Brain and Body

This chapter explores the anatomical and temporal origins of the experience of will. It examines issues of where the will arises by considering first the anatomy of voluntary action—how it differs from involuntary action and where in the body it appears to arise. The chapter then moves on to the sensation of effort in the muscles and mind during action to learn how the perception of the body influences the experience of will, and then looks directly at the brain sources of voluntary action through studies of brain stimulation. These anatomical travels are supplemented by a temporal itinerary, an examination of the time course of events in mind and body as voluntary actions are produced.

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-43
Author(s):  
Surjo Soekadar ◽  
Jennifer Chandler ◽  
Marcello Ienca ◽  
Christoph Bublitz

Recent advances in neurotechnology allow for an increasingly tight integration of the human brain and mind with artificial cognitive systems, blending persons with technologies and creating an assemblage that we call a hybrid mind. In some ways the mind has always been a hybrid, emerging from the interaction of biology, culture (including technological artifacts) and the natural environment. However, with the emergence of neurotechnologies enabling bidirectional flows of information between the brain and AI-enabled devices, integrated into mutually adaptive assemblages, we have arrived at a point where the specific examination of this new instantiation of the hybrid mind is essential. Among the critical questions raised by this development are the effects of these devices on the user’s perception of the self, and on the user’s experience of their own mental contents. Questions arise related to the boundaries of the mind and body and whether the hardware and software that are functionally integrated with the body and mind are to be viewed as parts of the person or separate artifacts subject to different legal treatment. Other questions relate to how to attribute responsibility for actions taken as a result of the operations of a hybrid mind, as well as how to settle questions of the privacy and security of information generated and retained within a hybrid mind.


2016 ◽  
pp. 311-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. HART ◽  
R. C. DOBOS ◽  
L. L. AGNEW ◽  
R. L. TELLAM ◽  
J. R. MCFARLANE

Pharmacokinetics of leptin in mammals has received limited attention and only one study has examined more than two time points and this was in ob/ob mice. This study is the first to observe the distribution of leptin over a time course in female mice. A physiologic dose (12 ng) of radiolabelled leptin was injected in adult female mice via the lateral tail vein and tissues were dissected out and measured for radioactivity over a time course up to two hours. Major targets for administered leptin included the liver, kidneys, gastrointestinal tract and the skin while the lungs had high concentrations of administered leptin per gram of tissue. Leptin was also found to enter the lumen of the digestive tract intact from the plasma. Very little of the dose (<1 %) was recovered from the brain at any time. Consequently we confirm that the brain is not a major target for leptin from the periphery, although it may be very sensitive to leptin that does get to the hypothalamus. Several of the major targets (GI tract, skin and lungs) for leptin form the interface for the body with the environment, and given the ability of leptin to modulate immune function, this may represent a priming effect for tissues to respond to damage and infection.


The author gives the results of his examinations, both microscopical and chemical, of the structure and composition of the nerves; and concludes that they consist, in their whole extent, of a congeries of membranous tubes, cylindrical in their form, placed parallel to one another, and united into fasciculi of various sizes; but that neither these fasciculi nor the individual tubes are enveloped by any filamentous tissue; that these tubular membranes are composed of extremely minute filaments, placed in a strictly longitudinal direction, in exact parallelism with each other, and consisting of granules of the same kind as those which form the basis of all the solid structures of the body; and that the matter which fills the tubes is of an oily nature, differing in no essential respect from butter, or soft fat; and remaining of a fluid consistence during the life of the animal, or while it retains its natural temperature, but becoming granular or solid when the animal dies, or its temperature is much reduced. As oily substances are well known to be non-conductors of electricity, and as the nerves have been shown by the experiments of Bischoff to be among the worst possible conductors of this agent, the author contends that the nervous agency can be neither electricity, nor galvanism, nor any property related to those powers; and conceives that the phenomena are best explained on the hypothesis of undulations or vibrations propagated along the course of the tubes which compose the nerves, by the medium of the oily globules they contain. He traces the operation of the various causes which produce sensation, in giving rise to these undulations; and extends the same explanation to the phenomena of voluntary motion, as consisting in undulations, commencing in the brain, as determined by the will, and propagated to the muscles. He corroborates his views by ascribing the effects of cold in diminishing or destroying both sensibility and the power of voluntary motion, particularly as exemplified in the hybernation of animals, to its mechanical operation of diminishing the fluidity, or producing solidity, in the oily medium by which these powers are exercised.


1847 ◽  
Vol 137 ◽  
pp. 239-241 ◽  

The present memoir is not a mere description of a certain number of facts lately discovered on the electricity of electric fishes; besides this, and more than this, it contains the laws and theory of these phenomena. Consequently the order of exposition of the facts in this memoir will be the same as that which a scientific arrangement of the subject would dictate. It is needless to remind the reader that the discharge of the electric fishes is subject to the will of the animal. On irritating any point of the body of an electric fish, it is easy to demonstrate by experiment that this irritation is transmitted by the nerves to the fourth lobe of the brain, and that then only the discharge takes place. If the spinal marrow be divided at any part of its length in a living torpedo, every kind of irritation below the point of section fails to produce any effect.


Sarwahita ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (01) ◽  
pp. 10-20
Author(s):  
Dinny Devi Triana ◽  
Eddy Husni

ABSTRACT: Brain gymnastic is a collection of simple movements that aim to connect or unite the mind and body through kinesiology educational process. Kinesiology is a science that studies body movement and the relationship between muscle and posture to brain function. The motion of the limbs that is emphasized in brain gymnastics is a cross movement. The movement moves the extremes on one side of the body intersecting the midline and coordinates with the extremes on the other side of the body so that both hemispheres are used at the same time. Gymnastics of the brain in special needs children (simple children needs) as a child slow or slow (retarded) that will never succeed in school as children in general. Thus the basis of the need for bridal gymnastics is devoted to special needs of children who have been learning difficulties or concentrating disorders, and do not have a good focus on observing everything, so there needs to be a drill or balance exercise of coordination and asymmetric movements or crosses to optimize focus and his concentration.   ABSTRAK: Senam otak merupakan kumpulan gerakan-gerakan sederhana yang bertujuan menghubungkan atau menyatukan akal dan tubuh melalui proses edukasi kinesiologi. Kinesiologi merupakan suatu ilmu yang mempelajari gerakan tubuh dan hubungan antara otot dan postur terhadap fungsi otak. Gerak anggota tubuh yang ditekankan pada senam otak adalah gerakan menyilang. Gerakan tersebut menggerakkan ekstremitas pada satu sisi tubuh menyilang garis tengah dan berkoordinasi dengan ekstremitas pada sisi tubuh yang lain sehingga kedua hemisfer dipergunakan pada saat yang bersamaan. Senam otak pada anak kebutuhan khusus (special needs children) secara simple sebagai anak yang lambat (slow) atau mengalami gangguan (retarded) yang tidak akan pernah berhasil di sekolah sebagaimana anak-anak pada umumnya. Dengan demikian dasar kebutuhan adanya senam otak dikhususkan pada anak kebutuhan khusus yang mengalami kesulitan belajar atau gangguan berkonsentrasi, dan tidak memiliki fokus yang baik dalam mengamati segala hal, sehingga perlu adanya drill atau latihan keseimbangan gerak-gerak koordinasi dan asimetris atau menyilang untuk mengoptimalkan fokus dan konsentrasinya.


CNS Spectrums ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 857-857 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack M. Gorman

It seems obvious to most people that the brain and the rest of the body interact. Stress seems to worsen most general medical conditions, mortality is higher among widowers than married men, and almost everyone becomes moody when he or she has a viral infection. However, these are mostly anecdotal observations. The precise ways in which mind and body relate in health and disease is more elusive and, at times, controversial.Perhaps the hardest evidence we have for a mind-body connection comes from studies showing that depression is an independent—and, surprisingly, quite a robust—risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Following acute coronary syndrome depression significantly worsens outcome, including increasing all-cause mortality rates.Another well-documented finding, going in the opposite direction, is the high rate of depression experienced by those receiving α-interferon for the treatment of hepatitis C or malignant melanoma. Less secure is whether depression increases risk or worsens prognosis for cancer; why patients with schizophrenia are at greater risk for heart disease and cancer than the general population; if it is true that stress plays a role in exacerbations of multiple sclerosis; and what is the relationship between depression and the risk for Alzheimer's disease. In each there are conflicting epidemiological data and difficulties understanding the neural mechanisms that would broker the relationship between brain and targeted peripheral organ.


2013 ◽  
Vol 124 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Bates

This essay looks closely at René Descartes’s physiological theory, and especially his theorization of the nerves and the brain as an information-processing system, in order to offer a new interpretation of cognition within his philosophy. Rather than opposing mind and body, Descartes showed how the operations of the soul interrupted the automatic cognitive processes of the body to provide adaptive flexibility for the human organism as a whole.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardo Augusto Negreiros Parente Sampaio ◽  
José Ricardo de Carvalho Mesquita Ayres

Abstract Background Motivation is a crucial and widespread theme within medicine. From clinical to surgical scenarios, acquiescence in taking a pill or coming to a consultation is imperative for medical treatment to thrive. The “decade of the brain” gave practitioners substantial neuroscientific data on human behavior, helped to explain why people do what they do and created the concept of “motivated brain”. Findings from empirical psychology stratified motivation into stages of change, which became more complex over the decades. This research seeks to improve the understanding of how people make decisions about their health, and how to better understand strategies and techniques to help them resolve ambivalence in an effective goal-oriented way. Methods We establish a dialogue with Ricoeur’s phenomenology of the will in order to understand the meaning of these scientific findings. Starting from Husserlian phenomenology, Paul Ricoeur developed his thoughts away from transcendental idealism, through emancipating the intentional structures of the will from the realm of perception. Results Through introducing the concepts of the voluntary and the involuntary, Ricoeur deviated from Cartesian dualism, which renders the body as an object body, a target of natural vicissitudes. The new dualism of the voluntary and the involuntary is dealt with by reference to what Ricoeur called the central mystery of incarnate existence, which considers man “double in humanity, simple in vitality”. This duality makes it possible to consider the brain to be the natural organ of behavior in the human body, and to use empirical psychology as a path to escape from shallow subjectivations of concepts. Conclusions Paul Ricoeur’s simplicity (or unity) of existence provides an invitation for medicine to rethink some of its philosophical assumptions, such that patients can be considered to be autonomous subjects with authorial life projects. Ricoeurian anthropology has a deep ethical impact on how medicine should use technology, which arises from empirical psychology findings. The usage of this new knowledge also needs to be thoroughly inspected, since it shifts the social role of medical science.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-43
Author(s):  
Surjo Soekadar ◽  
Jennifer Chandler ◽  
Marcello Ienca ◽  
Christoph Bublitz

Recent advances in neurotechnology allow for an increasingly tight integration of the human brain and mind with artificial cognitive systems, blending persons with technologies and creating an assemblage that we call a hybrid mind. In some ways the mind has always been a hybrid, emerging from the interaction of biology, culture (including technological artifacts) and the natural environment. However, with the emergence of neurotechnologies enabling bidirectional flows of information between the brain and AI-enabled devices, integrated into mutually adaptive assemblages, we have arrived at a point where the specific examination of this new instantiation of the hybrid mind is essential. Among the critical questions raised by this development are the effects of these devices on the user’s perception of the self, and on the user’s experience of their own mental contents. Questions arise related to the boundaries of the mind and body and whether the hardware and software that are functionally integrated with the body and mind are to be viewed as parts of the person or separate artifacts subject to different legal treatment. Other questions relate to how to attribute responsibility for actions taken as a result of the operations of a hybrid mind, as well as how to settle questions of the privacy and security of information generated and retained within a hybrid mind.


Philosophy ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 52 (199) ◽  
pp. 27-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie Stevenson

The distinction between mental illness and bodily illness would seem to presuppose some sort of distinction between mind and body. But dualist theories that the mind is a substance separable from the body, or that mental events could occur without any bodily events, raise ancient conceptual problems, which I do not propose to review here. What I want to do is to examine the psychiatric implications of materialist theories, which hold that the mind is the brain, or a function of the brain. If all character has a basis in chemistry, can we still attribute some mental distress to character and some to chemistry, as if the two categories were different?


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