Gender plays a role in how the brain reacts

**SapiensErus** · 12-02-09, 01:22 AM

Originally Posted by laggyNgroovy

Uhm, Soy.... your flow chart is missing all the decision points, usually represented by diamonds

It's not a flowchart, it is the diagram for the Frontal Basal Forebrain Arousal Loop. Those arrows are actually neurotransmitter pathways I make my students label.

For example, the arrow connecting the ventral tegmental area to the nucleus accumbens is an innervative dopaminergic pathway involved in the reward circuit.

For every behavior we do towards a goal we get a shot of dopamine as a reward. Making smooth motor functions, eating, reproducing, thinking about loved ones, etc. all stimulate that pathway... it also involved in addiction. Any drug that is addictive involves the dopaminergic pathway between the VTA and nucleus accumbens.

Its more of a difficult to read mishmash of lines than a flowchart really...

**laggyNgroovy** · 12-02-09, 01:39 AM

I am going to e-smack you. No dopamine reward needed either.

That was an attempt at humor about a flow chart. :P

**Potemkine** · 12-02-09, 01:42 AM

It looks like there are 2 major sections, with the Thalamus, Anterior Cigulate and Cigulate gyrus being the "bridge". Is this similar to the right and left lobes of the brain, or are these aspects in one lobe?

**Too Much Damage** · 12-02-09, 01:42 AM

Soy, you seem to know a lot about the brain. Maybe you can help me. It seems that mine has violently exited the back of my head after reading your diagram and is now on the surrounding furniture and walls. :8

**SapiensErus** · 12-02-09, 01:59 AM

Originally Posted by Potemkine

It looks like there are 2 major sections, with the Thalamus, Anterior Cigulate and Cigulate gyrus being the "bridge". Is this similar to the right and left lobes of the brain, or are these aspects in one lobe?

The cingulate gyrus is an important connector for our amygdala and nucleus accumbens (fight or flight and feeling good respectively) to communicate with our prefrontal cortices (which is loosely speaking, cognition occurs) that connection allows for the experience of emotion and is primary to our approach/avoid mechanisms (how we make decisions). It is also integral to allow the experience of memory (the amygdala and hippocampus work together to bring up memories and emotionally appraise them compared to current stimulus). Note the hippocampus in this diagram does not communicate directly to the prefrontal cortices.

The hypothalamus is central to our homoestasis... it is where most hormone cascades start. When we detect an aversive stimuli our amygdala activates the HTPA (hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis) to get us ready to fight or run.

The thalamus is uber important. I like to call it the gatekeeper of the cortices. The thalamus sorts out and directs traffic throughout our brain. Any incoming sensory data is routed through the thalamus first. Damage to the thalamus results in not enough data passage (coma or extreme lethargy and stupor or even death) or too much data passage (an overwhelming torrent of data causing massive neuronal activity and ultimately brain damage and finally death). The exception to sensory data going through the thalamus first is smell. Smell is our oldest sense. It connects directly to the brain (specifically to emotion centers and memory controllers... the amygdala). That is why smells can be so nostalgic. The thalamus also reorganizes data so the cortex can use it... it is kind of a traffic controller.

Brains are awesome.. and not very well understood yet.

**SapiensErus** · 12-02-09, 02:04 AM

Oh yeah also...

lobes are anatomical subdivisions that exist on either side of the brain specifically in the neocortex (that outside layer we usually imagine). The different sides are hemispheres. The connectors for those hemispheres is the corpus callosum (which is larger in women on average...hence the multitasking ability).

In that diagram only the prefrontal and premotor cortices are on the "lobes" (specifically the frontal lobe) the rest are buried underneath... known as "subcortical" structures.

**SapiensErus** · 12-02-09, 02:11 AM

I should add that diagram leaves out huge amounts of autonomic controllers, sensory cortices, and associative areas. That diagram is a very specific set of structures playing a primary role in cognition (awareness and decision making). It really is a fragment of the brain...

**Tuck** · 12-02-09, 02:18 AM

my head just exploded

**Too Much Damage** · 12-02-09, 02:21 AM

Originally Posted by Tuck

my head just exploded

I think that happend to me too. Just try to keep our brain matter separate so we know what parts belong to who when we are gluing this mess back together.

**WorstPE** · 12-02-09, 08:11 AM

Originally Posted by SoySoldier

Here is one not so intuitive, the connective neurons between the hemispheres of the brain in women is larger; women show greater ability to multi-task then men on average due to a larger "bandwidth" in inter-hemisphere communication.

Well duh. They have to cook, clean, and take care of children all day! :P