Counseling/Biopsychology and Neuroscience

Empathy and neural functionality
When I recently retrieved my empathy undergrad learning in anticipation of this course, I realized that I had made many generalizations about the two purported empathy neurons, ===spindle=== and ===mirror===, that over-simplify their functions.

I first attempted to grasp the functions of the neurons, especially to see how the mirror neuron works, and quickly realized that I need a deep-seated knowledge of brain anatomy that was effectively a jolt because I have used my undergrad learning from a purely social perspective. Now I have to be technically expert in neuroanatomy. Another jolt was a "wake-up call" that mirror neurons are still highly theoretical. This was given to me by one of the Wikipedia "neuroscience editors" who says he is highly-technical brain researcher.

Neuroscience may, in the near future, clear up the conflicts between the different psychology theories--not to discount any, but to put help put them all in perspective.

Functional orientation, as an extension of object orientation
I am creating lists of neural functionality, of the brain parts that mirror and spindle neurons connect to, and I am attempting to link these two lists with components of the brain's structures. This brought me to an idea, which is probably not original, called "functional orientation" that borrows from object-oriented computer science. Rather than having objects that are "evoked," such as brain components, I have functions that have object components. Emotion, as a function, has the lymbic system as an object includes sub-objects, such as the olfactory bulbs -- a connection? I think there might be, but I don't know. And so far all my attempts at short cuts by making assumptions have been dead wrong!

Notes

biological

 * emotion
 * empathy, or emotional communication
 * intelligence
 * memory
 * sense
 * communication
 * motor

technical

 * neurotransmitters
 * technology to determine brain activity
 * brain anatomy
 * medication

Manifestation of emotions

 * feelings
 * actions
 * physiological arousal
 * motivational programs

Distinct emotions seen universally in facial expressions:
 * anger
 * sadness
 * happiness
 * fear
 * disgust
 * surprise
 * contempt
 * embarrassment

Lymbic system structure

 * nuclei
 * tracts

amygdala

 * emotional reactions
 * processing
 * memory

mammillary body

 * recognition memory processing
 * smell component of memories (connection to olafactory?)

hippocampus

 * long-term memory
 * spatial navigation
 * episodic (autobiographical)
 * formation of new memories about experienced events
 * new neurons continue to be created throughout life

cingulate cortex and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)

 * relays neural signals between the right and left cerebral hemispheres
 * autonomic functions
 * regulating blood pressure and heart rate
 * rational cognitive functions
 * empathy
 * emotion
 * reward anticipation
 * decision-making
 * home of spindle neuron

olafactory bulb

 * transmits smell information from the nose to the brain
 * process odor information, and there may be odor memory
 * olfactory receptor cell, small bipolar cell

hypothalamus

 * hormone transmitter link to the the pituitary gland that regulates the endocrine system with hormone transmitters:
 * body temperature
 * hunger
 * thirst
 * fatigue
 * circadian cycles

fornix

 * bundle axons that carries signals from the hippocampus to
 * mammillary body
 * septal nuclei

Empathy
Sees another person experiencing an emotion

locations:
 * anterior insula
 * anterior cingulate cortex
 * inferior frontal cortex

fMRI
 * brain activity of two participants gesturing words to each other using hand gestures
 * mirror neuron system of the receiver reflects the pattern of activity of the activity in the motor system of the sender
 * motor concept associated with the words is transmitted using the mirror system

Spindle

 * postnatal development
 * become connected with diverse parts of the brain
 * focus on difficult problems
 * conceptualization
 * modeling
 * collaboration

locations:

 * anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)
 * transports signals from amygdala to the frontal cortex
 * fronto-insular cortex (FI)
 * insular cortex and limbic-related portion of the cerebral cortex
 * emotion
 * homeostasis
 * perception
 * motor control
 * self-awareness
 * cognitive functioning
 * interpersonal experience


 * dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DL-PFC or DLPFC)
 * planning
 * organization
 * regulation

locations:

 * inferior frontal cortex
 * anterior inferior parietal lobe
 * superior parietal lobe
 * dorsal premotor cortex
 * ventral premotor cortex
 * supplementary motor area
 * somatosensory cortex, primary
 * medial temporal lobe
 * midtemporal gyrus

functions:

 * imitation
 * language acquisition


 * mediate understanding of other others' behavior:
 * fires with visual event
 * fires with sound cues of visual event

Neurons

 * type
 * function
 * between neurons and internal functions
 * in the scope of psychological function from the exterior


 * pick-up and delivery transports and connections
 * reception
 * transport
 * internal processing(?binary intelligence)
 * conduction
 * exciting
 * inhibiting
 * locations of the connections
 * nature of the connections
 * what types of neurotransmitter connection
 * chemicals
 * other
 * specifics about what is connected to
 * reception
 * transmission

Crystalized and fluid
Crystallized and fluid intelligence are separate neural and mental systems

Crystallized intelligence (Gc):

 * skills that use knowledge and experience
 * accessing information from long-term memory
 * depth and breadth of general knowledge
 * vocabulary
 * reasoning using words and numbers
 * educational and cultural experience
 * not memory or knowledge without intelligent use

Fluid intelligence (Gf):

 * logical problem solving
 * patterns and relationships
 * extrapolation using logic
 * novel situations
 * independent of acquired knowledge
 * scientific mathematical
 * inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning

Fluid may only exist as:
 * component of crystallized intelligence
 * laboratory environments
 * purposes of human capital discrimination