Neuron Arrangement

Our brain is involved with every form of thought we experience. Our brain also contains ten to one hundred billion neurons that represent our thoughts. This abundance of neurons must have direct correlation to our different thoughts. Neurons communicate with one another through synapses and different thoughts are represented by unique arrangements of neurons.

A person who is presented with the word ball and whose thoughts are tracked for ten minutes after this initial exposure to the word is an example of arrangements of neurons representing different thoughts. If a person who watches and plays many sports is presented the word ball then he experiences a chain reaction of thoughts. For example, after his brain decodes the sound and comprehends the word and realizes that it represents a ball then his brain could go through a chain of thoughts just like this one: ball-football-San Francisco 49ers- funny incident at 49er game- same funny incident at dinner- favorite meal at dinner(potatoes)- the versatility of potatoes- french fries- Irish potato famine- the movie departed- Jack Nicholson. As you can see this list can go on forever but there is one aspect of this list that caters to the idea of a unique set of neurons and it the bridges between the ideas ball, potatoes, and Jack Nicholson. The bridges are respectively funny incident and Irish.

The fact that our brain contains a range of ten to one hundred billion neurons gives to the fact that there are arrangements of neurons which represent our diverse sets of thoughts. A regular person must experience tens of thousands of thoughts per day pertaining to his or her's surroundings. Many thoughts that differ in subject matter are linked by one common denominator which is emotion. In the chain reaction of the thought process of a ball to Jack Nicholson the bridges which are a funny incident and Ireland are bridges because of strong emotional feelings. A funny incident and Ireland represent happiness from an incident that caused laughter and food that caused satisfaction. Thoughts that bring out emotion bridge our knowledge which connect two very distinct ideas.

Neuroplasticity is a major player in the way we think. Neuroplasticity is defined as "the changing of neurons, the organization of their networks, and their function via new experiences". New experiences which bring about new emotion cause a rearrangement of neurons or a new arrangement of a set of neurons representing this experience. It is Neuroplasticity that gives our minds its ability to be so malleable in and also so sensitive to an experience that follows large emotion. For example, if I see a baseball bat slam into a person in a crowd after a batter accidentally lets go of a bat then then an emotion of fear bridges the set of neurons representing a person at bat and being a baseball game. Seeing and containing new feelings towards this experience rearrange my neurons to judge the game of baseball in a whole different manner my previous view of baseball being great and fun.

Central Nervous System

Our central nervous system consists of our brain and our spinal chord. The two main cells that populate the central nervous system are neurons and supporting cells. Neurons are cells specialized for transmitting signals from one location in the body to another. The two types of neurons are sensory neurons and motor neurons. They complement one another to allow the smooth process of perceiving and responding. Sensory input and motor output of the nervous system are integrated by interneurons which are located inside of the central nervous system. Creating a backdoor into any of these cells to allow communication with computer chips will enable human beings to take technology to the next level.

Sensory neurons communicate information about the external and internal environments from sensory receptors to the central nervous system. Signals transmitted along the length of neurons from the dendrite to the axon depends on electrical currents . Communication occurs between the dendrite of one neuron and the axon of a separate neuron. This area between an axon and dendrite of two neurons is called a synapse. It is here where neurotransmitters are transmitted between cells to carry out a specific message to carry out a specific function. A disease like Schizophrenia is prevalent because of excess dopamine, a neurotransmitter. If a backdoor is established to allow a sensory neuron to connect to a resistor to stop excess dopamine then excess dopamine could be eradicated.

Motor neurons send impulses from the central nervous system to output gestures such as hand movement and speech. Parkinson's disease is an example of the degradation of the motor neurons of the central nervous system. It impairs motor skills, cognitive processes, and other functions. Symptoms result from insufficient dopamine caused by the midbrain. If synthetic dopamine were to be made then it would have to be implemented into the brain by a foreign object. Again, a backdoor into neurons would have to be established in order to feed the neurotransmitter dopamine into the brain.

The Motherboard of the Brain

An important area in the brain associated with language development is called Wernicke's area. Wernicke's area is located on the left side of the brain in the temporal lobe and is responsible for speech comprehension. Because of its function of language comprehension it is located near the part of the brain that is associated with decoding sound input. Contrary to Wernicke's area, Broca's area is related to the production of speech and the production of facial expressions. These two areas simultaneously work together giving us our ability to communicate.

Speech comprehension is one that is very complex. You could notice its complexity by listening to a foreign language and paying attention to all the various sounds the speaker is making through is vocal chords. The first level of decoding a speaker's flow of words is understanding that the sound that you are hearing is a language from another person and not from a foreign object. The second level consists of sound discrimination. It is here where the listener associates the acoustic characteristics of each word and associates meaning to them from their memory. The third level of speech comprehension is correlating the message from the language to previous memories associated with the prose of the message. If another person is talking to you about a chair the following is what your brain will process:
-All of the instances of chairs in existence anywhere
-Instances of chairs and exist in your imagination
-All the characteristics of chairs
-All the things you may do with chairs
-All the other concepts you may link with chairs


The fourth level of understanding a given piece of language is relating the message's meaning with an emotional association. For example, if a person were to talk to you about a dog and you were a dog owner feelings of compassion and love would eventually consume your mind because of your personal relationship with your dog.

Following the fourth level of language understanding is the final and fifth level of language comprehension. This new message which has been decoded by your brain either contains previous relative memories associated with this message or does not have any any associations. If your memory has relative information to this new message then then previous information will now be tainted by this new message. For example, if someone told me about an issue with their dog and my thought process had made it to the fourth level then this person's pet problem would forever be ingrained in my memory. All previous connections in the brain are modified because of this story.

The five stages of understanding language and response to understood language can only be carried out because of the simultaneous bond of Wernicke's area and Broca's area. The corpus callosum creates a bridge between these two areas and allows them to work together to create a flow of synapses amongst neurons giving us the ability to smoothly communicate. The corpus callosum acts as a motherboard for the brain connecting many different components to carry out different functions.

Corpus Callosum

Our brain's cerebellum contains two distinct hemispheres. There is the right and the left hemisphere each carrying out a distinct function. The left portion of the brain is responsible for language, mathematical calculations, and critical thought while the right brain is responsible for our sensual experience. Fortunately, our dynamic brain can process more than one piece of information at a time not limiting it to one side. Our Corpus Callosum connects our left and right hemispheres together allowing information to be processed through each sphere. Our capability of applying a specific function of our left hemisphere to an observation in our right hemisphere is an extremely powerful one that gives us unique cognitive abilities.

Combining our left and right hemispheres allows us to make hypotheses on situations and draw pragmatic conclusions on them. Our hypothesis is generated from the right side of our brain while the conclusion is made from our left side due to its ability to calculate. Hypothesizing and concluding can be attributed to a number of situations in our brain from memories to present experience.

Our ability to imagine by creating scenarios in our head, and then drawing conclusions in these scenarios is one that must be because of our corpus callosum. This bridge between the two realms of knowledge in our right and left brain gives our mind its ability to imagine certain situations. Our imagination is an extension of our learned memory. Memory does not have a designated area in our brain. Instead it is pervasively spread throughout by the connections made between neurons. Our neurons that cater to our memory are connected through the corpus callosum giving us the ability to imagine scenarios.

Along with reference our practical perception of objects that are around us is attributed to the function of our corpus callosum. The fact that our memory contains knowledge of previously learned objects and our left hemisphere makes conclusions based on our memory gives us an understanding of our visual perception and the role the corpus callosum plays on it. This is another example of how the bridge between our left and right hemispheres cater to our known reality. I believe that this portion of our brain is the answer to many of the unsolved mysteries of our brain.