Page 42 - Advanced Biblical Counseling Student Textbook

Study Section 6: The Brain

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above
yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
In your relationship with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” Philippians 2:3-7

6.1 Connect
“One hospitalized 23-year-old woman showed no outward signs of conscious awareness after being in a
traffic accident. Nevertheless, when researchers asked her to imagine playing tennis or moving
around her house, brain scans revealed activity like that of a healthy volunteer. As she
imagined playing tennis, for example, the area of her brain controlling arm and leg movements
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became active.” This woman was not conscious. Her eyes were not open, she was not
responding to other types of stimulus around her. However, her brain was reacting to
researchers asking her to imagine different activities. How does this happen?

6.2 Objectives
1. The student should be able to define eight parts of the brain.

2. The student should be able to explain brain plasticity.

3. The student should be able to summarize how brain hemispheres work and what happens
after brain damage.

6.3 The Brain
When you think about your brain, you’re thinking with your brain – sending billions of
neurotransmitter molecules across countless millions of synapses. Indeed the mind is what the
brain does.

The Brainstem
The brain’s oldest and innermost region is the brainstem. It
begins where the spinal cord swells slightly after entering the skull. This
slight swelling is the medulla, the control center for your heartbeat and
breathing. Just above the medulla sits the pons, an area that helps
coordinate movements. The brainstem is a crossover point. Here, you’ll
find a peculiar sort of cross-wiring, with most nerves to and from each
side of the brain connecting to the body’s opposite side. Thus, the right
brain controls the left side of the body and vice versa. This cross-wiring is
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one of the brain’s many surprises. (Photo from: courtneys-column.blogspot.com)

The Thalamus
Sitting at the top of the brainstem is the thalamus. This joined pair of egg-shaped structures acts as the
brain’s sensory switchboard. The thalamus receives information from all your senses except smell, and it
forwards the messages to regions of your brain that deal with seeing, hearing, tasting, and touching.

61 Myers, 2009
62 Ibid.

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