A Slide show of the sensation we receive and its path in the nervous system, ending with processing in the brain

1. Journey of a Sensation
into Perception
Final Project: Peter V. Grabas
7-20-14

2. What is learning?
❖ What is learning?
Learning is what every mammal does to live,
thrive, reproduce and teach. We are evolved to
not only to remember what is
❖ Can anyone learn? Everyone can learn
something new as long as their nervous system
is not damaged or impaired. It just depends on
focus and repetition.
❖ We learn all the time

3. How Do We Learn?
How? We are still learning how, but a great deal is known. Your body
is designed for learning with millions to billions of parts that work like
an huge bureaucracy to filter information (sensation) to your brain
where it is turned into cognition (perception) or action. Here is a simple
example.
Think of an army (the nervous system). A group of soldiers (dendritic
arbor of a neuron) [think of this squad in a finger] discover a large hidden
cache of supplies. They call out this information (sensation) to their
sergeant (soma, main body of the neuron cell) who tells a runner (axon) to
go to their officer and relay it (synaptic transfer) to an higher officer (the
spinal column) [in charge of the arms-hands-fingers] whose job it is

4. to alert the generals in headquarters (the brain) where the information
will be examined (cerebellum), compared and shared (basal ganglia and
with many different parts of the brain) for cognition where the different
parts compare notes (generals in a meeting) and a decision is made
what to take action or not. The order is executed in reverse down a
different path to execute it (motor pathway). Its unknown if the mind is
in charge of, or is the group of generals. But they seem separate in close
cooperation. Whew! Now make this ‘army’ (the nervous system) into
almost a trillion individuals. That is what your brain and mind is using
to makes decisions.

5. A closer look
at this ‘army’sharp sensation
❖ There are about a
trillion cells in the
nervous system (blue)
❖ The body has about
40 trillion cells all
totaled.
❖ The nerves in arms &
legs are peripheral

6. How Does ‘Learning’ Work?
❖ It starts with sensation, your window to the world
❖ Continues with a sensation transfer
❖ Sensation enters the Brain
❖ Sensation is interpreted into perception
Information Processing: sorting, interpretation, comparison.
❖ Cognition & Response: Output and Storage
❖ Repeat forever

7. It Starts With a Sensation
a sensation
❖ Sensation comes from the five senses
1 Touch & Pressure
2 Vision
3 Auditory-hearing
4 Olfactory-Smell
5 Taste
❖ We will limit this example to touch

8. A Peripheral Neuron
sharp sensation
❖ Close up of the finger
skin and a neuron

9. Neuron parts
Finger skin
sharp sensation
Text
Dendritic Arbor
Sloan Cell with Nucleus
Synapse
Axon with
Myelin sheaths
❖ Close up of the finger skin
and a neuron
❖ The sensation (red) is a
biochemical charge

10. Transfer Of The Sensation
❖ The sensation reaches a Synapse
❖ Sensation causes a ‘bubble’ vesicle
of neurotransmitters to open,
release & transfer to a receptor
continuing the sensation
Neurotransmitters
Axon with
Myelin sheaths
Synapse
Synaptic
Vesicles
A Receptor

11. ❖ The neuron enters
through the meninges
into the spinal cord
❖ Biochemical charge
causes cells to join the
outer membrane &
release transmitters
Neurotransmitters
Synapse
Spinal Cord
Transfer Of The Sensation

12. Neurotransmitters
Synapse
Spinal Cord
❖ The neuron enters
through the meninges
into the spinal cord
❖ Biochemical charge
causes cells to join the
outer membrane &
release transmitters
Up the Spinal Cord

13. Synapse
❖ The sensation travels up
into the Brain Stem
❖ Brain Stem is the oldest in
evolution -Autonomic &
Motor functions
❖ Fore Brain has the higher
functions -cognition
Into the Brain Stem
Spinal Cord
Brain Stem
Fore Brain

14. Brain Stem
❖ Spinal Cord enters
through a hole in the
base of the skull
❖ Turns into the Medulla
Oblongata, up into the
Hind Brain and
Cerebellum, then Mid
Brain and up into the
Fore Brain
The Brain Stem
Spinal Cord
Fore Brain

15. ❖ The sensation moves into
the hind brain becoming a
perception and into the
center of the Cerebellum
(Vernis & Para Vernis,
❖ Here in conjunction with
the Basal Ganglia the
sensation is processed
The Brain
Cerebellum
(back of the head)

16. ❖ There is a complex interplay
with different parts of the
brain.
❖ The cerebellum ‘chooses’
which sensation to send onto
the fore brain. It send one
out of about 40 sensations
❖ Comparisons are made,
checked for accuracy.
Optimum cerebellar use is
automatic behavior.
The Brain Process

17. Sensation and Perception