Foundational Brain Systems

Information Processing System of the Brain

There are over two hundred anatomically distinct processing systems within the brain. I have selected the processing systems that I believe form the basic foundation for attention and concentration, reading and listening comprehension, learning and everyday life performance. I refer to these brain systems as the Foundational Brain Systems.

The Foundational Brain Systems enable an individual to:

Gather and filter sensory information from the environment efficiently.
Navigate the environment with ease.
Add meaning to sensory information that has been gathered.
Process basic information accurately, efficiently and rapidly on a subconscious level.
Supply the thinking systems of the brain with information in a format that enables an
individual to think more efficiently and effectively.
Focus and concentrate on the task at hand.

The construction of the Foundational Brain Systems starts at inception and continues until death. The brain is continually re-organizing, by constructing new neural networks and connections and pruning off networks that are not being used. This process is called neuroplasticity and is one of the most important discoveries of the twentieth century.

The quality of the foundation’s construction is determined by interplay of genetics (nature) and environmental interactions (nurture). During the early years, especially the first six years of life, the brain is quadrupling in size and can make as many as seven hundred brain connections per second. This is a window of developmental opportunity that will have a major impact on a child’s future abilities.

Foundational Brain Systems

Each brain system handles specific information processing tasks that are geared to accomplish the overall desired goal of the entire foundational system. All of the systems are reciprocally interconnected; dysfunction in one system negatively impacts other systems. A strong overall foundational system is built by constructing these systems from the ground-up, because each system relies heavily on the underlying system or systems to function effectively and efficiently.

The entire foundational system must work rapidly and mostly on a subconscious level. If information is not processed fast enough, it clogs up the system with too much information. This causes the information to get stuck and not sent to the higher thinking systems. It must work mostly on a subconscious level, because we can only do one thing at a time consciously and the conscious mind must be available to the thinking systems of the brain.

Explanations of the Foundational Brain Systems, and common symptoms associated with developmental delays in each system, are included for each of the following items on the chart.

The below ‘Thinking Systems Model’ includes our focus area of the ‘Foundational Brain Systems’.
Click the below image to open the interactive ‘Foundational Brain System Model’.

Above ‘Thinking Systems Model’ includes our focus area of the ‘Foundational Brain Systems’. Click the above image or this link to open the interactive ‘Foundational Brain System Model’