Cognitive neuroscience. Neurobiology

Neuroscientists, neurophysiologists, neurolinguists, neuropsychologists - among these scientists there are those who not only study the brain, but also write books about it. We have collected the best for you. Each of these books has become a sensation. In each - unusual research and amazing conclusions. Read and be surprised.

Susan Weinshenk is a well-known American scientist specializing in behavioral psychology. She is called "The Brain Lady" as she studies the latest advances in neuroscience and the human brain and applies her knowledge to business and Everyday life. In her book, Susan talks about the basic laws of the brain and psyche. She identifies 7 main motivators of human behavior that determine our lives. If you know these laws and motivators, as well as the techniques that trigger them, you can influence the behavior of any people. More about this in the review of the book "Laws of Influence", presented in the Library " the main idea". you can download on our website for free.

David Lewis is called the father of neuromarketing. Since the 1980s, he has been conducting research on the electrical responses of the brain to different types advertising, revealing the principles of mental activity of buyers that can be applied in sales. For more than thirty years, the topic of neuroscience research by David Lewis has been the vulnerability of the human brain and various methods impact on him. “I attached electrodes to the heads of volunteers to record electrical activity their brain while watching television commercials. Took saliva samples for analysis, tracked with special devices eye movements and slight changes in facial expressions. Those early studies resulted in what became the multi-billion dollar neuromarketing industry,” he says. One of the first discoveries that Lewis made was that a person going to the store does not always pursue a bargain as his goal. Often in this way people fight depression, cheer themselves up, increase their own prestige, satisfy curiosity, destroy boredom. Shopping has become entertainment and at the same time therapy for millions of people. And for corporations in the conditions of colossal competition, the number one task has become the study of the processes occurring in the head of the buyer. Why does a person choose from a million analog products in favor of a particular brand? About this in this book, presented in the Library "Main Thought".

Norman Doidge, MD, devoted his research to brain plasticity. In his main work, he makes a revolutionary statement: our brain is able to change its own structure and work due to the thoughts and actions of a person. Doidge talks about latest discoveries, proving that the human brain is plastic, which means it can change itself. The book features stories of scientists, doctors, and patients who have achieved amazing transformations. To those who had serious problems, managed to cure diseases of the brain that were considered incurable without operations and pills. Well, those who did not have special problems, could significantly improve the functioning of their brain. More details provided in the Main Thought Library.

Kelly McGonigal is a professor at Stanford University, a neuroscientist, Ph.D., psychologist, and a leading expert in the study of the relationship between mental and physical states person. Her training courses The Science of Willpower, The Science of Compassion, and others have won numerous awards. McGonigal's books have been translated and published in dozens of countries around the world, they talk in popular language about how to use advances in the field of psychology and neurophysiology to make a person happier and more successful. This book is about the problem of lack of willpower. Who among us hasn't promised ourselves to lose weight, stop overeating, stop smoking, start going to the gym on Monday, end lateness or overpriced shopping? But each time these weaknesses took over us, supplying us with a sense of guilt and our own worthlessness. Is there a way out of this vicious circle? Yes there is! Kelly McGonigal is convinced that science can help us train willpower. About this in this book, presented in the Library "Main Thought".

John Medina is a renowned molecular biologist who studies the genes involved in brain development and genetics. mental disorders. Medina is a professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington and director of the Center for Brain Research at Seattle Pacific University. Along with active scientific activity, John Medina has been a consultant for various biological and pharmaceutical companies for many years, is engaged in literary creativity- He is the author of 6 popular science books on biology. The result of Medina's many years of research was the concept that describes the 12 "rules of the brain", which is reflected in this book. , presented in the Library "Main Thought", we will introduce you to the concept of a scientist.

André Alemand is a professor of cognitive neuropsychology at the University of Groningen who has been studying brain aging for many years. In his book, Aleman asks the question of what determines the preservation of brain functions in old age, despite natural biological processes. In the book, he tells how to protect yourself from irreversible changes and secure yourself good quality life at any age. Much depends on what you know about how the brain works and what habits you develop throughout your life. For example, the latest neurophysiological studies prove that neurons continue to be born in the mature brain, but if the brain “rests” and does not learn new things, then they quickly die.

Cognitive neuroscience- a science that studies the relationship between brain activity and other aspects nervous system With mental processes and behavior. Special attention cognitive neuroscience focuses on the study of the neural basis of thought processes. Cognitive neuroscience is a branch of both psychology and neuroscience, overlapping with cognitive psychology and neuropsychology.

Cognitive neuroscience is based on theories of the cognitive sciences combined with evidence from neuropsychology and computer modeling.

Due to its interdisciplinary nature, cognitive neuroscience can have different backgrounds. In addition to the aforementioned related disciplines, cognitive neuroscience may overlap with the following disciplines: neuroscience, bioengineering, psychiatry, neuroscience, physics, computer science, linguistics, philosophy, and mathematics.

In cognitive neuroscience, they use experimental methods psychophysiology, cognitive psychology, functional neuroimaging, electrophysiology, psychogenetics. An important aspect Cognitive neuroscience is the study of people who have mental impairments due to brain damage.

The connection between the structure of neurons and cognitive abilities is confirmed by such facts as an increase in the number and size of synapses in the brain of rats as a result of their training, a decrease in the efficiency of transmission nerve impulse on synapses, which is observed in people affected by Alzheimer's disease.

One of the first thinkers who argued that thinking takes place in the brain was Hippocrates. In the 19th century, scientists such as Johann Peter Müller made attempts to study functional structure brain in terms of localization of mental and behavioral functions in brain regions.

Emergence of a new discipline

The birth of cognitive science

On September 11, 1956, a large-scale meeting of cognitivists took place in Massachusetts Institute of Technology. George A. Miller presented his paper The Magic Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two, Chomsky and Newell and Simon presented the results of their computer science work. Ulrich Neisser commented on the results of this meeting in his book cognitive psychology(1967). The term "psychology" wanes in the 1950s and 1960s, giving way to the term "cognitive science". Behaviorists such as Miller began to focus on the representation of language rather than general behavior. David Marr's proposal for a hierarchical representation of memory led many psychologists to accept the idea that mental capacity, including algorithms, require significant processing in the brain.

Combining neuroscience and cognitive science

Until the 1980s, the interaction between neuroscience and cognitive science was negligible. The term "cognitive neuroscience" was coined by George Miller and Michael Gazzaniga "in the back of a taxi in New York". Cognitive neuroscience provided the theoretical basis for cognitive science that emerged between 1950 and 1960, with approaches from experimental psychology, neuropsychology, and neuroscience. At the end of the 20th century, new technologies developed that today form the basis of the methodology of cognitive neuroscience, including transcranial magnetic stimulation (1985) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (1991). Earlier methods that were used in cognitive neuroscience included EEG (human EEG - 1920) and MEG (1968). Occasionally, cognitive neuroscientists have used other brain imaging modalities such as PET and SPECT. future technology in neuroscience is an editing of near-infrared spectroscopy, which uses light absorption to calculate changes in oxide and deoxyhemoglobin in areas of the cortex. Other methods include microneurography, facial electromyography, and eye tracking.

Techniques and methods

Tomography

The structure of the brain is studied using computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and angiography. CT scan and angiography have lower brain imaging resolution than magnetic resonance imaging.

The study of the activity of brain zones based on the analysis of metabolism makes it possible to carry out positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging.

• Positron emission tomography scans for increased glucose uptake in active areas of the brain. The intensity of consumption of the radioactive form of glucose administered is considered as a parameter of the high activity of the cells of this area of ​​the brain.
• Functional magnetic resonance imaging scans the intensity of oxygen consumption. Oxygen is fixed as a result of bringing parts of the oxygen atom in a strong magnetic field into an unstable state. The advantage of this type of tomography is greater temporal accuracy compared to positron emission tomography, i.e., the ability to record changes that do not last more than a few seconds.

Electroencephalogram

An electroencephalogram makes it possible to study the processes occurring in the brain of a living carrier, and thus analyze brain activity as a response to certain stimuli over time. advantage this method is the possibility of studying the activity of the brain, given exact time. The disadvantage of this research method brain activity is the inability to achieve accuracy in spatial resolution - the inability to determine exactly which neurons or groups of neurons, or even parts of the brain, respond to a given stimulus. To achieve accuracy in spatial resolution, the electroencephalogram is combined with positron emission tomography.

Areas of the brain and mental activity

forebrain

• Cortex plays essential role in mental activity. The cerebral cortex performs the function of processing information received through the senses, the implementation of thinking, and other cognitive functions. The cerebral cortex functionally consists of three zones: sensory, motor and associative zones. The function of the association zone is to link the activity of sensory and motor zones. The associative zone presumably receives and processes information from the sensory zone and initiates purposeful meaningful behavior. Broca's center and Wernicke's area are located in the association areas of the cortex. association zone frontal lobes the cerebral cortex is thought to be responsible for logical thinking, judgments and inferences made by a person.

• Frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex- planning, control and execution of movements (motor area of ​​the cerebral cortex - precentral gyrus), speech, abstract thinking, judgment.

• Parietal lobe of the cerebral cortex somatosensory functions. In the postcentral gyrus, the afferent pathways of superficial and deep sensitivity end. The development of motor and sensory functions of the cerebral cortex determined a large area of ​​those zones that correspond to parts of the body, the most significant in behavior and receiving information from the external environment. Electrical stimulation of the postcentral gyrus causes a sensation of touch in the corresponding part of the body.
• Occipital lobe of the cerebral cortex - visual function. Fibers through which visual information enters the cerebral cortex, directed both ipsilaterally and contralaterally. (Optic Chiasm)
• The temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex is auditory function.

• thalamus redistributes information from the senses, with the exception of smell, to certain areas of the cerebral cortex. The four main nuclei of the thalamus correspond to the four types of senses of information that the organs receive: (visual, auditory, tactile, sense of balance and balance). The nuclei of the thalamus send information for processing to certain areas of the cerebral cortex.
• Hypothalamus interacts with the limbic system and regulates the basic skills of an individual's behavior related to the survival of the species: fighting, feeding, getting rid of the escape, finding a partner.
• limbic system associated with memory, smell, emotions and motivation. The underdevelopment of the limbic system, for example, in animals, indicates a predominant instinctive regulation of behavior. The amygdala of the limbic system is associated with reactions of aggression and fear. Removal or damage to the amygdala, as experiments show, leads to a maladaptive absence of fear and increased voluptuousness. The septum of the brain is associated with the emotions of fear and anger.
• The hippocampus (part of the brain) plays very important role in the processes associated with memorization new information. Violation of the hippocampus makes it impossible to memorize new information, although the information that has been learned still remains in memory, and a person can operate on it. Korsakov's syndrome, associated with impaired functioning of memory, due to dysfunction of the hippocampus. Another function of the hippocampus is to determine the spatial arrangement of things, their location relative to each other. According to one hypothesis, the hippocampus forms a scheme or map of the space in which the body has to navigate.
• Basal nuclei perform motor functions.

midbrain

The midbrain plays an important role in the behavior of non-Saurian species of animal organisms. However, in mammals midbrain carries out important features eye movement control, coordination.

• Reticular activating system (reticular formation), action which is also located on the telencephalon, is a system of neurons that plays a crucial role in the processes of consciousness. The reticular formation is responsible for the processes of awakening / falling asleep, filtering secondary stimuli entering the brain. Together with the thalamus, the reticular formation ensures the individual's awareness of his own existence, isolated from external stimuli.
• Central gray matter of the brain (periaqueductal gray matter in the brain), located in the brainstem and the surrounding Sylvian waterfall of the midbrain, associated with the adaptive behavior of the individual.

Hind brain

AT medulla oblongata nerves right side of the body connect to the left hemisphere, and the nerves of the left side of the body connect to the right hemisphere. Some of the information transmitted by nerves is ipsilateral.

Neurotransmitters and mental activity

Neurotransmitters responsible for the interaction of neurons in the nervous system.

• Acetylcholine - this neurotransmitter is supposed to be involved in memory processes, since it high concentrations found in the hippocampus
• Dopamine - associated with the regulation of movement, attention and learning.
• Adrenaline - affects the feeling of alertness.
• Serotonin - associated with the regulation of awakening, falling asleep, mood.
• Gamma-aminobutyric acid - affects the mechanisms of learning and memory

Cognitive abilities

Attention

Feature Integration Theory Explains Early Processes visual perception attention has found a neurobiological basis in the studies of David Hubel and Thorsten Wiesel. Scientists have discovered the neural basis of the visual search mechanism. Neurons of the cerebral cortex in various ways reacted to visual stimuli associated with a certain spatial orientation (vertical, horizontal, inclined at an angle). Further research by a number of scientists showed that different stages of visual perception are associated with different activity of neurons in the cerebral cortex. One activity corresponds early stages processing of visual stimulus and stimulus signs, other activity corresponds to the late stages of perception, characterized by focal attention, synthesis and integration of signs.

Also topics of cognitive neuroscience are:

• Education
• Memory
• Mirror neurons
• Consciousness
• Making decisions
• Mismatch negativity

Latest trends

One of the most significant current trends in cognitive neuroscience in that the field of study is gradually expanding from localizing a region of the brain to performing specific functions in the adult brain using a single technology, studies diverge in different directions such as monitoring REM sleep, a machine capable of sensing the electrical activity of the brain during sleep.

Fundamentals of thought processes. Cognitive neuroscience is a branch of both psychology and neuroscience, overlapping with cognitive psychology and neuropsychology.

Cognitive neuroscience is based on the theories of the cognitive sciences combined with evidence from neuropsychology and computer simulations.

Due to its interdisciplinary nature, cognitive neuroscience can have a variety of backgrounds. In addition to the aforementioned related disciplines, cognitive neuroscience may overlap with the following disciplines: neuroscience, bioengineering, psychiatry, neuroscience, physics, computer science, linguistics, philosophy, and mathematics.

In cognitive neuroscience, experimental methods of psychophysiology, cognitive psychology, functional neuroimaging, electrophysiology, psychogenetics are used. An important aspect of cognitive neuroscience is the study of people with mental disorders due to brain damage.

The connection between the structure of neurons and cognitive abilities is confirmed by such facts as an increase in the number and size of synapses in the brain of rats as a result of their training, a decrease in the efficiency of transmission of a nerve impulse through synapses, observed in people affected by Alzheimer's disease.

One of the first thinkers who argued that thinking takes place in the brain was Hippocrates. In the 19th century, scientists such as Johann Peter Müller made attempts to study the functional structure of the brain in terms of the localization of mental and behavioral functions in brain regions.

1. Emergence of a new discipline

1.1. The birth of cognitive science

On September 11, 1956, a large-scale meeting of the cognitivists took place in . George A. Miller presented his work "The Magic Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two", Noam Chomsky and Newell and Simon presented the results of their work with computer science. Ulrich Neisser commented on the results of this meeting in his book cognitive psychology(1967). The term? psychology? wanes in the 1950s and 1960s, giving way to the term "cognitive science". Behaviorists, such as Miller, began to focus on the representation of speech rather than general behavior. David Marr's proposal for a hierarchical representation of memory led many psychologists to accept the idea that mental abilities, including algorithms, require significant processing in the brain.

1.2. Combining neuroscience and cognitive science

Until the 1980s, the interaction between neuroscience and cognitive science was negligible. The term "cognitive neuroscience" was coined by George Miller and Michael Gazzaniga "in the back of a taxi in New York". Cognitive neuroscience provided the theoretical basis for cognitive science that emerged between 1950 and 1960, with approaches from experimental psychology, neuropsychology, and neuroscience. At the end of the 20th century, new technologies developed that today form the basis of the methodology of cognitive neuroscience, including transcranial magnetic stimulation (1985) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (1991). Earlier methods used in cognitive neuroscience included EEG (human EEG - 1920) and MEG (1968). Occasionally, cognitive neuroscientists have used other brain imaging modalities such as PET and SPECT. A future technology in neuroscience is near-infrared spectroscopy editing, which uses light absorption to calculate changes in oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin in cortical regions. Other methods include microneurography, facial electromyography, and eye tracking.

2. Techniques and methods

2.1. Tomography

The structure of the brain is studied using computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, angiography. Computed tomography and angiography have lower brain imaging resolution than magnetic resonance imaging.

The study of the activity of brain zones based on the analysis of metabolism makes it possible to carry out positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging.

2.2. Electroencephalogram

3. Areas of the brain and mental activity

3.1. forebrain

• Frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex- planning, control and execution of movements (motor area of ​​the cerebral cortex - precentral gyrus), speech, abstract thinking, judgments.

Also topics of cognitive neuroscience are:

6. Latest trends

One of the most significant current trends in cognitive neuroscience is that the field of research is gradually expanding: from localizing a brain region to performing specific functions in the adult brain using a single technology, research diverges in different directions, such as monitoring REM sleep, a machine capable of perceive the electrical activity of the brain during sleep.

If scientists manage to "unravel the brain," will it help cure all diseases, control feelings, control memories, and generate ideas like a computer? Neuroscientist Ed Boyden told The Huffington Post what prospects open up the study of the brain, what a person can achieve if he learns to control neurons, and why failed projects should be given a second or even a third chance. Theories and Practices publishes the translation of the interview.

“Constantly generate new ideas. Don't read without thinking. Comment, formulate, reflect and summarize, even if you read the preface. So you will always strive to understand the essence of things, which is necessary for creativity.

Ed Boyden once wrote a short how-to essay on How to Think, and the paragraph above became his #1 rule. won him the prestigious Brain Prize for helping to achieve "perhaps the most important technical breakthrough in the last 40 years," according to the chairman of the jury.

This was almost ten years ago. His idea generation system seems to have lived up to expectations. Boyden won a $3 million Breakthrough Prize last year, and he and his colleagues discovered new method observing the almost unimaginably tiny electrical circuitry in the brain. This made it possible to obtain some of the most.

- You often say that your goal is to "unravel the brain". What do you have in mind?

I think the meaning of this phrase will change as new knowledge is gained, but now "unravel the brain" for me means that, firstly, we can simulate (most likely using a computer) processes that will generate something like thoughts and feelings, and secondly, that we can understand how to treat disorders of the brain, such as Alzheimer's disease or epilepsy. These are the two goals that keep me moving forward. One focuses on understanding human nature, the other is more medical.

You can object to me by noting that there is a third question: what is consciousness? Why do we have memories when bottles, pens and tables, as far as we know, don't? I'm afraid we don't have exact definition consciousness, so it is difficult to approach this issue. We don't have a "consciousness gauge" to indicate how conscious something is. I think someday we will get to that, but in the medium term, I would like to focus on the first two issues.

Why do we know so much about the world? It is rather strange that we can understand the law of universal gravitation or quantum mechanics»

- When you won the Breakthrough Prize in 2016, you talked about ongoing brain research efforts: “If we succeed, then we will be able to answer questions such as “Who am I? What is my personality? What do I need to do? Why am I here?". How can research help us answer the question “Who am I?”

I'll give an example. When the economic crisis hit in 2008, I talked to a lot of people about why people do the way they do. Why do many of our solutions fail? best solutions which we could accept?

Of course, there is a whole field of science - behavioral economics, which tries to explain our actions on a psychological and cognitive level. For example, if you ask a person a lot of questions and then they walk past a bowl of candy, they will probably take a few because they are tired of the answers and can't resist.

Behavioral economics can explain some things, but it cannot explain the processes that underlie decision making, and even less so, some subconscious things that we have no control over at all. Note that when we become aware of something, it is often the result of unconscious processes that happened right before it. So if we could understand how brain cells are organized into a circuit (practically a computer circuit, if you will) and see how information flows through these networks and changes, we would have a much clearer idea of ​​why our brain receives certain solutions. If we look into this, maybe we can overcome some of the limitations and at least understand why we do what we do.

You can imagine that in the very distant future (probably many decades away) we will be able to ask really hard questions about why we feel about certain things the way we do, or why we think about ourselves in a certain way, questions that are in the field of view of psychology and philosophy, but which are so difficult to answer with the help of the laws of physics.

- Okay, I'll continue in the same direction. How brain research can help answer the question “Why am I here?”

One of the reasons I switched from physics to studying the brain was the question "Why do we know so much about the world?". It is rather strange that we can understand the law of universal gravitation, or that we understand quantum mechanics - by at least, to the point of making computers. It's amazing that the world is in some way understandable.

And I asked myself: if our brain understands some part, but does not understand everything else, and everything that is understandable to it is available thanks to the laws of physics, on which the work of our brain is also based, then something like a vicious circle turns out, right? And I'm trying to figure out how to break it? How to make the universe understandable? Let's say there's something about the universe we don't understand, but if we know how the human mind works and what mental abilities we lack, maybe we can create better artificial intelligence to help enhance our ability to think. I sometimes call this concept a "brain co-processor" - something that works with the brain and expands our understanding.

- Optogenetics is now being used to study the brain in laboratories around the world. What are the most interesting and promising areas related to it that you single out?

Some researchers carry out rather challenging philosophical point view experiments. For example, a group of scientists at the California Institute of Technology discovered a small cluster of cells deep, deep within the brain. If you activate them with light, for example, in mice (many work with them), then the animals will become aggressive, even cruel. They will attack any creature or object in close proximity, even random items like a glove. This is very interesting, because now you can ask questions like “What happens when you irritate these cells? Does it send a motor command to the muscles? In other words, does the mouse move to attack? Or is it a touch command? That is, the mouse is afraid and attacks in self-defense? You can really ask important questions about the significance of the experiment, when a part of the brain causes such complex reaction like aggression or cruelty.

There are a number of researchers who are working on activating or silencing nervous activity in different parts brain for medical purposes. For example, a group of scientists who showed in mice suffering from epilepsy that it is possible to “turn off” seizures by acting on certain cells. There are other groups that have studied mice with Parkinson's disease and have been able to rid the animals of the symptoms of the disease.

Scientists discover a lot of interesting things in the fundamental sciences. My MIT colleague Suzumi Tonegawa and his team of researchers did something very clever: they “programmed” mice so that neurons that are responsible for memory become activated by light. They found that if these neurons were reactivated with a light pulse, the mouse would behave as if it were reliving some memory. Thus, it is possible to determine the groups of cells that cause the memory to emerge in memory. Since then, researchers have been doing all sorts of experiments - for example, they can activate a happy memory and make a mouse feel better even if it's sick. And the list goes on and on.

“Many of our endeavors are only fully successful on the second or third try.”

- Do you have any new ideas on how to make life better?

I realized that if I really want brain technologies to be applied around the world, then I must contribute to this as an entrepreneur, that is, to establish a business and help these inventions go beyond academia. My lab has collaborated with various companies before, but this year I myself am involved in the launch of three. I hope we can figure out how these technologies can help people. I realized that I don't want to just post scientific work; I want these technologies to be used in real life.

- One of these companies is in the brain-enhancing technology, isn't it?

Exactly. We founded small company called Expansion Technologies, its goal is to educate the world about these expansion theories. Of course, people can independently study our publications on this topic, but if we can bring our ideas to the masses, then many scientific and medical problems will be much easier to decide.

I must say right away that all research data can be found online, we openly share all information. We have trained probably more than a hundred groups of researchers. If desired, everyone can conduct a similar microscopic examination. But unlike optogenetics, where you can always turn to some non-profit organization To obtain DNA for free or for money, these studies require chemicals, so a company that makes kits of the necessary reagents available to anyone saves time.

The answer to the question of what neuroscience studies is rather short. Neurobiology is a branch of biology and science that studies the structure, function and physiology of the brain. The very name of this science says that the main objects of study are nerve cells - neurons that make up the entire nervous system.

• What is the brain made of besides neurons?
• History of the development of neuroscience
• Neurobiological research methods

What is the brain made of besides neurons?

In the structure of the nervous system, in addition to the neurons themselves, various cellular glia also take part, which account for most of volume of the brain and other parts of the nervous system. Glia are designed to serve and closely interact with neurons, providing them normal functioning and vitality. That's why modern neuroscience of the brain also studies neuroglia, and their various functions in supplying neurons.

History of the development of neuroscience

The modern history of the development of neurobiology as a science began with a chain of discoveries at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries:

1. Representatives and supporters of J.-P. Müller of the German school of physiology (G. von Helmholtz, K. Ludwig, L. Hermann, E. Dubois-Reymond, Y. Bernstein, K. Bernard, etc.) were able to prove the electrical nature of the transmitted nerve fibers signals.
2. Yu. Bernshtein in 1902 proposed a membrane theory describing the excitation of the nervous tissue, where the decisive role was assigned to potassium ions.
3. His contemporary E. Overton in the same year discovered that sodium is necessary for the generation of excitation in the nerve. But contemporaries did not appreciate the works of Overton.
4. K. Bernard and E. Dubois-Reymond suggested that brain signals are transmitted through chemicals.
5. The Russian scientist V.Yu. He also experimentally confirmed that electricity has an irritating physical and chemical effect.
6. At the origins of electroencephalography was V.V. Pravdich-Neminsky, who in 1913 was able to record for the first time from the surface of the skull of a dog the electrical activity of its brain. And the first recording of a human electroencephalogram was made in 1928 by the Austrian psychiatrist G. Berger.
7. In the studies of E. Huxley, A. Hodgkin and K. Cole, the mechanisms of excitability of neurons at the cellular and molecular level were revealed. The first in 1939 was able to measure how the excitation of the membrane of giant squid axons changes its ionic conductivity.
8. In the 60s at the Institute of Physiology of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR under the leadership of ac. P. Kostyuk were the first to register ion currents at the moment of excitation of the membranes of neurons of vertebrates and invertebrates.

Then the history of the development of neurobiology was replenished with the discovery of many components involved in the process of intracellular signaling:

• phosphatases;
• kinases;
• enzymes involved in the synthesis of second messengers;
• numerous G-proteins and others.

In the work of E. Neer and B. Sakman, studies of single ion channels in frog muscle fibers, which were activated by acetylcholine, were described. Further development research methods made it possible to study the activity of various single ion channels available in cell membranes. In the last 20 years, molecular biology methods have been widely introduced into the foundations of neurobiology, which made it possible to understand chemical structure various proteins involved in the processes of intracellular and intercellular signaling. With the help of electron and advanced optical microscopy, as well as laser technology it became possible to study the fundamentals of the physiology of nerve cells and organelles at the macro- and microlevels.

Video about neuroscience - the science of the brain:

Neurobiological research methods

Theoretical research methods in the neurobiology of the human brain are largely based on the study of the CNS of animals. human brain is a product of a long general evolution of life on the planet, which began in the Archean period and continues to this day. Nature has gone through countless variants of the central nervous system and its constituent elements. Thus, it was noticed that neurons with processes and the processes occurring in them in humans remained exactly the same as in much more primitive animals (fish, arthropods, reptiles, amphibians, etc.).

In the development of neuroscience recent years Increasingly, intravital brain slices are being used guinea pigs and newborn rats. Often used nervous tissue cultivated artificially.

What can they show modern methods neuroscience? First of all, these are the mechanisms of operation of individual neurons and their processes. To register the bioelectrical activity of the processes or the neurons themselves, are used special tricks microelectrode technology. It, depending on the tasks and subjects of research, may look different.

Two types of microelectrodes are most commonly used: glass and metal. For the latter, tungsten wire with a thickness of 0.3 to 1 mm is often taken. To record the activity of a single neuron, a microelectrode is inserted into a manipulator capable of moving it very precisely in the animal's brain. The manipulator can work separately or be attached to the object's skull, depending on the tasks being solved. In the latter case, the device must be miniature, which is why it is called a micromanipulator.

The recorded bioelectrical activity depends on the radius of the microelectrode tip. If this diameter does not exceed 5 microns, then it becomes possible to register the potential of a single neuron if, in this case, the electrode tip approaches the investigated nerve cell about 100 microns. If the tip of the microelectrode has twice the diameter, then the simultaneous activity of tens or even hundreds of neurons is recorded. Also widespread are microelectrodes made of glass capillaries, the diameters of which range from 1 to 3 mm.

What interesting things do you know about neuroscience? What do you think of this science? Tell us about it in the comments.