Is your mind always busy with various thoughts?

Emobileclinic Trending Topic: Origin of thoughts

Emobileclinic Specialist

The brain is the most complex part of the human body. This three-pound organ is the seat of intelligence, interpreter of the senses, initiator of body movement, and controller of behavior. Lying in its bony shell and washed by protective fluid, the brain is the source of all the qualities that define our humanity. The brain is the crown jewel of the human body. THOUGHT FORMATION occurs in the brain.

Thought formation can be referred to the idea of arrangement of ideas that result from thinking the act of producing thought. Simply put, it is the process of producing thought. Thinking allows humans to make sense of, interpret, represent or model the world they experience, and to make predictions about that world. Thought are the keys which determine ones goal. Thought take place at a conscious level of awareness and require language.

Thought formation involves most importantly the cerebral cortex, thalamus, limbic system and upper reticular formation of the brain system. Thinking is the process of manipulating mental representations to attain some goals (Goel, 2009). In 177, Galen theorized that human thought occur in the brain as opposed to the heart as Aristotle has theorized. In 1649, Rene Descartes studied the pineal gland and he said the soul of the brain is where thought are formed. Scholars have developed several theories on the formation of thought; here are some of the postulations:

 UNCONSCIOUS THEORY: is best defined as the thought or reasoning that takes place when conscious attention is directed elsewhere( Bos et al, 2008)

 LINGUISTIC THEORY: this is the ideal that language and structures limit and determine human knowledge or thought.

 HOLISTIC THEORY states that thought is produced by an interaction of many brain region. That is thought do not emanate from a single brain structure but rather from an interaction among many parts of the brain.

Herrmann developed the Whole Brain Theory in 1988 trying to explain how thinking occurs. The Whole Brain Theory, depending on thinking characteristics, divides the brain into upper left/right and lower left/right parts.

 As a whole, the upper part of the brain concerns conceptual and abstract thinking. Whereas the lower part of the brain is entirely concerned with emotional and visceral. In general, the right part of the brain seems to be loosely structured, while the left part of the brain is  strictly  structured. Herrmann  (2000) further considers dominance as natural and normal  in organisms  that  result  from experiences and conditions  faced  by  the  organisms  on  a  daily  basis.

THE BRAIN PHYSIOLOGY

On a physiological basis, thought works in the brain is as fol¬lows: thoughts send elec¬tri¬cal impulses to the amygdala, that tiny pea-size brain center located in the back brain; the amyg¬dala is where thoughts are converted to emotion; from the amygdala those emo¬tional impulses travel down the spine and through¬out the nervous system causing physiological responses.

 In other words, thoughts generate emotion which then triggers a physical response (behavior).

ORGANIZATION OF THE BRAIN

The brain can be divided into three basic units:

•  the forebrain

•  the midbrain

•  the hindbrain

 The hindbrain includes the upper part of the spinal cord, the brain stem, and a wrinkled ball of tissue called the cerebellum. It controls the body’s vital functions such as respiration and heart rate. The midbrain, which controls some reflex actions and is part of the circuit involved in the control of eye movements and other voluntary movements.

PART OF THE BRAIN INVOLVED IN THOUGHT FORMATION

 CEREBRAL CORTEX : the cerebral cortex is commonly described as comprising of three parts:

•  Sensory area: part that receives and process information from the senses.

•  Motor areas are areas very closely related to the control of voluntary movement.

•      Association area: it functions to produce a meaningful perceptual experience of the world, enable us to interact effectively and support abstract thinking and language. The association area integrates information from different receptors or sensory areas and relates the information to past experiences.

THOUGHT DISODERS

 Schizophrenia: a mental disorder characterized by a breakdown in thinking and poor emotional responses. Inability to think as a result of head injury,brain tumour, hypoxia and Wernicke’s encephalopathy.It must be emphasized that thinking allows humans to make sense of, interpret, represent or model the world they experience, and to make predictions about that world. Thought are the keys which determine ones goal. The major site of thought in the human brain is the frontal lobe of the cerebrum. But the amygala serve as the storage site for thought before it is transformed into emotions.