Neuroscience, psychology, neuropsychology, neurophysics…. whatever you want to call it, brain and mind related research is all around us. Everyone is obsessed with this pending age of consciousness when we will finally understand how a conglomeration of neurons- simple cells- enable us to think and process information.

Until then, here are a couple of tools to help you navigate through this research:

1. The brain isn’t only made of neurons:

Even though people only talk about the nerve cells in the brain- the neurons- there are somewhere between 10 to 50 times more glial cells in the brain. The neurons, as you may know, work on the basis of nerve impulses or action potentials meaning that when the potential reaches a certain threshold, there is a release and the signal spreads. Often times, this ends in the release of neurotransmitters (read step 2.) Neurons needs glial cells to function.

Thanks to this website, here is a description of the different types and functions of glia cells:

Astrocyte/Astroglia: These are star-shaped cells that provide support for neurons by generally cleaning up the dead parts of the neurons, providing them with nutrients and holding them in the correct place

These are star-shaped cells that provide support for neurons by generally cleaning up the dead parts of the neurons, providing them with nutrients and holding them in the correct place Microglia: they also digest parts of neurons that have died

they also digest parts of neurons that have died Oligodendroglia: these also support the neurons by providing them with insulation that permits the signals to transmit faster (in the central nervous system)

these also support the neurons by providing them with insulation that permits the signals to transmit faster (in the central nervous system) Satellite Cells: these provide physical support for the neurons in the peripheral nervous system

these provide physical support for the neurons in the peripheral nervous system Schwann Cells: these provide insulation in the peripheral nervous system (in opposition to the oligodendroglia in the central nervous system)

2. What are neurotransmitters?

Depending on if you are new or familiar with neuro research, your understanding of neurotransmitters is more or less complete. The way I like to think about them is as tiny signaling molecules that go from basic cell to basic cell (neuron) and are the cause of a change. To get more scientific, when a signal goes across a neuron, the end of that neuron (called the terminal) releases the neurotransmitter into a region called the synapse that is between the terminal and the next neuron. The neurotransmitter is basically a way to pass on the torch to the next cell and to tell it how to respond.

To get more complicated, when we want a signal to stop being spread, we need to stop the neurotransmitters from getting to then next cell. We have both inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitters.

You might have heard of serotonin– this is an inhibitory neurotransmitter meaning that it balances out the stimulating/excitatory neurotransmitters and keeps you in a stable and balanced mood. It helps with our sleep cycle, for example. Something like caffeine will deplete our serotonin levels meaning that there are more excitatory neurotransmitters in the system and also explaining why caffeine keeps us awake.

You also might have heard of dopamine. This is an excitatory neurotransmitter. Very importantly, dopamine helps up focus and concentrate. If you are having a hard time remembering what I said in the last paragraph, this might be a sign that you have low dopamine levels being released between your neurons. (Of course, it could just be that this article is boring you or that you know this information already.)

3. EEG vs fMRI: What are these “things” that go on peoples’ heads?

All sorts of “brain-activity measuring” techniques are used in this type of research. The most common I would say are EEGs and fMRIs.

The former (electroencephalogram) measures electrical activity/potential and records brain wave patterns by using these tiny electrodes that are put on the scalp. It is completely non-invasive. Basically the EEG measures the amplified potential of the neurons and by doing so, we can see how they are responding to the input of certain information. The main reason we use it is so that we can pick up on changes in frequency when it comes to different cognitive processes in the brain.

As you can see, the EEG uses a net with a given amount of sensors/electrodes attached to it. (The one I use has 128). These sensors are meant to be placed on specific parts of the scalp so that we can trace back the signal to a given location. As you can imagine, this is easier said than done.

fMRIs are not looking at the changes in potential, but rather at blood flow. When neurons begin to fire more, i.e. they begin to transmit more signals and release more neurotransmitters (see section 2), there is more need for oxygen and the blood brings this oxygen. There are magnetic properties associated with the hemoglobin within the blood that the fMRI picks up on and measures. Since fMRIS are looking at the blood’s location, they are very good with spatially locating a region in a brain, but are not as good at determining the moment in time at which the signal was released.

4. What does it mean when we say the brain is all connected?

Hippocampus. Parietal Cortex. Hypothalamus. These are all parts of the brain that have been correlated to various functions. We say that we process faces in one part of the brain. Evidence says that we gain balance from another part of the brain. Basically, there is a suggestion that everything is very localized.

However, if you read most papers being published nowadays, they are all taking about some sort of inter-connectedness or some sort of neural net or system. Let me try to explain to you what is meant by it. As noted in the first section, there are many cells within the brain and they are all interdependent. Signals are transferred from one neuron to the next, so even here it should make sense how there is some level of widespread neural connection.

That being said, studies show how various regions are activated during most mental thought processes. For instance, if you are shown a photograph that you once took of a place in the Bahamas that you went on vacation, you will activate a) your memory of what a photograph and what the Bahamas are b) your memory of taking that photograph c) your memory of your trip to the Bahamas d) the area of the brain responsible for recognizing the elements of the photo e) your visual cortex.

More simply, there is no “grandma neuron,” meaning that if you are trying to understand the concept of a “grandma” you are going to activate many regions of the brain, not just one neuron that encodes the term “grandma.”

5. What is the difference between the “mind” and the “brain?”

Colloquially, we tend to use these terms interchangeably. In the research world, the mind generally refers to the processes that the biological brain encodes, i.e. our thoughts, our morality, our dreams, etc. The brain is just the cells, neurotransmitters and matter that stands behind it and allows it to happen. The brain is the machinery, if you will.

6. “Research is hard to understand!”

This is true. The biggest problem with scientists is that they do not explain things in layman’s terms. Hopefully this article was somewhat helpful with understanding the basics. A good next step would be to read the wikipedia pages that summarize articles, as well as the many blog posts that exist explaining research. Be careful though- media often times tends to exaggerate results to get views!