2.

0 Measuring Brain Function1

The Role of Electricity &
Neurotransmitters in Brain Function
Carter pp. 1-13, 68-73, 122-123

Outline

Early History Investigating The Brain

Measuring Action Potentials (AP) and

Event Related Potentials (ERP)

Discovery of Brain Electrical Function

Discovery of Brain Neurotransmitters
Anatomy of Brain Cells and Nerve
Impulses

The Mirror Neuron System

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Investigating the Brain

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Trephana(on

2500 BC to today -
Trephana(on

Hole bored in the brain - to

alleviate pain, epilepsy,
madness, ba<le injuries

Today called

From 4000 BC to 1791 AD

Brain played a minor role in human func<on
1700 BC - Egyp<ans discarded the brain; seat of life was in the heart -
centre of intelligence and feeling needed in the aDerlife.
387 BC Aristotle - Greek - thought the brain was a radiator; seat of life
was the heart.
387 BC - Plato - Greek - Correctly taught that the brain was the seat of the
sensory processes
170 BC - Galen - Greek who lived in Roman, treated gladiators - Proposed
four humors -
1649 Descartes -

4 Humors (Eysenck et al, 1958)

Basis of Eysenck

Personality Inventory
(EPI) - * original Galen
Humors

Adapted and still widely

*Black *Yellow
bile
bile

used

Son - Michael Eysenck -

* Phlegm * Blood

Attention Control
Theory (ACT) & Anxiety

Other uses: Myers Briggs

& Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory
(MMPI)

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Measuring Electrical &

Neurotransmitter
Conductivity In the Brain
(1791 til today)
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Investigating the Brain

Galvani electrical
basis of
nervous
activity
Helmholtz
speed of
nerve
conduction

Investigating The Brain

Berger

Sunday, September 21, 2014

EEG

Discovery
of Mirror
Neurons
Discovery of
Magnetic
Resonance
Imaging
(MRI)

Measuring Brain Function1

Electricity - allows passage of information between neurons

1791 - Galvani - first discovered nervous activity had an electrical basis in muscle
1849 - Helmholtz - determined the speed of electrical nerve conduction in muscle
- Golgi - developed a silver nitrate method that revealed the structure of
1873
nerves in the brain
- Ramon y Canal - discovered synapses in brain - networks of nerves. But
1906
how they communicated was not known
Neurotransmitters - allow passage of electrical impulses across synapses

1914 Henry Hallett Dale - discovers first neurotransmitter - acetylcholine

Basic anatomy and function of brain cells & nerve Impulses
- Berger - first EEG (electroencephalogram) - patterns of electrical activity
1924
from many locations on cerebral cortex
1940 - Single neuron recordings.
1996 - Major Discovery The Mirror Neuron System
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1791 - Galvani - first to discover

nervous activity had an electrical basis

bioelectricity

detected in sciatic
nerve of frog

idea confined to
muscles

11

11

1849 - Helmholtz - determined the

speed of electrical nerve conduction

Widely assumed that

electricity moved at an
even lightening speed
through the muscles

measured the speed of

electrical signals along the

sciatic nerve of a frog

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Sunday, September 21, 2014

12

1873 - Golgi - developed method that

made neurons visible for first time
Golgi stain - developed a silver staining method that showed
human neurons/worked at a hospital for the chronically ill

Proposed (wrongly)

Cerebellum

Hippocampus

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Ramon y Canal - 1906 - discovered neurons

were connected by intricate synapses
First to map the synapses of
human brain - vision, audition,
olfactory, cerebellum,
hippocampus

Argued (correctly) that electricity

moved across synapses in a
non-continuous or variable way

Neural speed varied due to

different sensory and mental

processes

Photomicrograph of human
infant brain cells

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1914 Henry Hallett Dale - discovered

first neurotransmitter

Biochemist
First to show that

neural transmission
across synapses
occurred as a result
of neurotransmitters

Carter, p. 73
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Sunday, September 21, 2014

15

Brain Cells and Nerve

Impulses
Carter pp 68-73
plus
DVD
Nerve Cells and Impulse
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Basic Anatomy
of Neurons
Soma - body of neuron
Axons - sends (efferent motor)
nerve signals forward; also called
axonal process, neurite, nerve
fibre, motor neuron - by function
Dendrites - receives (afferent
sensory) nerve signals (feedback)
Synapse - Communication point
between 2 neurons
Neurotransmitters
released with excitatory or
inhibitory functions
Cell membrane - skin of soma
(and dendrites/axons) creates
electrical impulses through inflow
of sodium ions (NA, positive) and
outflow of potassium (K, negative)
which generates action potentials

Axon hillock
- main source
of electrical
production

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Basic Anatomy and

Function of Neurons

Nucleus - Contains DNA

which instructs how the

neuron develops and functions

Mitochondria - cellular

power station; splits sugar and

fat molecules apart to release
chemical energy; maintains the
cell membrane

Microtubules or

Neurotubules - flexible rod

structures (made of protein)
that provide scaffolding for the
cell transport
neurotransmitters to the
synapse

Breakdown of microtubules is
source of tau in sports
concussions - CTE
(chronic traumatic
encephalopathy)

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Sunday, September 21, 2014

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4 Steps in Neural Transmission

1) Nerve impulses are created

by a traveling wave of chemical
particles (ions) which have
electrical charges
Ion electrical charges are
caused by the interaction of the
minerals sodium (NA+) and
potassium (K-)

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NA +
K -_

2. Polarization - The axon is

polarized at rest - More sodium (NA+)
ions are outside the membrane, and
more negative potassium (K-) ions are
inside the membrane
3. Depolarization - Axon
depolarizes as NA+ flows into
nerve/impulse passes Becomes
positive. Depolarization is a change in a
cell's membrane potential making it more
positive relative to the outside

3
NA +

Repolarization - Ions pass out of

nerve; inside of the cell becomes
negative relative to the outside.

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4.

Impulse Arrives At the Synapse

1.Neurotransmitters are chemicals manufactured in the soma and
transported through microtubules to the synaptic cleft
2.Neurotransmitters are specific to various functions a) acetycholine
b) dopamine
c) serotonin
Neurotransmitter
molecules

NA
Neuotransmitters
open Ion channels
permitting NA to
pass and create
new electrical
impulse (action
potential)

Sunday, September 21, 2014

21

Myelin Speeds Neural

Transmission In Motor Neurons
Myelin Sheath - Spiral glia wrapping
around axons speeds neural
transmission
Neural propagation - myelin allows
rapid transmission of electrical
signals, esp during movement
Current myelin controvery - In
multiple sclerosis (MS)

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Action Potentials (AP)

Event Related Potentials (ERP)
1924 - Berger - first EEG
(electroencephalogram) - patterns of
electrical activity from locations on
cerebral cortex
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EEG - Electroencephalogram: Many

sensors on the scalp (16-265)

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Sunday, September 21, 2014

Electroencephalograph (EEG)
records electrical action potentials
or brain waves from cortical areas 16-256 sensors

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EEG waves during

states of arousal
A) Alert awake state.
Daily activities (beta)
B) REM (rapid eye
movement) sleep dreaming (alpha)
C) Drowsy - slower brain
waves. Slowed frequency;
higher amplitude (delta)
D) Deep sleep -

E) Deeper Sleep -

F) Coma

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Event-Related Potentials (ERPs)

A Cognitive Task Is Performed
Isolation of P3 wave which reflects greatest neural firing during the
task; direct neural measure of reaction time (RT)

P3 wave: indicates
area of greatest
activity
eg. right occipital
cortex has
greatest activity
V5 - motion
detectors

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Sunday, September 21, 2014

Example of Map of Electrodes In EEG CAP

Frontal
Motor Planning
Temporal

C Motor Cortex

Parietal
Occipital

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Mirror Neurons

Major Discovery by Rizzolati, Fogassi

and Gallese (1996; 2001)

Technique: Single Cell Recordings

Carter pp. 11, 122-123, 139
Locus of Motor Learning Within the
Brain?

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Action Potential From A Single Cell

A micro-electrode (s) is inserted into the

brain (of non-humans) adjacent to the
neurons to be studied

Electrical activity recorded - action

potential (AP)

Many APs in a short period indicates

higher brain activity

Hubel & Weissel (1954) discovered properties of VI in

occipital cortex

Single cell recordings - still a valuable

method: used to discover mirror neurons

Spikes

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Sunday, September 21, 2014

Mirror Neurons
One of the Landmarks in Recent
Neuroscience
Rizzolatti et al, 1996
In order to learn
motor skills we
must be able to
mimic the actions
of others
Microelectrodes
placed in area F5
of

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Mirror Neuron System

First discovered in
primates by: Rizzolati,
Fogassi and Gallese
(1996; 2001)

F5 - ventral premotor cortex

Now also located in
the somatosensory/
parietal lobe
First human in Motor
skills: Calvo-Merino,
Glaser, Grezes,
Passingham and
Haggard (2004)
See also Vickers
(2007) - pp. 24-25

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Rizzolatti et al - Electrical Activity F5

Neurons - Accidental Discovery

Grasping

Planning

Grasping

Spikes

Planning

LeD - Electrode recorded brain trace as monkey watched researcher pick up

peanut; neural ac<vity during both planning and grasping - evidence of

prior an<cipa<on & planning
Right - researcher picks up peanut with a pair of pliers - there is no trace on leD
of panel (planning). Why did this occur? Why important?

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Sunday, September 21, 2014

Electrical activity

Rizzolati et al (1995) Mirror Neuron

Electrodes recorded neuron activity

(action potentials) as monkey
grasped objects
Left: watched researcher pick up
peanut with hand - active
Right: actual grasp of monkey - active
Evidence of two memory traces - one
that recognized hand function and
another that moved the hand

Right: Researcher picked up

peanut with a pair of pliers
Why was there no trace (on left
above) from mirror system?
Monkey had no memories laid
down that recognized pliers or
knew their function; mirror
neurons silent

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Mirror Neuron Area F5: Why is it so

Microelectrodes placed in F5 important?
Pre-Motor Area (PMA)

Involved in anticipation and

planning of action

Activated during the reaction

time period, before a
movement is performed

Also active when observing

others perform goal-oriented
actions

Mirror neuron system helps us

F5

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The Mirror System - Why Is It

So Important?
Main functions of mirror neurons:
Frontal area activated before a movement is performed
Active when observing others perform goal-oriented
actions
Mimicing movements of others fundamental to normal
growth and development
Mirror neuron system helps us understand the actions
and intentions of others

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Sunday, September 21, 2014