Biological Psychology in Life: Using the Internet

Using the Internet is the largest part of everyone’s daily life. The internet is mainly used to speed up daily tasks (Sharma, 2016). Sharma’s quote simplifies the use of the internet to a general theme of time. Whether it’s communicating, directions, or even paying for things, the internet is making everything more convenient. The process involves using a computer or phone to search the internet then sort the results for the best option. Although the internet is extremely complex, it doesn’t compare to the biological mechanisms in the body that allow humans to access the internet. The cellular activity of the neurons and the roles of the left brain, the four lobes, and the peripheral nervous system work together to perform the simple action that humans use every day.

 The central nervous system serves as the hub of cellular activity in that it regulates neurons. With over eighty billion neurons in the body sending and receiving signals to each other, the process is quite intricate. Khan (2016) said the ability to perceive surroundings – to see, hear, and smell what’s around – depends on the nervous system. Everything is connected to the nervous system in some way. Information is sent through tubes called axons to dendrites. Dendrites are tree-like processes that attach forming synapses. Neurotransmitters pass through the synapses and into the next neuron which continues the process until the information gets to its destination.

 The neurotransmitters that are involved in surfing the web are important in many other daily activities as well. Noradrenaline is the most significant neurotransmitter as it regulates attention. Noradrenaline allows for one’s focus to remain constant when researching a paper or even just looking up a recipe. Acetylcholine and glutamate are other important chemicals that affect thought and memory allowing the brain to remember what to search for, understand, and retain information. Finally, dopamine, which produces happiness, would be released when a search item is found whether it is an article or a simple YouTube video. This complicated cellular activity originates in the brain and which can be analyzed in-depth to find its relation to using the internet.

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 The brain can first be inspected through the cerebral cortex which is the outer layer of the human brain. The cerebral cortex can then be split into two hemispheres or four lobes. Using the internet is entirely a left hemispherical action as the left side of the brain controls logic, writing, reading, listening, reasoning, and analyzing information. This half of the brain assists a person in understanding an article or sifting through the irrelevant pages. These characteristics are some of the key focus points when searching for intelligent, reliable data. The two hemispheres also control the body; the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body and the right hemisphere, the left side of the body.

 The “four lobes” system is the lesser-known organization system of the brain but it is in fact, a more in-depth system. The brain is made up of the frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal lobes which all regulate different processes. The frontal lobe is considered to be the most important section of the brain, as it regulates motor skills and assists in judgment. The motor skill of typing on a keyboard or a cellular device confirms the importance of the frontal lobe. Next, is the parietal lobe controls the senses and the three senses of sight, touch and hearing play a role in navigating the internet. The third lobe is the occipital lobe which is located at the back of the brain and solely processes visual things allowing one to see the image portrayed by a search result. The fourth and final lobe is the temporal lobe which involves the auditory sense. This lobe allows for one to hear the audio coming from certain sites, like YouTube. Despite the four lobes being the main sections, the brain also has specific sections within the lobes that associate with using the internet. Three brain regions were shown to be active during the typing and these regions are the left superior parietal lobule, the left supramarginal gyrus, and the left premotor cortex (Higashiyama, Takeda, Someya, Kuroiwa, & Tanaka, 2015). Now, it is obvious that the central nervous system is essential but there is also a peripheral nervous system.

 The peripheral system is the form of communication that the nervous system uses to spread share information. The peripheral is described as a bundle of nerves between the spinal cord and the rest of the body.  The peripheral system itself is divided into two parts: the somatic and the autonomic. The somatic deals with the skin and muscle while the autonomic connects to the organs. When it comes to using the internet, the main focus is the somatic system as it deals with sensory and motor information.

 Sensory neurons transmit knowledge of the outside world to the central nervous system to help the brain understand what is going on in the environment around the body. Motor neurons are then released so that the body can take physical action in response to the information transmitted from the sensory neurons (Kalat, 2017). Both types of neurons relate to the central nervous system and the path from dendrites to axons and then back to dendrites displaying the immaculate connection within the nervous system of the body.

 As the daily lives of people become simpler through the advancement of technology, the cellular activity of the neurons and the roles of the left brain, the four lobes, and the peripheral nervous system continue to work together to allow the body to complete the action of using the internet. Finally, the text above exemplifies the interconnectedness of the human body with its biological mechanisms.

References

• Higashiyama, Y., Takeda, K., Someya, Y., Kuroiwa, Y., & Tanaka, F. (2015). The Neural Basis of Typewriting: A Functional MRI Study. PLoS ONE, 10(7). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0134131
• Kalat, J. W. (2017). Introduction to psychology (11e ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
• Khan, S. (2016). Neurotransmitters and receptors. Retrieved September 20, 2019, from Khan Academy website: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/human-biology/neuron-nervous-system/a/neurotransmitters-their-receptors
• Sharma, V. K. (2016, February 20). Uses of internet in our daily life—Everyday Internet. Retrieved September 20, 2019, from http://www.klientsolutech.com/uses-of-internet-in-our-daily-life-everyday-internet/