forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain (Restak Mind 35). .
The most important component of the brain is known as a neuron, a.
neuron is a special nerve cell that communicates information, in electrical and.
chemical form, to and from other neurons to create a response in the body,.
such as scratching your head or breathing through your nose. It is only in the.
first several months after conception that the body is able to create this lines.
of commerce for the brain, from that point on the brain has to coast with what.
is has. In the first twenty years of life the brain destroys those connections.
that are not used, this is the reasoning behind the phrase, "you can't teach an.
old dog new tricks." A neuron consists of three basic parts, each as crucial as.
the other. The main body of the neuron contains the nucleus, extending from.
the cell body are the dendrites, thin fibers that connect to the axon, the.
fluid-filled tube extending from the neuron that transfers information, to form.
an information chain. The axon is protected by the myelin sheath, a thin.
coating the covers the axon (Patano 1).
After about eight weeks the fetal brain begins to resemble that of an adult. .
It is about this time that a process known as differentiation begins. .
Differentiation is the process of seemingly identical cells changing in to.
different parts of the brain. A process called proliferation begins after the.
closure of the neural tube, the nerve cells begin to proliferate and specialize. .
Layers within the neural tube begin to build rapidly as the neurons that have.
already formed begin to bounce back and forth between the walls. As the.
neurons bounce they begin to divide and reproduce, it is unknown when, and.
why, the neurons decide to stop multiplying, but when they do they begin to.
migrate to their final positions, at which they establish permanent.
interconnections. To find their way "home," neurons require the help of.
special, radial glial cells, of which there are ten to fifty times more of than.
