The Mappings of Our Brains
We’re Laine and Cherys, two licensed clinicians here to talk about why our brains do the things they do and how to use our minds to become happier & healthier people through the power of knowing more. In our pilot episode, Laine maps out our brains like Google Earth so we can get a better sense of all the workings and systems, learn how those systems work together like family relationships, and discuss what humans are capable of if we could just master our mindset. We’ll be churning out episodes about once a month, but forgive us for any hiccups or delays - we are in fact only human.
1:01 – Caveat, we’re licensed clinicians - not neuroscientists
2:44 – What to expect
6:15 – Your brain via Google Earth
19:35 – Why do these systems matter?
29:10 – Separating brain & mind
31:10 – When your systems aren’t communicating
35:47 – Your brain on anxiety
41:00 – Therapy, Laine’s story, and what humans are capable of
46:51 – Tools to expand your mind
General Outline of Episode
Part of your brain is older than others -
To understand it we’ve mapped it out - much like the whole world or the galaxy. I will go through and try to explain it like a globe, there are hemispheres, continents, countries, cities, streets and even houses and each is very important.
Starting out big, your brain is in three sections. Think of the globe and how the world can be divided into the northern hemisphere, the equator and the southern hemisphere. : your hindbrain (the southern most hemisphere) midbrain (kinda right around the equator) and forebrain (the top part of your brain).
Dan Siegal - hand model of the brain
So let's discuss that and break it down more - Your hindbrain develops first and it is the areas that are fundamental to basic survival - the stuff we never think about but our brain is always controlling - our heartbeat, respiration, motor activity, sleep and awakeness, etc. It can also be called our reptilian brain (Paul MacLean), because it is believed that reptiles and other small mammal’s brains are dominated by these structures.
Our midbrain is paloma milian - think more like your cat - and what it is is famous for is fight, flight and freeze. (the actions your cat might take if they were startled for example). It is also likely why its so focused on things like movements of the eye, auditory and visual processing. Its looking to keep you alive!
It's only in your forebrain or prefrontal cortex that is capable of things like complex thought, logic, and reasoning, the things you think of that feel like they make you - you. But it is the last structure to develop through evolution and thus it is only the youngest part of your brain that is capable of asking questions like
Prime meridian - divides the globe into eastern and western hemispheres - we can also divide your brain into two cortexes -people will often talk about the left brain or right brain - these are two different hemispheres of our brain world with the corpus colosseum being the bridge between the two - important to know because there is often two neural structures that are exactly the same but one on each side of the hemisphere
Evolution of the brain - Mother nature (and your brain) doesn’t give a shit if you are happy - it cares that you are alive
Neurons - communicate with each other through synapse. Like a house. And in your house you might call another house which would be a synapse.
We can break down your house (or neuron) even smaller into dendrites, nucleus and axon but for the moment we aren’t going to go that small on our map. Important to remember that when we look at house we know there’s a living room, bedroom, bathroom, etc - but for the moment our map will only look like google maps and we can only see the outside of the house.
Synaps - street - like when you were kids and you would be at your street and call down the road to your friend to communicate. Streets are how our houses connect.
Cities - Broca's area (speaking and writing), Wernicke's area (language)
Towns- things inside a cortex that do a job - amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus, pituitary gland, limbic system, basal ganglia
Freeways - major nerves (dorsal, vagal, sympathetic)
Countries - lobes (frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital)
States (America) - cortex- occipital cortex, prefrontal cortex - motor cortex, somatosensory cortex, parietal lobe, temporal love, cerebellum
Why it matters that part of your brain is older than others
Oldest, youngest, and middle sibling
Time
