Corresponding Member of RAS S. MEDVEDEV (St. Petersburg).
Despite all the achievements of modern science, the human brain remains the most mysterious object. With the help of sophisticated fine equipment, scientists from the Institute of the Human Brain of the Russian Academy of Sciences were able to "penetrate" into the depths of the brain without disrupting its work, and find out how information is memorized, speech processing, how emotions are formed. These studies help not only to understand how the brain performs its most important mental functions, but also to develop methods of treatment for those people who have them. Director S.V. Medvedev tells about these and other works of the Institute of the Human Brain.
Such an experiment gives interesting results. The subject is told simultaneously two different stories: one in the left ear, and the other in the right.
Research carried out in recent years at the Institute of the Human Brain of the Russian Academy of Sciences has made it possible to determine which areas of the brain are responsible for understanding various features of the speech perceived by a person.
Brain versus brain - who wins?
The problem of studying the human brain, the relationship between the brain and the psyche is one of the most exciting problems that has ever arisen in science. For the first time, the goal was set to cognize something equal in complexity to the very instrument of cognition. After all, everything that has been studied so far - the atom, the galaxy, and the animal's brain - was simpler than the human brain. From a philosophical point of view, it is not known whether a solution to this problem is possible in principle. Indeed, in addition to devices and methods, our human brain remains the main means of cognizing the brain. Usually a device that studies some phenomenon or object is more complex than this object, in the same case we are trying to act on equal terms - the brain against the brain.
The enormity of the task attracted many great minds: Hippocrates, Aristotle, Descartes and many others spoke about the principles of the brain.
In the last century, the areas of the brain responsible for speech were discovered - after the discoverers they are called the areas of Broca and Wernicke. However, the real scientific research of the brain began with the works of our brilliant compatriot I.M.Sechenov. Further - V.M.Bekhterev, I.P. Pavlov ... Here I will stop in the list of names, since there are many outstanding researchers of the brain in the twentieth century, and the danger of missing someone is too great (especially from those who are now living, God forbid ). Great discoveries were made, but the possibilities of the methods of that time for the study of human functions are very limited: psychological tests, clinical observations and, since the thirties, an electroencephalogram. It's like trying to find out how a TV works, by the hum of lamps and transformers, or by the temperature of the case, or trying to understand the role of its constituent blocks, based on what happens to the TV if this block is broken.
However, the structure of the brain, its morphology has already been studied quite well. But ideas about the functioning of individual nerve cells were very sketchy. Thus, there was a lack of completeness of knowledge about the building blocks that make up the brain, and the necessary tools to explore them.
Two breakthroughs in human brain research
In fact, the first breakthrough in cognition of the human brain was associated with the use of the method of long-term and short-term implanted electrodes for the diagnosis and treatment of patients. At the same time, scientists began to understand how an individual neuron works, how information is transmitted from neuron to neuron and along a nerve. Academician N.P.Bekhtereva and her staff were the first to work in our country in conditions of direct contact with the human brain.
Thus, data were obtained on the life of individual areas of the brain, on the relationship of its most important sections - the cortex and subcortex, and many others. However, the brain consists of tens of billions of neurons, and with the help of electrodes it is possible to observe only dozens, and even then in the field of view of researchers, not the cells that are needed for research often fall, but those that are near the treatment electrode.
Meanwhile, a technical revolution was taking place in the world. New computational capabilities have made it possible to bring the study of higher brain functions using electroencephalography and evoked potentials to a new level. New methods have emerged that allow you to "look inside" the brain: magnetoencephalography, functional magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission tomography. All this created the foundation for a new breakthrough. It really happened in the mid-eighties.
At this time, scientific interest and the possibility of its satisfaction coincided. Apparently, therefore, the US Congress declared the nineties the decade of the study of the human brain. This initiative quickly became international. Hundreds of the best laboratories are now working all over the world to research the human brain.
I must say that at that time in the upper echelons of power there were many smart people who supported the state. Therefore, in our country, they understood the need to study the human brain and offered me, on the basis of a team created and led by Academician Bekhtereva, to organize a scientific center for brain research - the Institute of the Human Brain of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The main direction of the Institute's activities: fundamental research on the organization of the human brain and its complex mental functions - speech, emotions, attention, memory. But not only. At the same time, scientists must search for methods of treatment for those patients in whom these important functions are impaired. The combination of fundamental research and practical work with patients was one of the main principles of the Institute's activities, developed by its scientific advisor Natalya Petrovna Bekhtereva.
It is unacceptable to experiment on humans. Therefore, most of the brain research is done in animals. However, there are phenomena that can only be studied in humans. For example, now a young employee of my laboratory is defending a thesis on speech processing, its spelling and syntax in various brain structures. Agree that this is difficult to investigate on a rat. The institute is specifically focused on researching things that cannot be studied in animals. We conduct psychophysiological studies on volunteers using the so-called non-invasive technique, without "getting" inside the brain and without causing any particular inconvenience to a person. This is how, for example, tomographic examinations or brain mapping using electroencephalography are carried out.
But it happens that a disease or an accident "puts an experiment" on the human brain - for example, a patient's speech or memory is impaired. In this situation, it is possible and necessary to investigate those areas of the brain whose work is impaired. Or, on the contrary, a piece of the brain is lost or damaged in a patient, and scientists are given the opportunity to study what "duties" the brain cannot perform with such a violation.
But it is unethical to simply observe such patients, to put it mildly, and our institute not only examines patients with various brain injuries, but also helps them, including with the help of the latest treatment methods developed by our employees. For this purpose, the institute has a clinic with 160 beds. Two tasks - research and treatment - are inextricably linked in the work of our employees.
We have excellent highly qualified doctors and nurses. Without this, it is impossible - after all, we are at the forefront of science, and the highest qualifications are needed to implement new methods. Almost every laboratory of the institute is closed to the departments of the clinic, and this is the key to the continuous emergence of new approaches. In addition to standard methods of treatment, we offer surgical treatment of epilepsy and parkinsonism, psychosurgical operations, treatment of brain tissue with magnetostimulation, treatment of aphasia with electrical stimulation, and much more. In the clinic, there are seriously ill patients, and sometimes it is possible to help them in cases that were considered hopeless. Of course, this is not always possible. In general, when you hear any unlimited guarantees in the treatment of people, this raises very serious doubts.
Weekdays and high points of laboratories
Each laboratory has its own achievements. For example, the laboratory headed by Professor V. A. Ilyukhina is developing in the field of neurophysiology of the functional states of the brain.
What it is? I'll try to explain with a simple example. Everyone knows that the same phrase is sometimes perceived by a person diametrically opposite, depending on what state he is in: sick or healthy, excited or calm. This is similar to how the same note, played, for example, from an organ, has a different timbre depending on the register. Our brain and body are a complex multi-register system, where the role of a register is played by the state of a person. We can say that the entire spectrum of human relationships with the environment is determined by his functional state. It determines both the possibility of "breakdown" of the operator at the control panel of the most complex machine, and the patient's reaction to the medication taken.
In the laboratory of Professor Ilyukhina, functional states are investigated, as well as what parameters they are determined by, how these parameters and the states themselves depend on the regulatory systems of the body, how external and internal influences change states, sometimes causing illness, and how, in turn, the state of the brain and the body affect the course of the disease and the effect of drugs. With the help of the obtained results, you can make the right choice between alternative treatment paths. The determination of the adaptive capabilities of a person is also carried out: how stable he will be under any therapeutic effect, stress.
The laboratory of neuroimmunology is engaged in a very important task. Immune regulation disorders often lead to severe brain diseases. This condition should be diagnosed and a treatment should be chosen - immunocorrection. A typical example of a neuroimmune disease is multiple sclerosis, which is being studied at the Institute's laboratory under the direction of Professor I.D. Stolyarov. Not so long ago, he joined the council of the European Committee for the research and treatment of multiple sclerosis.
In the twentieth century, man began to actively change the world around him, celebrating the victory over nature, but it turned out that it was too early to celebrate: this aggravates the problems created by man himself, the so-called man-made. We live under the influence of magnetic fields, under the light of flashing gas lamps, looking at a computer display for hours, talking on a mobile phone ... All this is far from being indifferent to the human body: for example, it is well known that flashing light can cause an epileptic seizure. You can eliminate the damage done to the brain, very simple measures - close one eye. To drastically reduce the "damaging effect" of a radiotelephone (by the way, it has not yet been precisely proven), you can simply change its design so that the antenna is directed downward and the brain is not irradiated. This research is carried out by the laboratory under the direction of Doctor of Medical Sciences E. B. Lyskov. For example, he and his co-workers have shown that exposure to an alternating magnetic field is detrimental to learning.
At the level of cells, the work of the brain is associated with chemical transformations of various substances, therefore, the results obtained in the laboratory of molecular neurobiology, headed by Professor S. A. Dambinova, are important for us. Employees of this laboratory are developing new methods for diagnosing brain diseases, searching for chemical substances of a protein nature, which are able to normalize disorders in the brain tissue in parkinsonism, epilepsy, drug and alcohol addiction. It turned out that the use of drugs and alcohol leads to the destruction of nerve cells. Their fragments, entering the bloodstream, induce the immune system to produce so-called "autoantibodies". "Autoantibodies" remain in the blood for a long time, even in people who have stopped using drugs. This is a kind of memory of the body that stores information about drug use. If you measure the amount of autoantibodies in a person's blood to specific fragments of nerve cells, you can make a diagnosis of "drug addiction" even several years after the person has stopped using drugs.
Is it possible to "re-educate" nerve cells?
One of the most modern trends in the work of the Institute is stereotaxis. This is a medical technology that provides a low-traumatic, gentle, targeted access to deep brain structures and a dosed effect on them. This is the neurosurgery of the future. Instead of "open" neurosurgical interventions, when large trepanation is performed to reach the brain, low-traumatic, sparing effects on the brain are proposed.
In developed countries, primarily in the United States, clinical stereotaxis has taken its rightful place in neurosurgery. About 300 neurosurgeons, members of the American Stereotaxic Society, are currently working in this area in the United States. The basis of stereotaxis is mathematics and precision instruments that provide targeted immersion in the brain of delicate instruments. They allow you to "look" into the brain of a living person. In this case, positron emission tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, computed x-ray tomography are used. "Stereotaxis is a measure of the methodological maturity of neurosurgery" - the opinion of the late neurosurgeon L. V. Abrakov. For the stereotaxic method of treatment, it is very important to know the role of individual "points" in the human brain, to understand their interaction, to know where and what exactly needs to be changed in the brain to treat a particular disease.
The institute has a laboratory of stereotaxic methods, which is headed by Doctor of Medical Sciences, laureate of the USSR State Prize A.D. Anichkov. In fact, it is the leading stereotaxic center in Russia. Here the most modern direction was born - computer stereotaxis with software and mathematical support, which is carried out on an electronic computer. Before our development, stereotaxic calculations were performed manually by neurosurgeons during an operation, but now we have developed dozens of stereotaxic devices; some have been clinically tested and are capable of solving the most difficult problems. Together with colleagues from the Central Research Institute "Elektropribor", a computerized stereotaxic system was created and for the first time in Russia it is serially produced, which surpasses similar foreign models in a number of key indicators. As an unknown author put it, "finally, the timid rays of civilization illuminated our dark caves."
At our institute, stereotaxis is used in the treatment of patients suffering from movement disorders (parkinsonism, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's chorea and others), epilepsy, indomitable pain (in particular, phantom pain syndrome), and some mental disorders. In addition, stereotaxis is used to clarify the diagnosis and treatment of certain brain tumors, for the treatment of hematomas, abscesses, and brain cysts. Stereotactic interventions (like all other neurosurgical interventions) are offered to the patient only if all possibilities of drug treatment have been exhausted and the disease itself threatens the patient's health or makes him unable to work, makes him asocial. All operations are performed only with the consent of the patient and his relatives, after a consultation of specialists in various fields.
There are two types of stereotaxis. The first, non-functional, is used when there is some kind of organic lesion, for example, a tumor, deep in the brain. If it is removed using conventional techniques, it will be necessary to affect healthy structures of the brain that perform important functions, and the patient may accidentally be harmed, sometimes even incompatible with life. Let us assume that the tumor is clearly visible using magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography. Then you can calculate its coordinates and introduce radioactive substances with the help of a low-traumatic thin probe, which will burn out the tumor and disintegrate in a short time. Damage during passage through the brain tissue is minimal, and the tumor will be destroyed. We have already performed several such operations, former patients still live, although with traditional methods of treatment they had no hope.
The essence of this method is that we eliminate a "defect" that is clearly visible. The main task is to decide how to get to it, which path to choose so as not to touch important areas, which method to eliminate the "defect" to choose.
The situation is fundamentally different with "functional" stereotaxis, which is also used in the treatment of mental illnesses. The cause of the disease is often that one small group of nerve cells or several such groups are not working properly. They either do not release the necessary substances, or they release too much of them. Cells can be pathologically excited, and then they stimulate the "bad" activity of other, healthy cells. These "lost" cells must be found and either destroyed, or isolated, or "re-educated" with the help of electrical stimulation. In such a situation, it is impossible to "see" the affected area. We have to calculate it purely theoretically, as astronomers calculated the orbit of Neptune.
It is here that fundamental knowledge about the principles of the brain, about the interaction of its parts, about the functional role of each part of the brain is especially important for us. We use the results of stereotaxic neurology, a new direction developed at the institute by the late Professor V.M.Smirnov. Stereotactic neurology is "aerobatics", but it is on this path that one should look for the possibility of treating many serious diseases, including mental ones.
The results of our research and data from other laboratories indicate that almost any, even very complex, mental activity of the brain is provided by a system distributed in space and changing in time, consisting of links of varying degrees of rigidity. It is clear that it is very difficult to interfere with the operation of such a system. Nevertheless, now we are able to do this: for example, we can create a new center of speech to replace the one destroyed by trauma.
In this case, a kind of "re-education" of nerve cells occurs. The fact is that there are nerve cells that are ready from birth for their work, but there are others that are "brought up" in the process of human development. Learning to complete some tasks, they forget others, but not forever. Even having passed the "specialization", they, in principle, are able to take on the implementation of some other tasks, they can work in a different way. Therefore, you can try to force them to take over the work of the lost nerve cells, to replace them.
The neurons of the brain work like the crew of the ship: one is good at steering the ship along its course, the other is good at shooting, and the third is in preparing food. But the shooter can be taught to cook borscht, and the cook can be taught to aim the weapon. You just need to explain to them how it's done. In principle, this is a natural mechanism: if a brain injury occurs in a child, his nerve cells spontaneously "retrain". In adults, special methods must be used to "retrain" the cells.
This is what researchers are doing - trying to stimulate some nerve cells to do the work of others that can no longer be restored. Good results have already been obtained in this direction: for example, some patients with a violation of the Broca's area, which is responsible for the formation of speech, were able to be taught to speak again.
Another example is the therapeutic effect of psychosurgical operations aimed at "turning off" structures in an area of the brain called the limbic system. With different diseases in different areas of the brain, a stream of pathological impulses arises that circulate along the nerve pathways. These impulses appear as a result of increased activity of brain zones, and this mechanism leads to a number of chronic diseases of the nervous system, such as parkinsonism, epilepsy, obsessive states. The paths along which the circulation of pathological impulses passes must be found and turned off as gently as possible.
In recent years, many hundreds (especially in the United States) of stereotaxic psychosurgical interventions have been carried out to treat patients suffering from certain mental disorders (primarily obsessive-compulsive disorders) in whom non-surgical methods of treatment turned out to be ineffective. According to some narcologists, drug addiction can also be considered a type of this kind of disorder, therefore, in case of ineffectiveness of drug treatment, stereotaxic intervention can be recommended.
Error detector
A very important area of the Institute's work is the study of the higher functions of the brain: attention, memory, thinking, speech, emotions. Several laboratories are engaged in these problems, including the one I am in charge of, the laboratory of Academician N.P. Bekhtereva, and the laboratory of Yu.D. Kropotov, Doctor of Biological Sciences.
Brain functions inherent only to humans are studied using various approaches: using a "conventional" electroencephalogram, but at a new level of brain mapping, studying evoked potentials, registering these processes together with the impulse activity of neurons in direct contact with brain tissue - for this, implanted electrodes and equipment are used positron emission tomography.
The works of Academician N.P. Bekhtereva in this area were widely covered in the scientific and popular science press. She began a systematic study of mental processes in the brain even when most scientists considered it almost unknowable, a matter of the distant future. It is good that at least in science the truth does not depend on the position of the majority. Many of those who denied the possibility of such research now consider them a priority.
Within the framework of this article, only the most interesting results can be mentioned, for example, the error detector. Each of us has come across his work. Imagine that you left the house and already on the street you are tormented by a strange feeling that something is wrong. You come back - it is, you forgot to turn off the light in the bathroom. That is, you forgot to perform the usual, stereotypical action - flip the switch, and this pass automatically turned on the control mechanism in the brain. This mechanism was discovered in the mid-sixties by N.P. Bekhtereva and her collaborators. Despite the fact that the results were published in scientific journals, including foreign ones, now they are "rediscovered" in the West by people who know the work of our scientists, but do not hesitate to borrow directly from them. The disappearance of a great power also led to the fact that there were more cases of direct plagiarism in science.
Error detection can also become a disease when this mechanism works more than it needs to, and it seems to a person all the time that he has forgotten something.
In general terms, the process of triggering emotions at the level of the brain is also clear to us today. Why does one person cope with them, and the other - "sinks", cannot escape from the vicious circle of similar experiences? It turned out that in a "stable" person, changes in the metabolism in the brain, associated, for example, with grief, are necessarily compensated by changes in metabolism in other structures directed in the other direction. In the case of an "unstable" person, this compensation is violated.
Who is in charge of grammar?
A very important area of work is the so-called brain micro-mapping. In our joint research, even such mechanisms as a detector of the grammatical correctness of a meaningful phrase have been discovered. For example, blue ribbon and blue ribbon. The meaning is clear in both cases. But there is one "small but proud" group of neurons that "whirl" when grammar is broken, and signals this to the brain. Why is this needed? Probably, then, that the understanding of speech often proceeds primarily through the analysis of grammar (recall the "glock kuzdra" of academician Shcherba). If something is wrong with the grammar, a signal comes in - additional analysis must be carried out.
Micro-areas of the brain have been found that are responsible for counting, for distinguishing between concrete and abstract words. Differences in the work of neurons in the perception of the word of the native language (cup), the quasi-word of the native language (Chokhna) and the word of a foreign language (watch - time in Azerbaijani) are shown.
The neurons of the cortex and deep structures of the brain are involved in this activity in different ways. In deep structures, an increase in the frequency of electrical discharges is mainly observed, which is not very "tied" to any specific zone. These neurons, as it were, solve any problem by the whole world. A completely different picture in the cerebral cortex. One neuron seems to say: "Come on, guys, shut up, this is my business, and I will do it myself." Indeed, in all neurons, except for some, the frequency of impulses decreases, while in the "chosen ones" it increases.
Thanks to the technique of positron emission tomography (or abbreviated as PET), it became possible to study in detail at the same time all areas of the brain responsible for complex "human" functions. The essence of the method is that a small amount of an isotope is introduced into a substance participating in chemical transformations inside brain cells, and then we observe how the distribution of this substance in the brain region of interest to us changes. If the influx of glucose with a radioactive label increases to this area, it means that the metabolism has increased, which indicates the increased work of nerve cells in this part of the brain.
Now imagine that a person is performing some difficult task that requires him to know the rules of spelling or logical thinking. At the same time, the nerve cells in the area of the brain that are "responsible" for these skills are the most active in him. An increase in the work of nerve cells can be registered using PET to increase blood flow in the activated zone. Thus, it was possible to determine which areas of the brain are "responsible" for syntax, spelling, meaning of speech and for solving other problems. For example, there are known zones that are activated upon presentation of words, it does not matter whether you need to read them or not. There are also zones that are activated in order to "do nothing", when, for example, a person listens to a story, but does not hear it, watching something else.
What is attention?
It is equally important to understand how human attention "works". Both my laboratory and the laboratory of Yu. D. Kropotov are dealing with this problem at our institute. Research is carried out jointly with a team of scientists led by the Finnish professor R. Naatanen, who discovered the so-called mechanism of involuntary attention. To understand what is at stake, imagine a situation: a hunter sneaks through the forest, tracking down prey. But he himself is a prey for a predatory beast, which he does not notice, because he is set up only to search for a deer or a hare. And suddenly an accidental crackling in the bushes, perhaps not very noticeable against the background of bird chirping and the noise of a stream, instantly switches his attention, gives a signal: "There is danger nearby." The mechanism of involuntary attention was formed in humans in ancient times, as a security mechanism, but it still works: for example, the driver drives a car, listens to the radio, hears the screams of children playing on the street, perceives all the sounds of the world around him, his attention is absent-minded, and suddenly a quiet knock motor instantly switches his attention to the car - he realizes that something is wrong with the engine (by the way, this phenomenon is similar to an error detector).
This attention switch works for every person. We found zones that are activated on PET during the operation of this mechanism, and Yu. D. Kropotov investigated it using the method of implanted electrodes. Sometimes in the most difficult scientific work there are funny episodes. This was the case when we finished this work in a hurry before a very important and prestigious symposium. Yu. D. Kropotov and I went to the symposium to make presentations, and only there, with surprise and "a feeling of deep satisfaction," we unexpectedly found out that neurons are activated in the same zones. Yes, sometimes two people sitting next to you need to go to another country to talk.
If the mechanisms of involuntary attention are violated, then we can talk about the disease. In Kropotov's laboratory, children with the so-called attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder are studied. These are difficult children, more often boys, who cannot concentrate on the lesson, they are often scolded at home and at school, but in fact they need to be treated, because they have disrupted some of the specific mechanisms of the brain. Until recently, this phenomenon was not considered as a disease, and "forceful" methods were considered the best method of dealing with it. We can now not only define this disease, but also propose methods of treatment for children with attention deficit disorder.
However, I would like to upset some young readers. Not every prank is associated with this disease, and then ... "forceful" methods are justified.
In addition to involuntary attention, there is also selective attention. This is the so-called "attention at the reception", when everyone around you speaks at once, and you only follow the interlocutor, not paying attention to the chatter of the neighbor on the right that is uninteresting to you. During the experiment, the subject is told stories: in one ear - one, in the other - the other. We follow the reaction to the story in the right ear, then in the left and see on the screen how the activation of brain regions is radically changing. At the same time, the activation of nerve cells for history in the right ear is much less - because most people pick up the telephone receiver in their right hand and put it to the right ear. It is easier for them to follow the history in the right ear, they need to strain less, the brain is less excited.
The secrets of the brain are still waiting in the wings
We often forget the obvious: a person is not only a brain, but also a body. It is impossible to understand the work of the brain without considering all the richness of the interaction of brain systems with various systems of the body. Sometimes this is obvious - for example, the release of adrenaline into the bloodstream forces the brain to switch to a new mode of operation. In a healthy body, a healthy mind is precisely about the interaction of body and brain. However, not everything is clear here. The study of this interaction is still awaiting its researchers.
Today we can say that we have a good idea of how one nerve cell works. Many of the blank spots have disappeared and the areas responsible for mental functions have been identified on the brain map. But between the cell and the region of the brain there is another, very important level - a set of nerve cells, an ensemble of neurons. There is still a lot of unclear here. With the help of PET, we can trace which areas of the brain are "turned on" when performing certain tasks, but what happens inside these areas, what signals nerve cells send to each other, in what sequence, how they interact with each other - we will talk about this for now. we know little. Although there is some progress in this direction as well.
Previously, it was believed that the brain is divided into clearly demarcated areas, each of which is "responsible" for its function: this is the zone of flexion of the little finger, and this is the zone of love for parents. These conclusions were based on simple observations: if a given area is damaged, then its function is impaired. Over time, it became clear that it is more and more complicated: neurons within different zones interact with each other in a very complex way and it is impossible to carry out a clear "linkage" of function to the brain region in terms of ensuring higher functions everywhere. We can only say that this area has to do with speech, memory, and emotions. And to say that this neural ensemble of the brain (not a piece, but a wide-spread network) and only it is responsible for the perception of letters, and this one - words and sentences, is still impossible. This is the challenge for the future.
The work of the brain to provide higher types of mental activity is similar to a flash of fireworks: first we see a lot of lights, and then they start to go out and light up again, winking among themselves, some pieces remain dark, others flash. Also, the excitation signal is sent to a certain area of the brain, but the activity of the nerve cells inside it obeys its own special rhythms, its own hierarchy. Due to these features, the destruction of some nerve cells may be an irreparable loss for the brain, while others may well replace neighboring "retrained" neurons. Each neuron can only be seen within the entire cluster of nerve cells. In my opinion, now the main task is to decipher the nerve code, that is, to understand how the higher functions of the brain are specifically provided. Most likely, this can be done through the study of the interaction of the elements of the brain, through understanding how individual neurons are combined into a structure, and a structure into a system and a whole brain. This is the main challenge for the next century. Although there is still something left for the twentieth.
Vocabulary
Aphasia- speech disorder as a result of damage to the speech areas of the brain or the nerve pathways leading to them.
Magnetoencephalography- registration of the magnetic field excited by electrical sources in the brain.
Magnetic resonance imaging- tomographic examination of the brain based on the phenomenon of nuclear magnetic resonance.
Positron Emission Tomography- a highly effective way of tracking extremely low concentrations of ultrashort-lived radionuclides, which mark physiologically significant compounds in the brain. Used to study the metabolism involved in the implementation of brain functions.
There is an opinion that the human brain is only used by us by 10%. This is probably why a person cannot figure out how to develop him 100%. The question is: why, then, is the brain so arranged and how can you still make it work one hundred percent?
The brain myth
It is not true! The statement that the human brain works at 10% (5%, 3%) is an old, completely incorrect and completely indestructible myth. Let's figure out where it came from.
In the middle of the last century, it was completely incomprehensible how a person thinks (now this is also incomprehensible, but at a different level). But a few things were known - for example, that the brain is made up of neurons and that neurons can generate electrical signals.
Some scientists then believed that if a neuron generates an impulse, then it works, and if it does not generate, then it is “lazy”. And then someone came up with the idea to check: how many neurons in the whole brain "work", and how many - "beat the thumbs up"?
There are several billion neurons in the brain, and it would be sheer madness to measure the activity of each of them - it would take many years. Therefore, instead of studying all neurons in a row, scientists examined only a small part, determined the percentage of active among them and assumed that this percentage is the same throughout the brain (this assumption is called extrapolation).
And it turned out that it “works”, that is, generates impulses, only an indecently small percentage of neurons, and the rest are “silent”. From this, a slightly straightforward conclusion was drawn: silent neurons are idlers, and the brain works only for a small part of its capabilities.
This conclusion was absolutely wrong, but since at that time it was customary to "correct nature", for example, turn rivers back, irrigate deserts and drain the seas, the idea that brain work can also be improved, stuck and began its triumphant march through the newspaper pages and magazine spreads. Even now, something like this is sometimes found in the yellow press.
How the brain works roughly
And now let's try to figure out how everything is in reality.
The human brain is a complex, multilevel, highly organized structure. What is written below is a very simplified picture.
There are many areas in the brain. Some of them are called sensory - they receive information about what we feel (well, say, touching the palm). Other areas are motor, they control our movements. Still others are cognitive, it is thanks to them that we can think. The fourth are responsible for our emotions. Etc.
Why don't all the neurons in the brain turn on at the same time? It's very simple. When we are not walking, the neurons that start the walking process are inactive. When we are silent, the neurons that control speech are “silent”. When we hear nothing, the neurons responsible for hearing are not fired. When we do not experience fear, the "fear neurons" do not work. In other words, if neurons are not needed at the moment, they are inactive. And that's great.
Because if it were not so ... Let's imagine for a second that we can excite ALL of our neurons at the same time (our body simply cannot bear such a mockery for more than a second).
We will immediately begin to suffer from hallucinations, because sensory neurons will make us experience absolutely every possible sensation. At the same time, motor neurons will launch all the movements that we are capable of. And cognitive neurons ... Thinking is such a complex thing that there is hardly a single person on this planet who can tell what will happen if all cognitive neurons are simultaneously activated. But suppose for the sake of simplicity that then we start thinking all possible thoughts at the same time. And we will also experience all possible emotions. And much more will happen, which I will not write about, because there simply will not be enough space.
Let us now look from the outside at this creature suffering from hallucinations, twitching from convulsions, simultaneously feeling joy, horror and rage. It doesn't look very much like a creature that has improved its brain to one hundred percent efficiency!
Vice versa. Excessive activity for the brain is not good, but only harmful. When we eat, we do not need to run, when we sit at the computer - we do not need to sing, and if, while solving a problem in mathematics, we think not only about it, but also about the birds outside the window, then this problem is unlikely to be solved. In order to think, it is not enough to THINK about something, you still have to NOT THINK about everything else. It is important not only to excite the "necessary" neurons, but also to inhibit the "unnecessary" ones. A balance is needed between arousal and inhibition. And the violation of this balance can lead to very sad consequences.
For example, a serious illness of epilepsy, in which a person suffers from seizures, occurs when the excitement in the brain "outweighs" inhibition. Because of this, during a seizure, even those neurons that should be silent at this second are activated; they transmit excitation to the next neurons, those to the next, and a continuous wave of excitation goes through the brain. When this wave reaches the motor neurons, they send signals to the muscles, which contract, and the person begins to seizure. It is impossible to say what the patient feels at the same time, since during the seizure the person's memory is lost.
How to make your brain work more efficiently
I hope you have already realized that trying to make the brain work better by firing all the neurons in a row is hopeless, and even dangerous. However, you can "train" your brain to work more efficiently. This, of course, is a topic for a huge book (and not even one), not a small article. Therefore, I will only talk about one way. You will have to start from afar.
When a small child is born, the number of neurons in his brain is even greater than that of an adult. But there are almost no connections between these neurons, and therefore a newborn man is not yet able to use his brain correctly - for example, he practically cannot see or hear. The neurons of his retina, even if they sense light, have not yet formed connections with other neurons in order to transmit information further, to the cerebral cortex. That is, the eye sees light, but the brain is not able to understand it. Gradually, the necessary connections are formed, and in the end the child learns to distinguish at first just light, then - the silhouettes of simple objects, colors, and so on. The more various things a child sees, the more connections form his visual pathways and the better that part of his brain, which is connected with vision, works.
But the most surprising thing is not this, but the fact that such connections can be formed almost exclusively in childhood. And therefore, if a child for some reason cannot see anything at an early age (say, he has a congenital cataract), then the necessary neural connections in his brain will never be formed, and the person will not learn to see. Even if, in adulthood, this person is operated on a cataract, he will still remain blind. Rather cruel experiments were carried out on kittens, which had their eyes sewn up when they were newborn. The kittens grew up without ever seeing anything; after that, their stitches were removed as an adult. Their eyes were healthy, their eyes saw light - but the animals remained blind. Not having learned to see in childhood, they were no longer able to do it in adulthood.
That is, there is some critical period in which the neural connections necessary for the development of vision are formed, and if the brain does not learn to see during this period, it will never learn to do this. The same applies to hearing, and, to a lesser extent, to other human abilities and skills - smell, touch and taste, the ability to speak and read, play musical instruments, navigate nature, and so on. A striking example of this is the "Mowgli children" who were lost in early childhood and were raised by wild animals. In adulthood, they still cannot master human speech, since they did not train this skill in their childhood. But they are able to navigate in the forest in a way that no one who grew up in civilized conditions can.
And further. You never know at what moment some skill acquired in childhood will "shoot". For example, a person who, in childhood, actively trained fine motor skills of hands, doing drawing, modeling, handicrafts, will find it easier to become a surgeon performing delicate, precise operations, in which not a single wrong movement can be allowed.
In other words, if anything can make the brain work better, it is training, and training from the very childhood. The more the brain works, the better it works, and vice versa - the less you load it, the worse it will function. And the younger the brain, the more “flexible” and receptive it is. That is why small children are taught in schools, and not grown-up uncles and aunts. That is why children can adapt to new situations much faster than adults (for example, they master computer literacy or learn foreign languages). That is why it is necessary to train your intellect from childhood. And if you do this, then nothing will prevent you from making great discoveries. For example, how the brain works.
Answered: Vera Bashmakova
Health Ecology: Scientists studying the human brain over the past few years have discovered a number of unexpected aspects that determine the influence of the brain on the overall health of our bodies ...
Scientists studying the human brain over the past few years have discovered a number of unexpected aspects that determine the influence of the brain on the overall health of our bodies. However, some aspects of our behavior also affect our brain. In addition, according to the modern point of view, which was formed relatively recently, the human brain does not stop forming by adolescence.
It was previously thought that the brain, from a fairly early age (adolescence), undergoes an unrelenting aging process that reaches its peak in old age. However, it is now known that the human brain has the ability to change, recover and even heal, and this ability is truly limitless! It turns out that not so much age affects our brain, but how we use the brain throughout life.
Indeed, a certain activity requiring increased work of the brain is able to reboot the so-called basal nucleus (a complex of subcortical neurons of the white matter), which, in turn, triggers the so-called mechanism of brain neuroplasticity. In other words, neuroplasticity is the ability to control the state of the brain, maintaining its performance.
While the functionality of the brain naturally deteriorates somewhat as the body ages (but not as critical as previously thought), certain strategic approaches and techniques allow you to create new neural pathways and even improve the work of old pathways, moreover, throughout a person's life ... What's even more surprising is that such efforts to “reboot” the brain have long-term positive effects on overall health. How does this happen? Our thoughts can influence our genes!
We tend to think that our so-called genetic heritage, that is, a kind of genetic baggage of our body, is immutable matter. In our opinion, our parents passed on to us all the genetic material that they themselves once inherited - genes for baldness, height, weight, disease, and so on - and now we get by with just what we got. But in fact, our genes are open to influence throughout our life, moreover, they are influenced not only by our actions, but also by our thoughts, feelings, faith.
You must have heard that genetic material can be influenced through dietary changes, lifestyle changes, physical activity, and so on. So now the possibility of the same epigenetic effect caused by thoughts, feelings, faith is being seriously studied.
Numerous studies have already shown that chemicals that are affected by our mental activity can interact with our genetic material to produce powerful effects. Many processes in our body can be influenced in the same way as when changing the diet, lifestyle, habitat. Our thoughts are capable of literally turning off and on the activity of certain genes.
What does the research say?
Dawson Church, Ph.D. and researcher, spoke about the interactions that a patient's thoughts and beliefs have on expressing disease and healing genes.
“Our body reads in our brain,” Church says. - Science has established that we can only have a certain fixed set of genes in our chromosomes. However, which of these genes affect our subjective perception and the course of various processes is of great importance. "
One study from Ohio University clearly demonstrated the effect of mental stress on the healing process. Scientists conducted it among married couples: each participant in the experiment left a small damage on the skin, leading to the appearance of a small blister. Then different couples were asked for half an hour either to talk on a neutral topic, or to argue on a specific topic.
Then, over several weeks, scientists measured the level of three specific proteins in the body that affect the speed of wound healing. It turned out that those disputants who used the most caustic and harsh remarks in their disputes, and the level of these proteins and the speed of healing were 40 percent lower than those who spoke on a neutral topic.
Church explains it this way: our body sends a signal in the form of a protein that activates certain genes associated with wound healing. Proteins activate genes that, using stem cells, create new skin cells to heal wounds.
However, when the body's energy is depleted by what is expended on the production of stressful substances such as cortisol, adrenaline and norepinephrine, the signal that goes to your wound-healing genes is significantly weakened. The recovery process takes much longer. At the same time, if the human body is not attuned to the fight against some external threat, its energy resources remain intact and ready to carry out healing missions.
Why is this very important to us?
There is no doubt that almost everyone's body is equipped from birth with the genetic material necessary for optimal functioning under conditions of daily physical activity. However, our ability to maintain so-called mental balance has a huge impact on our body's ability to use its resources. And even if you're full of aggressive thoughts, certain activity helps tune your neural pathways to support less reactive actions.
Chronic stress can prematurely age our brains
“We are constantly under stress in our environment,” says Howard Fillit, PhD, professor of geriatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, and head of a foundation dedicated to finding new drugs for Alzheimer's. "However, the greatest harm is caused by the mental stress that we feel inside ourselves in response to external stress."
This differentiation of stresses indicates the presence of a constant response of the whole organism in response to constant external stress. This response affects our brains, leading to impaired memory and other aspects of mental performance. Thus, stress is a risk factor for the development of Alzheimer's disease and also accelerates memory impairment as a person ages. At the same time, you may even begin to feel much older, as they say, mentally, than you really are.
Research from the University of California at San Francisco has shown that the body's constant stress response (and constant bursts of cortisol) can shrink the hippocampus, an essential part of the brain's limbic system, which is responsible for both regulating the effects of stress and and for long-term memory. This is also one of the manifestations of neuroplasticity - but already negative.
Like other forms of relaxation, a complete renunciation of all thoughts can not only quickly put thoughts in order (and, accordingly, the biochemical level of stress along with gene expression), but even change the structure of the brain itself!
“Stimulating the areas of the brain that govern positive emotions can strengthen neural connections in the same way that exercise strengthens muscles,” says Hanson, one of the main tenets of neuroplasticity. However, the opposite is also true: "If you regularly think about those things that torment you and drive you crazy, you increase the sensitivity of the amygdala, which is primarily responsible for negative experiences."
Hanson explained that in this way we make our brain more receptive, and this leads to the fact that we are easily upset about trifles in the future.
“Working the brain in tune with the body through interoception protects our body from damage during exercise,” says Hanson. "It also helps you to feel a pleasant and simple feeling that everything is in order in your body." Another plus of a healthy “island” is that in this way you improve your instincts, intuition and empathy - the ability to empathize. "
Every year of our life in old age can add to our mind
For a long time it was believed that closer to middle age, the human brain, once young and flexible, begins to gradually lose ground. However, recent studies have shown that in middle age, the brain is able to begin to show its peak activity. Studies show that even in spite of bad habits, these years are the most favorable for the most active brain work. It is then that we make the most informed decisions, looking back at the accumulated experience.
Our brains have the ability to change, repair, and even heal at any age.
Scientists who have studied the human brain have always convinced us that the main cause of brain aging is the loss of neurons - the death of brain cells. However, brain scans using new technologies have shown that most of the brain maintains the same number of active neurons throughout life. And even if some aspects of aging really lead to a deterioration in memory, reaction, and so on, there is a constant replenishment of the "reserves" of neurons. But by what means?
Scientists have called this process "brain bilateralization," which involves the simultaneous use of both the right and left hemispheres of the brain. In the 1990s in Canada, at the University of Toronto, thanks to the development of brain scanning technology, it was possible to visualize and compare how the brains of young and middle-aged people work when solving the following task for attention and memory:
it was necessary to quickly memorize the names of people in various photographs, and then try to remember who was named.
Scientists expected middle-aged study participants to perform worse on the task at hand, but the results were the same for both age groups. But something else turned out to be surprising: positron emission tomography showed that neural connections in young people were activated in a certain part of the brain, and in older people, in addition to activity in the same zone, part of the prefrontal cortex also manifested itself.
Canadian scientists, based on the results of this and many other experiments, came to the following conclusion: the biological neural network of the brain of middle-aged people could give weakness in a certain area, but another part of the brain was immediately connected, compensating for the "shortage". Thus, the aging process leads to people in middle age and older using their brains literally more. In addition, there is an increase in the biological neural network in other areas of the brain.
Our brain is designed in such a way that it knows how to cope with circumstances (counteract them), showing flexibility. And the better to monitor his health, the better he copes.
Researchers offer a range of activities to keep your brain healthy for as long as possible:
healthy food,
physical activity,
relaxation,
solving complex problems,
constant study of something and so on.
In the section on the question on what percentage of the study of the human brain asked by the author Anton Putenikhin the best answer is Almost everything we can say that it is studied at 0%, and even the human brain and even more so. Even the ancient thinker Socrates said: I know that I know nothing. You can learn endlessly, the sphere of ignorance is only expanding.
Answer from Petersburg woman[guru]
Practically not studied.
Answer from Sasha Digitaeva[newbie]
There is a widespread belief that people use their brain at 5-10%, 3-8%, or 10-20%. There are plenty of options. Many immediately begin to object, saying that the brain works always and everywhere, and provides heart rate and respiration, and a bunch of all the unconscious, etc. etc. All this is understandable. But I want to note that when talking about the percentages involved, they always mean intellectual potential and hidden opportunities. And scientists really talk about it, but trying to understand this issue, I never found a link to the source anywhere. That is, it was not possible to find out who exactly carried out the experiments and how he measured the potential capabilities of the brain.
