Question

Write a short essay about:

a- How do the halves of the brain operate interdependently?
b- How can an understanding of the nervous system help us find ways to alleviate disease and pain?

Answer 1

a.

In a normal brain, any information that enters the left hemisphere will travel across the corpus callosum to the right hemisphere and vice versa. The two halves of the brain work interdependently and information is not being processed solely on right or left.If you would split the brain right down the middle into two symmetrical, or equal parts, you would have a right and left hemisphere. The left side of the brain is responsible for controlling the right side of the body. On the other hand, the right hemisphere coordinates the left

b.

The brain and spinal cord receive signals from your nerves and also send out massive patterns of signals to our muscles that control our arm, leg, and spine movements. These signal patterns develop over years and explain how we learned to walk, run, ride a bicycle, dribble a basketball, and even play a musical instrument. The signal patterns constantly update the spinal cord to include the status of sensors that detect our muscle flexibility, strength, and endurance.

We think chronic pain starts when these sensors in your muscles (peripheral signals), misfire or malfunction, and your brain and spinal cord adapt improperly to those malfunctioning sensors and become “short-circuited.” In a way, what happens is the spinal cord amplifies a normally harmless pain signal, which creates a loud chronic pain signal.

When your pain signals become amplified, your central nervous system latches onto these signals or recognizes them as intensely painful. This makes it so that even harmless stimuli appear to be intense pain signals.