The above picture is of the display that I made for Chemistry class on exhibition night. There were four options for Chemistry areas of study: food, medicine, music, and art. I decided to research medicine, individually. Painkillers were under development during the time of the Spanish Civil War; after much research on opioids, extremely powerful painkillers that actually travel to one's brain and block the reception of pain in the nervous system, I found a phrase that I didn't understand: "natural opioid receptors." I decided to go ask Ms. Parsons about it, because I couldn't comprehend why evolution would have set the brain up to receive a man-made technology. Thus, my studies of neuroscience began.
As it turns out, opioids work because they strongly resemble a natural painkiller in the brain: dopamine. I decided to read more about dopamine, and was fascinated by what I read; apparently, dopamine is not only a painkiller and the "pleasure chemical" that most people know it as, but is also essential in regulating motor control, focus, senses, normal cognitive functions, balance, and many other brain functions besides. It isn't just a painkiller and pleasure chemical, but one of several types of neural transmitters (other neural transmitters include serotonin and norepinephrine) that is used for different purposes in most parts of the brain. Drugs affect us with such a variety of symptoms because they, in various ways, increase the amount of dopamine in the brain, throwing off mood, blocking pain reception, decreasing mental stability, decreasing motor control, and of course causing a sensation of pleasure.
So, I decided to shift my Chemistry project to a study of dopamine. But I couldn't just talk about dopamine without describing the different parts of the brain, what they do, and how they use dopamine. So, I created the poster shown at the top, which shows a diagram of the various parts of the brain, with descriptions on the left side. Of course, since Spanish class was also in on this exhibition project, my entire poster is written in Spanish. (If you can't read Spanish, or if it's just hard to read the words on the image, here is a link to the various sections of the poster, typed, with English and Spanish versions.)
For my experiment, I decided to measure activity of various parts of the brain during various activities, to attempt to see how dopamine levels increase and decrease in those parts of the brain. My hypothesis: If dopamine levels in one part of the brain increase sufficiently, the dopamine will "spill over" into another part of the brain, stimulating that part as well. I figured that since dopamine is a neural transmitter, the amount of activity in a part of the brain would be directly proportional to the amount of dopamine in use in that part of the brain. For this experiment, and for the other groups who were researching brain activity, Ms. Parsons purchased a brainwave sensor called the Neurosky Mindwave. As it turned out, the sensor didn't actually monitor the different parts of the brain, just the different frequencies of brainwaves, so I had to adjust my experiment accordingly, but I made it work. I made a video of my experiment and its results, but Weebly has a maximum file upload size of 10 megabytes, so I can't put it on my DP :( I'll just briefly explain the experiment and results: I engaged in four activities: playing the piano, listening to music, physical exercise (push-ups and sit-ups), and doing math problems (mental exercise). All of my brainwaves were more highly stimulated when playing the piano than in the control (no extra physical or mental activity); however, they fluctuated wildly, and not in sync with the music in any way. When I listened to music, my brainwaves fluctuated in accordance with the beat of the music, with my lower-frequency brainwaves more prevalent than my higher-frequency brainwaves. During exercise, my brain was much more stimulated than I expected; the lower-frequency waves were more prevalent, but all
As it turns out, opioids work because they strongly resemble a natural painkiller in the brain: dopamine. I decided to read more about dopamine, and was fascinated by what I read; apparently, dopamine is not only a painkiller and the "pleasure chemical" that most people know it as, but is also essential in regulating motor control, focus, senses, normal cognitive functions, balance, and many other brain functions besides. It isn't just a painkiller and pleasure chemical, but one of several types of neural transmitters (other neural transmitters include serotonin and norepinephrine) that is used for different purposes in most parts of the brain. Drugs affect us with such a variety of symptoms because they, in various ways, increase the amount of dopamine in the brain, throwing off mood, blocking pain reception, decreasing mental stability, decreasing motor control, and of course causing a sensation of pleasure.
So, I decided to shift my Chemistry project to a study of dopamine. But I couldn't just talk about dopamine without describing the different parts of the brain, what they do, and how they use dopamine. So, I created the poster shown at the top, which shows a diagram of the various parts of the brain, with descriptions on the left side. Of course, since Spanish class was also in on this exhibition project, my entire poster is written in Spanish. (If you can't read Spanish, or if it's just hard to read the words on the image, here is a link to the various sections of the poster, typed, with English and Spanish versions.)
For my experiment, I decided to measure activity of various parts of the brain during various activities, to attempt to see how dopamine levels increase and decrease in those parts of the brain. My hypothesis: If dopamine levels in one part of the brain increase sufficiently, the dopamine will "spill over" into another part of the brain, stimulating that part as well. I figured that since dopamine is a neural transmitter, the amount of activity in a part of the brain would be directly proportional to the amount of dopamine in use in that part of the brain. For this experiment, and for the other groups who were researching brain activity, Ms. Parsons purchased a brainwave sensor called the Neurosky Mindwave. As it turned out, the sensor didn't actually monitor the different parts of the brain, just the different frequencies of brainwaves, so I had to adjust my experiment accordingly, but I made it work. I made a video of my experiment and its results, but Weebly has a maximum file upload size of 10 megabytes, so I can't put it on my DP :( I'll just briefly explain the experiment and results: I engaged in four activities: playing the piano, listening to music, physical exercise (push-ups and sit-ups), and doing math problems (mental exercise). All of my brainwaves were more highly stimulated when playing the piano than in the control (no extra physical or mental activity); however, they fluctuated wildly, and not in sync with the music in any way. When I listened to music, my brainwaves fluctuated in accordance with the beat of the music, with my lower-frequency brainwaves more prevalent than my higher-frequency brainwaves. During exercise, my brain was much more stimulated than I expected; the lower-frequency waves were more prevalent, but all