2024-09-12 9.360 - neurobiology of self

#update
parents:: 9.360 - neurobiology of self
daily note:: 2024-09-12

Cleaner thoughts

Summary: the autonomic nervous system is wondrous.

Things I learned

• intention is enough to trigger reflex
  • this motivates this question of does the autonomic nervous system work like financial markets?
  • and more generally, are there regulatory (autonomic) mechanisms in our bodies which behave in a decentralized manner?

Other questions

• [?] why are the parasympathetic vs sympathetic ganglia differently placed?

Raw notes

Post class first thoughts

• We started out with the somatosensory system

  • One cool tidbit is that the cell bodies for all our peripheral nerve cells are actually right next to the spinal chord
  • Also, there's two different nerve in the spinal chord for touch vs pain
    • So that we can have reflexes to pain

• The main focus was on all of these different pathways/circuits by which the body regulates itself. Part of the autonomic nervous system

  • The sympathetic and parasympathetic (but also the Gut which seems to also have its own system)
    • [?] One question that I had that wasn't answered is: to what extent are these systems all or nothing in that you need to turn on all of the sympathetic system at once, vs having more fine grained control?
  • A cool tidbit is that we can trigger lower heart rate by synthetically increasing blood pressure (this is the baroreflex)

• ==The most interesting thing was the fact that these regulatory mechanisms don't actually require sensation==

  • What do I mean? Take the baroreflex which is your heart rate's response to change in blood pressure, say from standing up. The mere intention to stand up is enough to trigger it! (Tested on voluntarily paralyzed patient).
    • This begs the question of, does the autonomic nervous system work like financial markets?
  • More generally, I also wanna find out are there regulatory (autonomic) mechanisms in our bodies which behave in a decentralized manner?