Hello, and welcome to this fresh MOOC course titled, “How The Brain Makes Mind”.

Before embarking on this course, let us take some time to orient ourselves.

The need for this course arose from a previous MOOC course which I took called psychiatry-

an overview and, in the first week when we were discussing and talking about the anatomy

and physiology and the way we investigate the brain.

It was a glimpse of larger subject and I thought that probably talking about this whole process

of brain is worthwhile.

So, there will be some overlap, a little bit overlap between the first module of previous

course and this.

But with the same information set, the purpose here is different.

If you notice I haven't given a statement as a title.

The statement that let us explore brain or we know brain or neurosciences.

I have posted a question how the brain makes mind, and if you ask me the answer; the answer

is that we don't know yet, but we do not know is not to disparage you or discourage you

or discourage myself from understanding.

The basic purpose is to bring forth, whatever we know and we know a lot, we know a lot the

plethora of data is so much that it may really become difficult.

And if you just look at the just type in the Google neurosciences or the way you understand

brain or you just type any topic on the brain, within few seconds you will get millions of

papers and they are pouring in and in and in.

So, partly this is because neurosciences is no more a discipline; which is a prerogative

of biology or medical science, it is neurosciences is one of the foremost interdisciplinary or

cross disciplinary subjects which is come up.

Physicist, mathematicians, computer engineers especially, those working in an artificial

intelligence and brain and computer interface, biologist, medical scientist, psychiatrist,

neuro physiologist, geneticists everybody and you must have read in the newspaper about

Obama declaring it the brain project and decade of brain.

And so huge amount of money is being pore in, and the output is huge.

In fact, sometimes I personally feel that the output is so much and not only scientific

articles, the number of popular science books, the number of articles in physics journals,

in other journals, it has become so much that it has become difficult for one person to

synthesize it.

And you will really can't know what all that is going on in neurosciences.

So, we have blocks of information, lot of information, but if you still ask me whether

somebody can give a comprehensive theory or equation of the brain that is still very very

far.

So, few things which I wanted to share with you before we start as I said.

So, we what the plan of this 10 hour course is, that I am not going to give you in a text

book fashion, where the lot of good text books available; some of them which I have mentioned

in the information template and we will discover more has we go on.

It is journey, It is a journey which we can make together, so there may be more questions

at the end of presentations.

There may be new things which would come to your mind and we would love that, we share

with each other.

The hope is that some of you will really pick up neuroscience as a career, some of you may

actually get questions and which may decides future brain research for next 100 years or

50 years.

So, what is required is not you will have to probably leave your school approach, where

you want to look at slides and mug up and give assignment.

I invite you to get involve into this journey.

Think go to the video again and again, go to look at the slides and keep thinking, and

whatever questions comes some of them may be answerd during the course of presentation,

some of them will not have answers, and if I don't have answer you can provide answers

to me.

So, it's a journey as I said and so open your mind which essentially an exercise to give

you a state of the heart neuroscience which may not be complete, but whatever we know

opens up new windows to explore.

As I had mentioned in my introductory brief video, I hope some of you who are attending

this course may have gone through two basic courses which have been recorded and already

uploaded on NPTEL site.

One of them you can keep referring back to that, one is a biological basis of behavior

given by Professor Braj Bhushan from IIT Kanpur, it is a video which is already there on NPTEL

site.

Another is a lecture by me on it is labeled as a fancy name called “Beautiful mind”

which I have picked up from the movie, “Beautiful mind” that can be your reference point.

Plus there couple of other books which I will mention there is a book called by Eric Kendall

is a very well known neuroscientist of principle of neural sciences.

And there is another book on cognition brain and consciousness by baars, some of this are

available on internet.

So, let us embark on this and hopefully this becomes interesting journey for you and opens

a new path.

So, some questions at the beginning, the title itself is a question how the brain makes mind

and the other question what makes us sapiens, you know our species is homo sapiens sapiens.

So, this may sound as a very very big question, the general question that ok it may belong

to evolution; it may belong to anthropology, but just connected to this is a different

question which I am sure every human being in his life time will ask and that question

is who am I some of you would ask, some of you may be happy enough not to ask it all

your life, but some where along the line you ask this and the second question which is

almost on the flip side of this is why do I do what I do, I ask myself, all of us ask.

So, let's put this question at the beginning, what what do we do you all know that is behavior;

why do we do what we do and if you look at it, just ask yourself, just take few minutes

to think you question so many things, which see there lot of wars in history as whole

record of destruction, but the same time there is stories of love, there is stories of passion,

why why have been human beings doing like this, and seemingly if you pick up a newspaper

or listen to a TV news; how the time you keep wondering why did this person do this.

But you really don't have the answer, they may be explanation from social reason, they

may be explanation from economic reasons, but they are all higher level of explanations.

A child who has to study doesn't study, a student who has to focus before the exam is

panicking, people who marry each other after some years start fighting people kill each

other, there lot of terrorist activity going on, the wars which are going on, there is

a whole disparity of poor and rich; this is a whole drama of human life; although there

may be theoretical explanation, but the basic question if you keep taking a reductionist

approach and come to the basic why are we doing it; it all is a creation of human mind.

When I say this, there may be debates on this question, but I will address those debates

as I move.

So, let's basically look at, when there were no human beings.

So, we had our cousin you see it here.

The chimpanzee, as whatever we know of evolution it says that, we separated the line of Homo

sapiens separated from chimpanzees.

6 million years back, and the story of modern man comes to say around 200,000 years back,

or as the new theory says that 74000s years back, there was huge volcanic burst; which

almost destroyed everybody and there was this family in the deep in Africa.

So, there was 1 human and from their lot of migration happen, migration went to Europe

to Asia to china, this has some fact because this is studies had been done by mit ochondrial

DNA.

Mitochondria some of you know who biology will know it, but mitochondria small organelle

within the cell, and the DNA within mitochondria is different from the DNA; which is available

for other studied from the nucleus.

So, mitochondrial DNA is somehow as preserve the number of migrations, which has happened

in the human race.

So, when seeing the changes one can tell how many migrations somebody has undergone, from

Africa.

So, in one way all humanity which is existing now can be trace back to probably 1 women

in Africa, that has some it's not a fanciful story, because that is some substantiation.

Because we all share the genetic pool, more than 90 percent may be a rough data between

97 to 99 percent genes roughly are shared by all human beings.

So, that means, genetically we are the same.

So, there is some trust to one peoples everybody is one.

It is a very small percentage of gene which clears the difference and probably this also

explains that most human beings behave in the same way, though their language may be

different, their culture may be different, their dressing style may be different, their

food habit may be different, but those are all external things; when it really comes

to the basics, we are the same, we cry in the same way, we laugh in the same way, all

cultures laughter is laughter you always have to grin, when you laugh.

You cry you cry in the same way, you eat in the same way.

So, present human race which as Homo sapiens, there's a shares common genetic pool that

is our basic template.

So, any kid who is born will talk about the how the brain develops and you will see a

what similarity it has, but there are differences, so we all have two hands, eyes, ears, same

structure, now heights may differ, the eyes of the color of the eyes may differ, the skin

may differ, your face may differ, but these are small genetic variations; which have created

a small genetic variations can create such a variety.

So, nature is very economic.

So, but let us look, are we the only is species like this, or their other species.

You look at this picture, this is the very interesting 1926 if you look at this left

thing which is a infant chimpanzee and it is written here, the infant looks much closer

to human, but as it grows up the chimpanzee is start showing different from human beings,

now this is how the genetic enforce, it is not that the environment as made the chimpanzee

like this or the human infant is like this, it would becomes to this is the genetic program.

So, we all know that genetics is the nature.

There was a point of time.

In fact, when this almost 5 this species of homos will living Australopithecus, Chablis,

erectus, neanderthalensis and homo sapiens, but somehow see the last one, homo sapiens

it has survived, it means we have survived, it means you have survived, how and, in the

survival we have become like, what we have become, why don't we may like chimpanzees

or do chimpanzee have some behavior like us, the data shows; yes, this is a common gene

pool and chimpanzee shares lot of genes with us, but we are different, we did not; we all

like chimpanzees, all those some chimpanzees in some anthropology experiments have been

trained to speak, they did pick up some words, there has been some behavioral similarity

with human beings like sometimes group violence like sexual behavior, but human beings overall

have crossed all those limitations and have proved to be more complex species over time.

Now, have we have become different, but we share the genes with other animals, so where

do we strand in the whole nature, we just to mentioned by the way that; it's not a very

charitable history, human beings have actually homo sapiens as known for group violence,

and terminating some other species like we were still doing, we are we have killed so

many species, but somehow together we have survived.

So, man is a social animal may not be a really sociologically statement, it may very well

be a biologically statement and when we discovered; how the brain functions, you may you may actually

we able to prove that it is.

So, we look at it where do we stand, we share with many animals this faculties of awareness,

perception, attention, orientation, movement, memory, you see all animals do this.

They are aware of the surrounding, and when I am talking of awareness, I am not talking

of consciousness in the philosophical sense, they perceive things, they pay attention,

and they orient themselves, movement, memory, thinking.

I have written here, but we really don't know, whether think, and if they think whether the

think in words or language because nobody else is known to have the verbal word language

like, we are known to have birds, have a language, they cooing sound; this is a very very complex

sound which they can create.

Other animals are known to signal to each other by nonverbal movements or by verbal

movements, but animals are known to have different energy levels and moods.

So, what I would suggest you can close your eyes for a second.

So, think of yourself, when you close your eyes and sit in the movement of blank, just

focus on the present; when you are not thinking, you are not using words, you are not planning

future, you are not thinking about past.

In that movement of blank, probably you may get as close to as mind of animal which is

a word free mind; the images may come, we don't know whether they think in images, they

think in images a lot of experimentation have prove, because there is a pattern; which goes

into their head also, otherwise they would not remember, dogs remember, other animals

remember, elephants remember, probably with we don't know whether they have words which

are going into their head and they not speaking or their images, which are going into their

head to which they react, but if you stop word and thinking and conscious awareness

of your plans and all that, you may get just a glimpse of what it is all about.

Now, if I ask you to close your eyes, and don't think about monkeys, right, just close

your eyes and don't think about monkeys, what did you experience?

I am sure, what would have happened for most people is, if I had not mention monkeys they

would not have been any monkey in your head, but the movement I said monkey, some monkey

would crop up in your head.

Is it monkey which creeping into your head, or is the mind which is behaving like a monkey;

now this is the million dollar question, with all the drama which happens in human life,

why does your mind behave like it.

And also ask yourself another question, what quality has made you reach here, you all listening

to this MOOC course, you may be engineering student, or a doctor or somebody interest

in brain, why didn't your dog come here?

What is made you survive in the competition against other humans?

not all human beings have reach to a level to go and understand brain or make a rocket

or make a bomb or some people are surviving at very basic of earning their bread and butter,

but even that earning bread and butter is very complicated in life, that is the behavior.

If you widen this whole thing, what is made you reach to this human thing?

Is our brain the best, ok let me tell you some facts, our brain can hear sound between

20 to 20000 hertz, dogs can hear frequencies outside this, there are animals which can

see farther than us, their animals who can move in darkness, the birds have you ever

guess you must be knowing how do the birds from Siberia come to lakes in India, or how

does a bird go, it has already a birds mind is already oriented like in a GPS system,

with the earth geomagnetic field and it moves in those geodesics and does not miss out.

Birds have memory, dogs have memory, fish the colors, may be you can ask; why does nature

have to have so many things.

So, there some animals have extreme qualities; when it comes to the sensory thing, like hearing,

like visualizing some animals are very very robust in muscle power lion for that matter

or elephant in size.

So, there are animals who are larger than us, there are animals who were more assail

than us ,there are animals who are more sensitive, if you see a solar eclipse, you would have

seen it that, even before its start becoming dark, the cows turns back and it start going

their home, they would have sense that.

Animal have been used to sense earthquakes much before it is coming, but human beings

have been restricted in these sensory motor capabilities, we have limited power, we have

a limited range, where we can listen there is limited range, which we can see and.

So, our brain has already done it, it has come with our posture change also, like we

were on all force and human beings have really stood up erect; it has change the sexuality

it has change the way of reproduction, it has change the way you look at it, animals

which have on force and they have eyes on the site to scan the whole environment for

the predictors, as we have stood up our eyes have come into the front.

So our visual field is restricted than most animals, but something else has happened in

the brain, what is happened is that, all that was restricted, has been given like a new

dimension of thought of abstract thinking, of judgment, of exploration of being able

to fiddle with nature and creativity.

Creativity is a new thing, which has evolved in the human brain and its functioning it

is also the complexity.

So, this is the broad background on where we are living, this whole need to understand

brain, what I am not sure, whether animals is, animals whether they are really bothered

about understanding themselves or they though I don't think that they sit and philosophize

and why I am doing this or why lion thinks why am I going to go and hunt and eat a buffalo,

lion has to eat when feels hungry it satiates itself and then it will not do it, human beings

have developed new style of living, like human beings don't live alone, there were hunters,

from that hunter, they got fire, they develop tools, then they started hunting, then they

started living together made family, produce kids, develop farming lands, then they created

villages, cities, town and the whole comfort of life.

We also started hording, we also started bothering about future, and we also started putting

in efforts to store food, to money, to make security.

Animals also do this if you look closely, but they do it need based and almost in tandem

with nature, which season the hibernate, it feels need to go and eat and store.

Lion will hunt, take food, as long as long as tummy is full it will not get out, birds

make their nests, pigeons let me give; I mean it's all intertwined, if you think its all

separate not that, pigeons have huge memory of patterns, huge memory, and them they can

store some something into 75, 100 or that type of patterns, no wonder pigeons come and

make their nests, on the7th floor and 8th floor of apartment, who knows there was a

tree there.

So, that pattern is already established.

So, that movement, but this all entwined with the electromagnetic, geomagnetic field of

the earth, seasonal variation, temperature variation, animals get into sexual activity

only, when there is a extra cycle ,when there is a hormonal change within the body, human

beings somehow, the way they have evolved and it is a brain which has evolved like this,

has somehow separated themselves from this conditioning of nature, they are still with

nature, they have their own rhythm and all which will discuss towards the last lectures;

when we try to discover sleep, but human beings have largely they have freed themselves and.

So, they have a capability to folk the nature and decide what they want to do this decision

making, this will the conscious, will the attention.

The whole array of human activity; which has given some control over life that is typically

human.

So, will try to explore this, because this all comes from this thing which is closed

within the skull called brain; the 1.3 kg of pink substance, now the way I have devise

the lecture, they have not categorically separated them, all that some points it may be there,

so one lecture will telescope into another and with the time limitation will try to separate

them.

So don't bother, if there is no clear beginning and clear end, because I what I want you to

do and what I wish to tell you; is the way it as grow, on the way it is evolved, which

some history magazine.

So, it will keep going telescoping into one another, but will try to make a continuity,

we can always flip on and off there may be some repetitiveness and overlay with other

things, but do not bother about it too much and hopefully it will be clear to you.

So, keep this general background in mind, and then, then we will see how the whole things

functions and try to keep correlating with the general questions which will help you

orient.

Thank you I will see you in the next lecture with more specific thing about brain.

Thank you.