristics of a neuronal pool. It is customary to refer to such a "wiring diagram" as a neural circuit, just as we refer to electrical circuits in the wiring of a house.

We can distinguish five circuit patterns: Divergence is the spread of information from one neuron to several neurons or from one pool to multiple pools. Divergence permits the broad distribution of a specific input. Considerable divergence occurs when sensory neurons bring information into the CNS, for the information is distributed to neuronal pools throughout the spinal cord and brain. For example, visual information arriving from the eyes reaches your conscious awareness at the same time it is distributed to areas of the brain that control posture and balance at the subconscious level.

In convergence, several neurons synapse on the same postsynaptic neuron. Several patterns of activity in the presynaptic neurons can therefore have the same effect on the postsynaptic neuron. Through convergence, the same motor neurons can be subject to both conscious and subconscious control. For example, the movements of your diaphragm and ribs are now being controlled by your brain at the subconscious level. But the same motor neurons can also be controlled consciously, as when you take a deep breath and hold it. Two neuronal pools are involved, both synapsing on the same motor neurons.

Information may be relayed in a stepwise fashion, from one neuron to another or from one neuronal pool to the next. This pattern is called serial processing. Serial processing occurs as sensory information is relayed from one part of the brain to another. For example, pain sensations en route to your conscious awareness make two stops along the way, at neuronal pools along the pain pathway.

Parallel processing occurs when several neurons or neuronal pools process the same information at one time. Divergence must take place before parallel processing can occur. Thanks to parallel processing, many responses can occur simultaneously. For example, when you step on a sharp object, sensory neurons that distribute the information to a number of neuronal pools are stimulated. As a result of parallel processing, you might withdraw your foot, shift your weight, move your arms, feel the pain, and shout "Ouch!" all at the same time.

Some neural circuits utilize positive feedback to produce reverberation. In this arrangement, collateral branches of axons somewhere along the sequence extend back toward the source of an impulse and further stimulate the presynaptic neurons. Once a reverberating circuit has been activated, it will continue to function until synaptic fatigue or inhibitory stimuli break the cycle. As can convergence and divergence, reverberation can occur within a single neuronal pool, or it may involve a series of interconnected pools. Reverberation is like a positive feedback loop involving neurons; once the circuit is activated, it continues to stimulate itself. Very complicated examples of reverberation among neuronal pools in the brain may help maintain consciousness, muscular coordination, and normal breathing.

ANATOMICAL ORGANIZATION
The functions of the nervous system depend on the interactions among neurons in neuronal pools; the most complex neural processing steps occur in the spinal cord and brain. Neurons and their axons are not randomly scattered in the CNS and PNS. Instead, they form masses or bundles with distinct anatomical boundaries, and they are identified by specific terms.

In the PNS: Neuron cell bodies are located in ganglia. Axons are bundled together in nerves, with spinal nerves connected to the spinal cord and cranial nerves connected to the brain.

In the CNS: A collection of neuron cell bodies with a common function is called a center. A center with a discrete anatomical boundary is a nucleus. Portions of the brain surface are covered by a thick layer of gray matter called the neural cortex. The term higher centers refers to the most complex integration centers, nuclei, and cortical areas of the brain. The white matter of the CNS contains bundles of axons that share common origins, destinations, and functions. These bundles are called tracts. Tracts in the spinal cord form larger groups called columns. The centers and tracts that link the brain with the rest of the body are called pathways. For example, sensory pathways distribute information from peripheral receptors to processing centers in the brain, and motor pathways begin at CNS centers concerned with motor control and end at the effectors they control.

INTEGRATION WITH OTHER SYSTEM

We shall explore many of these relationships in greater detail in subsequent chapters. The term synaptic knob is widely recognized and will be used throughout this text. However, the same structures are also called terminal buttons, terminal boutons, end bulbs, or neuropodia. We can ignore the contributions of the major negatively charged ions (proteins and Cl), because (1) proteins are too large to pass through the cell membrane (2) the normal resting potential is near the equilibrium potential for Cl (3) the negative charges carried by the interior proteins repel the extracellular Cl. In electrical conduction, electrons flow along a conductor, such as a copper wire. Axons are relatively poor conductors of electricity. These channels also let potassium ions out of the cell. But, because sodium ions are driven by a much stronger electrochemical gradient, the net effect is a slight depolarization of the postsynaptic membrane