Untertitel: WDR mediagroup digital GmbH im Auftrag des WDR
Mike's brain has a tough job. Every day.
It has to make sure that Mike concentrates on the right thing.
If this doesn't work, lots can go wrong for Mike.
Mike is still asleep, his consciousness is switched off.
But there's still loads going on in his brain.
It's processing Mike's experiences from the day before.
And other things that are on his mind.
(schnarcht)
We have around 100 billion nerve cells in our brains.
That's 100.000 million.
Each of these is in contact with up to 10.000 other nerve cells.
Many of these are active while we're asleep.
Imagine it like this:
When we switch off a PC, it clatters for a little bit longer
because it's sorting out and tidying up, moving files around.
Our brains do the same thing.
We do much more in a day than a PC does.
So we need a night to sort out, store and recode things.
And to make connections between some things that we didn't have time
to make connections between during the day.
Oh no.
Oh yes. Overslept.
Mike's consciousness is instantly online...
That's good because he now has to pack his backpack
and mustn't forget anything important.
Mike is now awake and in reception mode.
On his tongue, in his skin, eyes, ears,
everywhere in his body there are sensory cells.
These take in stimuli: touches, sounds, light, smells, tastes.
The sensory cells pass all of these on to the cells
in the body's nerves in the form of excitation.
In turn, these send them on to the nerve cells in the brain.
Here, they are processed in various regions.
What we see goes to the visual centre.
What we hear to the auditory centre.
What we touch and feel goes to our sensory area.
All together they ensure that Mike doesn't miss anything.
Most of the time.
(flucht)
Within a nerve cell,
information travels in the form of electrical excitation.
From one nerve cell to the next, the electrical signal
is passed on to a special connection point, the "synapse".
When the impulse arrives here, the cell emits a chemical messenger:
the "transmitter".
The messenger triggers a nerve impulse in the next cell,
which passes this on to other cells, and so on.
This is how thousands of nerve cells help Mike to take in,
process and react to stimuli.
Mike has known his way to school for years.
Without him thinking about it,
his brain knows exactly where Mike is and what he has to do.
His attention is somewhere else entirely:
he's daydreaming about what could happen next.
The eighth time this month already. I'll be in trouble.
So, have a nice lie-in?
As long as everything stays routine, Mike remains on autopilot.
His brain takes care of his movements
and reactions without him knowing about it.
Until something surprising happens.
Then he is instantly alert.
Only the really important things
make it through the brain's filter to the consciousness.
The thalamus. This is a region in the interbrain.
The thalamus passes on information coming from the sensory organs
to the higher centres in the cerebral cortex.
Or not.
Then Mike is not aware of it on a conscious level.
How sensitively this filter reacts varies.
If the surroundings are new and perhaps dangerous,
the consciousness threshold is low.
Good evening!
Mike is then extremely alert.
If everything is familiar and harmless, it's different.
Then a stimulus has to be strong to penetrate into the consciousness.
Like now.
Mike, what are you doing here? - What, are you late too?
Why? The 1st class is cancelled today.
(teacher) What about in the federal states?
Mike often has to grapple with information
that he doesn't find particularly exciting.
But he still has to concentrate,
and to do this he needs self-discipline.
At school, someone tells us what we have to do
and maybe it doesn't interest us at the time.
I know it's not cool to talk about discipline.
But if we think about what this means, it's actually really obvious.
There's always something I'd rather be doing.
I'm hungry or thirsty.
But I know that in the long term if I only eat and drink
and smooch, then my life will go downhill pretty fast.
That's why I know, that takes place in the front of the brain,
that I have other goals.
Even if in the long term I want to start a family with my girlfriend.
Then I'll have to earn money and support the kids.
That will be much easier if I have a good education.
This type of self-control can be learnt.
The better control someone has over themselves, in other words
sitting in the driving seat, the more money he'll have,
the better job he'll have, and the happier he'll be at 50.
...different interests in the federal counsil.
To make sure Mike stays focused, a part of the cerebral cortex
at the front of the head is very important.
The anterior frontal lobe.
This steers the attention and is responsible for discipline.
With the help of this, we can concentrate on something,
if we want to, even if we actually find it boring.
And block out everything else.
The bell will ring in 10 seconds...
But this is hard work for our brain.
That's why it only does this for as long as is really necessary.
Hi Mike, welcome to your 1st class, here are the sticks,
here's the set, let's go for it.
Coordinating the hands and feet when playing the drums
is really difficult at the beginning.
Mike has to give it his full concentration.
His attention is steered by the same region of the brain
as paying attention at school.
The anterior frontal lobe.
This generates a plan in Mike's consciousness:
I'm practicing the drums now.
It activates all of the brain centres
that Mike needs to play the drums.
One substance is very important for this: dopamine.
The more dopamine there is in the regions of the brain concerned,
the better the concentration.
But if something unexpected happens,
Mike can't concentrate so well on playing the drums anymore.
Now there's a second plan in his brain.
Both plans compete with one another.
The drumming comes to a standstill.
Suppressing competing plans is strenuous and doesn't always work.
His concentration is now out of step.
What is it, what's wrong?
It was going so well just now. Let's call it a day.
Mike's feelings have a huge influence on his concentration.
Stress can be a real concentration killer.
Oh, I'm sick of this! Mike should really control himself.
What a load of rubbish.
If we're stressed, for example if people are badmouthing us,
the hormones adrenalin and noradrenalin are released.
These put the body on red alert.
It then switches to fight or flight.
Regardless of whether or not this makes sense.
A mixture of substances switches the brain
from normal mode to emergency mode.
All previous plans of action are dropped.
Our concentration is gone.
Good feelings, on the other hand, can help concentration.
Happy feelings mean that we can face the world and, so to speak,
cope with the world openly and calmly.
This of course makes it possible to devote ourselves to new things
and process new things quickly.
And this makes it possible to learn new things.
Feeling good is actually important for being able
to take in new things.
Tiredness is another real concentration killer.
If Mike is too tired, he totally loses focus.
This can even go as far as him not being able to finish
what he planned to do just a second ago.
If we're really tired, the anterior frontal lobe
often doesn't manage to see a plan of action through.
It can't keep all of the nerve cells it needs active at the same time.
Then the plan is abandoned right in the middle and
another one can take its place.
So it's better if Mike packs his sports bag tomorrow,
when his head's had a good sleep.
Because now, while he's asleep, Mike's brain can sort itself
out again and process all of the day's experiences.
Copyright WDR 2012