THE BRAIN AS A SWITCHBOARD

These photographs are of an old-fashioned telephone switchboard.  The operator receives an incoming call, and then puts a plug into the proper jack to connect the call.

We can draw an analogy between the switchboard and the brain.  When we are infants, only a few connections are in place, so we know and can do very little.  This is illustrated in the first photograph.  As we grow, the number of connections between the nerve cells in the brain increases.  In this way, we learn and develop skills, as seen in the second photograph.

If a psychedelic drug like LSD is introduced into the brain, many of the established connections are disrupted or scrambled, as shown in the third photograph.  It is easy to see why someone under the influence of LSD might think he has spoken with the devil, can fly, or can "hear" colors and "see" sounds.

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