The lives of species are trapped within ‘cooperation and conflict’. They
compete with each other to win the ‘survival of the fittest’. In cognitive
neurosciences, action and perception are the most crucial. Perception guides action by
selecting targets and correcting errors. This entire process is stored in the memory. It is
an essential part of learning and creates the basis for new knowledge by association.
Neural circuits that control metabolism and food intake are housed within the
hypothalamus. It is small in size but plays a crucial role. Temperature, sleep, eating,
and social interactions are its responsibility. Emotion and learning are related e.g.,
positive emotion (simply feeling good) motivates students to perform better. Emotion,
as the present state of knowledge stands, is taken care of by the amygdala. Should we
consider it the ‘heart of the brain’?
The purpose of this chapter is not to cover all systems or subsystems but to discuss
only a select few. This decision has been taken to reduce the complexity of the brain’s
neurovascular structure. Capillaries in the neurovascular structure hold back certain
molecules, RNA viruses, and other disease-causing agents (ions, molecules, etc). The
blood-brain barrier, cerebrospinal fluid, and blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier are three
key elements of the organizational structure of the brain.
Keywords: Amygdala, Adrenergic receptors, Action, Blood Brain Barrier, Blood Cerebrospinal Fluid Barrier, Cerebrospinal Fluid, Cholinergic receptors, Central Nervous System, Emotion, Free Energy Surface Functional, Fluctuations, Hypothalamus, Hidden Environmental variables, Mossy Fiber Synapse, Perception, Parasympathetic Nervous System, Sympathetic Nervous System, Sleep, Statistical Physics, Temperature.
