2
Neurobiology of Biblical Soul Care
What is the Goal?
Introductions
As coaches, parents, and trainers, our goal is to provide athletes with every opportunity to perform their sport at a high level while keeping them healthy and helping them grow into better people through the world of sport.
The Problem
Every day, athletes sustain injuries that prevent them from competing, keep them from their potential, and in some cases affect them for the rest of their lives.
The Problem
Where did brokenness start?
A
A Right Theology of Brokenness
The Problem
Every day, athletes sustain injuries that prevent them from competing, keep them from their potential, and in some cases affect them for the rest of their lives.
The Problem
Analysis
Neuro Anatomy
A Right Knowledge of Neurology
- Between 1.7 and 3 million concussions are suffered each year in sport or recreation-related accidents
- 1 out of every 2 concussions goes unreported
- 1 out of every 5 contact sport athletes will suffer a concussion in their seasons of play
Neuro Function
UMPC Sports Medicine
Getting Around the Brain
The "Survival" Brain
- Resting Muscle Tone
- Flexor/Extensor
- Pain Inhibition
- Autonomic Regulation
- Breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, pupil size, digestion, sweating
Brainstem
Think "Fight-Flight-Freeze"
The "Reflexive" Brain
- Sight
- Sound
- Alarm Center-Amygdala
- Memory-Hippocampus
Mid-Brain
Think "Threat Detection"
Cerebellum
The "Comparing" Brain
- Classically, its function is to coordinate and refine movement
- Known as the "little" brain
- Now it is known to be involved in so much more:
- Procedural memory
- Emotional regulation
- Supports cognition
- Dyslexia and other learning disorders
- Eye tracking
Think "Accuracy"
The "Thinking"
Brain
It is responsible for processing information associated with:
- movement
- smell, sight, sound, taste
- sensory perception
- language + communication
- memory + learning
- decision making
- planning
- understanding social cues
- inhibiting reflexes
Cerebrum
- Located in the "outer surface" of the brain
- Made up of Right and Left Hemispheres
- Occipital Lobe-visual interpretation
- Parietal Lobe-body map
- Temporal Lobe-sound, language
- Frontal Lobe-motor response,
communication, inhibition,
executive functions
Think "Understanding"
Making Sense
of the Brain
Higher cognitive processing is driven by sensori-motor processing and is dependant on prior experience during neurologic development
Input Determines Output
Neuroplasticity
Neurocognitive Background
Cortical Minicolumns: Receive common inputs, have common outputs, are interconnected, and may well constitute a fundamental computational unit of the cerebral cortex. -Vernon Mountcastle 1978
Neuron Theory: “[m]ental exercise facilitates a greater development of … the nervous collaterals in the part of the brain in use. In this way, preexisting connections between groups of cells could be reinforced by multiplication of the terminal branches.” -Ramón Cajal 1894
*Plasticity*
Connectome: "It is clear that, like the genome, which is much more than just a juxtaposition of genes, the set of all neuronal connections in the brain is much more than the sum of their individual components."
-Patric Hagmann 2005
Hebb's Law: “[w]hen an axon of cell A is near enough to excite a cell B and repeatedly or persistently takes part in firing it, some growth process or metabolic change takes
place in one or both cells such that A’s efficiency, as one of the cells firing B, is increased.” -Donald Hebb 1949
Brain function is the integration of multiple sensory inputs
Visual-Vestibular-Proprioceptive
Sensori-Motor
The McGurk Effect
Integrator
Attentional Networks-The Unified Brain
1
Dorsal Attentional Network-Problem Solving
- prominently involved in goal-directed, voluntary control of visuospatial attention
- sometimes referred to as the task-positive network
2
Ventral Attentional Network-Salience
- involved in detecting and filtering salient stimuli, as well as in recruiting relevant functional networks
- communication, social behavior, and self-awareness through the integration of sensory, emotional, and cognitive information
Reduced connectivity within the dorsal and ventral attention networks has been linked to higher levels of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms
3
Default Mode Network-At Rest
- active when a person is not focused on the outside world and the brain is at wakeful rest, such as during daydreaming and mind-wandering
- thinking about others, thinking about themselves, remembering the past, and planning for the future
4
Limbic Network-Meaning
- The limbic network interacts with all other systems to generate mtoivational and reward influences
- Components support a variety of functions including emotion, behavior, long-term memory, and olfaction
Options
A Right Understanding of Adaptation
Solution 1
Solution 2
Solution 3
Analysis
Analysis
Advice
A Right Application of Connections
Timeline
Timeline
Resources Needed
Resources
Needed
Financial
Projection
Financial Projection
What is the Goal?
Closing
As coaches, parents, and trainers, our goal is to provide athletes with every opportunity to perform their sport at a high level while keeping them healthy and helping them grow into better people through the world of sport.
The Problem
Every day, athletes sustain injuries that prevent them from competing, keep them from their potential, and in some cases affect them for the rest of their lives.