Conclusion

Hope you learnt about some of the fascinating facts about the brain. Yes, you heard that right. SOME of the facts. There's still a lot to explore and know about the brain! It is very interesting as well as complex. It is hard to wrap our heads around such a cool concept. That's what makes it interesting as well as so incredibly fascinating! Hope you found it informative!

 

How do drugs work in the brain?

Drugs may cause high blood pressure and this inturn may cause memory loss . Drugs are different types of chemicals that affect the brain by tapping into its communication system and interfering with the way neurons normally send, receive, and process information. Some drugs, such as marijuana and heroin, can activate neurons because their chemical structure acts as that of a natural neurotransmitter. Even though these drugs copies the brain’s chemicals, they don’t activate neurons in the same way as a natural neurotransmitter, and they lead to wrong messages being transmitted through the network.

Impact Of Use Of Drugs On Memory Loss

Emotions and memory are complexly intertwined. It is understood that drug abuse alters moods and interferes with the regulation of emotions and therefore with memory formation, processing, and storage. Some of these effects may only last as long as a user is intoxicated or “high,” while others may be persist longer and increase with regular abuse. There are different types of drugs affect the brain in differing ways. Some may be more harmful to the memory functions than others.

 

Amnesia

When people lose their ability to remember information they have amnesia. Amnesia also refers to an inability to recall information that is stored in memory. In simple terms, amnesia is the loss of memory. The reason for amnesia may be organic or functional.

Organic causes of amnesia may include brain damage through injury, or the use of specific drug.

 Functional causes of amnesia are psychological factors, such as defense mechanisms.

People with amnesia also find it hard to imagine the future, because our thought process that relates the future scenarios are closely linked to the recollections of past experiences. 

The ability to recollect events and experiences is a very complicated brain process. In fact, the people who study on this topic tell that they now only they are starting to understanding what is exactly happening when we commit something to memory, or when we try to retrieve data that was stored by our brain some time back.

Being a little forgetful is not related to having amnesia. Amnesia refers to forgetting many things at one go  that should not have been forgotten. These may include important milestones in life, memorable events, the important people in our lives, and vital facts we have been told or taught.

Most people with amnesia are usually lucid and are sense of oneself self. However, they may face difficulties in learning new information and forming new memories, as well as finding it very difficult to recall memories of the past.

Although amnesia is a popular theme for movies and books, people don't get this disease that easily.

Types of amnesia

There are many different types of amnesia. Below is a list of the most common ones:

• Anterograde amnesia
• Retrograde amnesia
• Transient global amnesia
• Traumatic amnesia –
• Wernicke-Korsakoff's psychosis
• Hysterical (fugue) amnesia 
• Childhood amnesia (infantile amnesia) 
• Posthypnotic amnesia 
• Source amnesia 
• Blackout phenomenon
• Prosopamnesia

Alcohol

Memory impairment is one of the most common problems associated with alcohol related brain impairment (ARBI). Some people find it difficult to remember things from day-to-day, while others have difficulty in remembering skills, knowledge or information they have learnt before.This short-term memory loss doesn't mean that brain cells have been damaged, but frequent heavy sessions can damage the brain because of alcohol's effect on brain chemistry and processes. Drinking heavily over a long period of time can also have long-term effects on memory.

  

Types of memories:

Short-term memory: As the name suggests, short-term memory lasts for a short period of time. For example, when we need to remember content for a certain exam, we tend to forget the information after the exam is over.

Long-term memory: This memory is intended to last for a long time. Although we forget a lot of things in daily life, the long term memories still stay in our brain. Short-term memories can also be changed into long term memories by the process of consolidation. To some extent, the long-term memories can encode sounds,  that’s why we sometimes say that a particular word is in the “tip of the tongue” which refers to the sound of the word, not the meaning.

Sensory Memory: This is the shortest span of memory. It is the ability to remember or visualize something just after a second of looking at the object.
The sense of smell, touch, taste, sound and sight are retained very accurately and briefly.

Storage

Storage is the process of retaining information in the brain whether it is the sensory memory, short-term memory or the more permanent long-term memory.
The human memory acts as a sort of filter that helps in preventing the flood of information in our brain on a daily basis. It helps manage the information
and keeps it all organized and easy to retrieve. When we constantly repeat a piece of information, it is more likely to stay in our long-term memory.
An example is that e keep repeating the data if we want the information to last longer. It helps us remember it better.
Since the early work of Karl Lashley and Wilder Penfield in 1950s and 1960s, it is proved that the long-term and short-term memories are not just stored in one part of the brain. They are scattered around the cortex.
Cortex is also known as the cerebrum which is the largest part of the brain. It is used in higher functions such as thought and action.
Each memory is stored in the place that it originated in. Ex: the group of neurons of the visual cortex store sight.
If one memory trace is erased, they are many more duplicates through which we can retrieve our information. Thus it prevents any loss of information.
Memory thus is a continuous process of reclassification and continuous changes in our neural pathways.
The brain can store almost unlimited information, indefinitely.

Forgetting

We don't really "forget" things. It is generally the result of the incomplete or incorrectly encoded memories. Chances can also be that there is a problem in the retrieval process. We've all experienced that when we try to remember a certain memory at a particular time and fail , we remember the same thing again later.
"Lost" memories can be retrieved by psychotherapy or hypnosis but we cannot be sure whether the memory is real or implanted by the treatment.
Forgetting, perhaps is temporary or permanent loss of information. It is the inability to retrieve data that has been previously recorded in the brain. The information loss is pretty rapid in the start, but gets slower.
Information that has been learned very well, (like foreign language, names,etc) are resistant to forgetting.  Apart from amnesia, forgetting is considered as a normal phenomenon.


                                 




Related Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eTtzH_4gP8

                                 NEURONS

A neuron or also called nerve cell processes and transmits information through signals called electrical and chemical signals .Neurons connect to each other and form networks called neural networks. Neurons are the core components of the brain. They are also the spinal cord of the central nervous system. The main features that define neurons are electrical excitability and the presence of synapses which are some complex membranes that transmit signals to other cells. There are 3 parts of a typical neuron. They are: soma or cell body, dendrites and axon. There are no neurons as such that lack soma. But there are neurons which lack dendrites and sometimes also axon.

Neurons are highly specialized for the processing and transmission of cellular signals.

The soma is the body of neuron, as it contains nucleus most protein synthesis occurs here. The nucleus can range from 3 to 18 micrometers in diameter. Whereas the soma of a neuron can vary from 4 to 100 micrometers in diameter.
The dendrites of the neuron are the extensions with many branches. This is where the majority of the input to the neuron occurs.
The axon is a cable like structure that extends hundreds of times the diameter of the soma in length. The axon carries nerve signals away from soma and some information back to it. The part of axon where it emerges from soma is called the axon hillock. This region also receives input from other neurons.
The soma is usually about 10-25 micrometers in diameter and is often not larger than the cell nucleus that it contains.


The average human brain has about 100 billion neurons. Each neuron may be connected to up to 10,000 other neurons, passing signals to each other. The human brain’s memory capacities vary wildly from 1 to 1000 terabytes. Unlike other body cells, most of the neurons in the human brain are able to divide to make new cells through a process called neurogenesis during foetal development and even for a few months after birth. Until the age of 18 these brain cells may increase in size and they are essentially designed to last a lifetime. The pulse rapidly travels along the cell’s axon. The connection between neurons is not static even though they change over time. The greater the signals between 2 neurons, the stronger the connection grows. Each axon contains thousands of membrane-bound sacs known as vesicles, which in turn contains many neurotransmitter molecules each. The 2 most common neurotransmitters in the brain are the amino acids glutamate and GABA.


The neurons vary in size from 4 microns(.004mm) to 100 microns(.1mm) in diameter.
Unlike most other cells, neurons can’t re-grow after damage. But there is an exception for the neurons present in hippocampus.
Neuralgia meaning nerve glue, are a type of brain cell. These cells guide neurons during foetal development.

Introduction  

The human brain is one of the most complex organ in the human body.The brain is made up of many parts and all these parts work together as a team. Different parts of the brain are responsible for different things and also for coordinating and performing specific functions.

Drugs can harm important brain areas that are necessary for life-sustaining functions and can drive the compulsive drug abuse that marks addiction

The cerebral cortex, which is divided into areas that control specific functions. Different areas process information from our senses, enabling us to see, feel, hear, and taste. The front part of the cortex, the frontal cortex or forebrain, is the thinking center of the brain; it powers our ability to think, plan, solve problems, and make decisions.