Tag Archives: brain function
10 Mar Biological Brains – Section 1 Intro
In this segment of the Understanding Context Blog, I will take a high level look at the brain: Its areas, Cell types, And functions. I’ll also explore where the brain stores and processes different types of information, including emotions. Studying the human brain is an important part of this analysis, because biological brains clearly outperform man-made information […]
21 Jan Gating in Human Reasoning
Both neuroscience and computer science have borrowed the metaphor of the gate for representing the function of letting some things go through and restricting others. In computing it is mostly a binary function: if the gate is closed, nothing comes in, if the gate is open, everything that is at the threshold comes in. I chose the pictures above because gates […]
19 Jan Theories on Microtubules’ Function in Thought
Microtubule Functions Continuing to look inside neurons for the knowledge storage and processing mechanisms, let’s consider what Microtubules do. Microtubules serve many clearly identified functions. These functions include acting as structural members of the cytoskeleton, providing cellular orientation, and guiding membrane and cytoplasmic movements. In addition to these known functions, there is evidence that suggests […]
27 Dec Cytoskeleton Components in Cognition
A Neuron’s Skeleton Unlike the external structure of many spheroid and amorphous cells, the external structure of neurons is complex and rigidly determined. As you may remember from earlier posts, the many different types of neurons residing in particular cortical strata (in layers of the gray and white matter) each have distinctive characteristics that enable […]
25 Dec Myelin Sheath Function: Insulators
Glial Cells Gray matter / white matter… what really matters? Glial cells form a white myelin sheath around axons and function as the nervous system‘s supporting actors. They are more numerous than neurons – there are over 100 billion neuroglia, many wrapped around the efferent (output) fibers of each nerve cell. They support impulse conduction by […]
24 Dec Neuron Components and Cybernetics
What About Cybernetics? The properties of subcellular neuron components, also known as organelles, are important to this research because they might contribute to the information acquisition, storage, accessing and maintenance systems of the brain. I plan to further discuss the reason for separating storage and maintenance in a post in the section on cognition. These […]
01 Dec Robot Neurons: Analog versus Digital
Digital is basically black and white: 1 is yes and 0 is no or vice-versa. Yet our world is full of other colors. We can efficiently use digital devices to stretch arbitrary numbers of 1’s and 0’s together to represent a virtually infinite degree of possible values. Yet there are places where exactly two values may […]
06 Sep Varieties of Neural Circuits in the Cerebellum
The Cerebellum In this post we explore the roles and varieties of neural circuits of the cerebellum in motor control and the maintenance of life-support systems. The layers of the cerebellum have different cell populations, and the types of cells have radically different forms. Three main points will be made today: the morphology of cells and layers […]
05 Sep Brain Form and Function
Functional Morphology I’ve addressed questions related to modeling form, function and process in an earlier post. Today’s post drills down in some specific areas to point out some important connections between form and function that could contribute to engineering systems that more accurately model the human brain. Paul Churchland suggests that many AI initiatives have […]
29 Aug Layers of Brain Complexity
Hierarchy: A Structural Aspect of Thought The complexity of the cerebrum is necessitated by its function as the center of cognition. Before looking at cerebral structure, consider some of the functions of thought. Thinking involves accessing memory to find what perceived data is stored, what other data in memory it is associated with, and what is the […]