Growing a brain, inside a body (week 9)

Humans change - they grow, develop and mature. Lots of ways to look at this; measure is quantitatively, view it qualitatively or consider it's transformative nature. However, it clearly rests upon a biological entity (the human itself). It is fascinating, because it is us and those around us. (Growth, development and maturation definitions; p. 15, Barry Bogin, Patterns of Human Growth)

Human development (biology) Wikipedia.org article with mega-hypertext
Especially note the stages/phases of physical growth. Alternatively, consider simply the age of the organism. Age often reveals the stage of development and/or functional capacity. But individual variability can be great.
Seen a fetus lately?
Motor Milestones
Brain Growth
Major Events in Neural Development
Important terms, semi-chronological: proliferation (increase in number), migration (movement/organization), connection (preliminary and ongoing), pruning (normal early death of neurons not forming significant/useful connections), mylenation (temporal lobes not until ages 2-4, frontal lobes not until late 20s).

The only way to pack the incredible human cortex into our skulls is to fold it in upon itself - this is what gives the cortex is wrinkled look. This allows greater surface area in a smaller volume. The sulci are valleys and the gyri are the bumps or hills. Tracking the development of the folding process may give us an early indication of abnormal brain growth & development. See the brief report in the NCRR Reporter.

See this link for some physical growth charts by the WHO.

Marilyn Diamond (UC Berkeley), Godmother of lifelong cortical plasticity - or brain enrichment. Studied enriched environments effects on rat brain, behavior, health. Amazing stuff.

Response of the brain to enrichment (1997).

Integration and States of Consciousness

Integration
One of the mind-brain's key features is it's ability to interconnect a range of processes within it's present time frame as well as interconnecting activities and content across time. We experience this as 'spatiotemporal integration.' Much brain tissue and activity is about this type of 'association' of information rather than specific or direct sensory or motor processing (side note on association cortex). Lack of integration leads to a lack of cohesiveness in our mental/cognitive worlds/experiences. While specific (modular) cognitive activities can lead to or disrupt integrative experience, holistic (molar) operations such as language, consciousness, emotional processing (or powerful retrieval experiences) are more likely to set the tone for integration or cohesive mental experience. When successful, this is a seamless, tacit process. That is, we are unaware of all the sub-processing and patterns of activation, we experience it as a whole. Our consciousness.

What needs to be integrated?
1. Various cognitive activities (content and process); orientation, attention, sensation-perception, visuospatial function, cognitive mapping, memory function, language processing, prosody, emotion, planning and other executive functions. AND basic body control/monitoring.
2. Various levels of brain functions (triune brain; vertical integration in columns)
3. Hemispheres of the brain (lateral integration; corpus callosum)

Evidence/pathways to integration
1. Self - sense of self may result from the recursive nature of ALL neural processing. It's always happening to YOUR neural pathways and the activity shifts always resemble to ones before and after closely. It's a placeholder, or perhaps a canvas, or a major landmark by which to measure and compare all experience.

2. Theory of mind - requires some meta-cogition and meta-memory. What we know about our own cognitive/memory function. Building a theory of mind requires that we have the ability to place ourselves in their position and imagine what they would hear/feel/etc.

3. Response flexibility - consider alternative responses and select the best suited response set. Opposite is 'stimulus bound' behavior. This may be ultimate executive function. Intelligence? Problem solving?

4. Narrative - sequential descriptions of people and events that condense numerous experiences in generalizations and contrasting stories. Narrative process attempts to make meaning of the world and one's own mind on it's various states.

What is lack of integration?
Disintegration? Lack of cohesive experience; incoherent. Lack of the above 4 items? Some terms for lack of various functions:
Dementia
Amentia
Amnesia
Aphasia
Agnosia
Apraxia
Psychopathological dissociation - shizophrenia (split or broken mind) vs. multiple personality disorder.

Can result from structural or functional brain problems or simply psychogenic states with no know organic cause.

State(s) of consciousness
OVERALL pattern of mind-brain activation; includes, but more than simply being conscious or unconscious or "the subconscious" mind. These states are fluctuating, however, any pattern of activation is likely to recur; and a recurring pattern of activation may become a persisting TRAIT rather than simply a state. The state reflects both the type of processing going on (or degrees of various processes) AND the content being processed. Many things can affect the overall pattern of activation; keep in mind you have some control over this. SO, be mindful over whatever pattern of activation you allow - because it will recur or possibly even persist and may not go away (or at least not easily).

Brain Damage, Neurodegeneration and Dementia, Oh My!

Week 8?/Chapter 8 (plus Dementia Max PowerPoint slides)

Non-cortical (sub-cortical?) conditions:
A lot of these are predominantly movement/motor disorders with or without cognitive impairment. ALS (Lou Gherig's Disease) is exclusively motor and is not discussed here.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) - demyelinating disease (auto-immune disorder?)

• wide ranges of symptoms depending on central (including cortex) or peripheral
• relapsing-remitting or chronic progressive form; even CP form can begin as RR
• variable signs & symptoms as well as clinical course
• limb weakness, ataxia, sensory loss, etc.

Parkinson's Disease:
Parkinson (1817) described the syndome, also known as "paralysis agitans". Destruction of substantia nigra of the basal ganglia and presence of Lewy bodies; subcortical/nonvoluntary motor control, smoothing. Parkisonism is similar signs & symptoms but from another cause.

• Parkinson's shuffle - stooped, small steps, straight-lines, etc.
• slow, including speech (and hyphonic)
  
• rigid, cogwheeling, TREMO at rest
  
• cognition? depends, at the very least, it is also slowed
• responds to dopamine therapy (l-dopa)
  

Huntington's Disease/Chorea:
writhing, genetic. More rare. Basal ganglia also, but striatum. Personality and cognitive changes.

Profound brain injury, coma, locked in syndrome.

DEMENTIA?