A human brain.

The human brain controls the central nervous system (CNS), by way of the cranial nerves and spinal cord, the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and regulates virtually all human activity. In Vertebrates the central nervous system ( CNS) is the part of the Nervous system which is enclosed in the Meninges. Cranial nerves are Nerves that emerge directly from the Brain stem in contrast to Spinal nerves which emerge from segments of the Spinal cord. The spinal cord is a long thin tubular bundle of Nerves that is an extension of the Central nervous system from the brain and is enclosed in and protected The peripheral nervous system ( PNS) resides or extends outside the Central nervous system (CNS which consists of the Brain and Spinal cord. ^[1] Involuntary, or "lower," actions, such as heart rate, respiration, and digestion, are unconsciously governed by the brain,^[1][2] specifically through the autonomic nervous system. Measuring heart rate The Pulse rate (which in most people is identical to the heart rate can be measured at any point on the body where an Artery 's pulsation In Animal physiology, respiration is the transport of Oxygen from the outside air to the cells within tissues and the transport of Carbon dioxide Digestion is the breaking down of chemicals in the body into a form that can be absorbed &trade The autonomic nervous system ( ANS) (or visceral nervous system) is the part of the Peripheral nervous system that acts as a Control Complex, or "higher," mental activity, such as thought, reason, and abstraction,^[2] is consciously controlled. Thought and thinking are mental forms and Processes respectively ("thought" is both Reason involves the ability to think understand and draw Conclusions in an Abstract way as in Human thinking --> Abstraction is the process or result of generalization by reducing the information

Anatomically, the brain can be divided into three parts: the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain;^[3] the forebrain includes the several lobes of the cerebral cortex that control higher functions, while the mid- and hindbrain are more involved with unconscious, autonomic functions. In the Anatomy of the Brain of Vertebrates, the prosencephalon (or forebrain) is the Rostral -most (forward-most portion of the In biological anatomy the mesencephalon (or midbrain) comprises the Tectum (or corpora quadrigemini Tegmentum, the ventricular mesocoelia (or "iter" The rhombencephalon (or hindbrain) is a developmental categorization of portions of the Central nervous system in Vertebrates. The cerebral cortex is a structure within the Brain that plays a key role in Memory, Attention, perceptual Awareness, Thought, During encephalization, human brain mass increased beyond that of other species relative to body mass. Encephalization is defined as the amount of Brain mass exceeding that related to an animal's total body mass. This process was especially pronounced in the neocortex, a section of the brain involved with language and consciousness. The neocortex ( Latin for "new Bark " or "new Rind " is a part of the Brain of Mammals It is the outer layer of A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them Consciousness has been defined loosely as a constellation of attributes of Mind such as Subjectivity, Self-awareness, Sentience, and the The neocortex accounts for about 76% of the mass of the human brain;^[4] with a neocortex much larger than other animals, humans enjoy unique mental capacities despite having a neuroarchitecture similar to that of more primitive species. Neuroanatomy is the science for localizing function in the Human brain. In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank. Basic systems that alert humans to stimuli, sense events in the environment, and maintain homeostasis are similar to those of basic vertebrates. Homeostasis (from Greek: ὅμος hómos, "equal" and ιστημι istēmi, "to stand" lit Vertebrates are members of the Subphylum Vertebrata, Chordates with backbones or spinal columns The grouping sometimes includes Human consciousness is founded upon the extended capacity of the modern neocortex, as well as the greatly developed structures of the brain stem. Consciousness has been defined loosely as a constellation of attributes of Mind such as Subjectivity, Self-awareness, Sentience, and the The brain stem (or brainstem) is the lower part of the Brain, adjoining and structurally continuous with the Spinal cord.

Neurophysiology

The human brain is the source of the conscious, cognitive mind. Cognition is a concept used in different ways by different disciplines but is generally accepted to mean the process of awareness or thought MIND ( Moving In New Directions) (est 1975 is an alternative education high school in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The mind is the set of cognitive processes related to perception, interpretation, imagination, memories, and crucially language (cf. In Psychology and the Cognitive sciences perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory Information. Imagination is the ability to form Mental images/sounds/feelings or the ability to Spontaneously Generate images/sounds/feelings within one's own Mind In Psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store retain and subsequently retrieve information A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them Broca's area) of which a person may or may not be aware. Broca's area is a section of the human brain that is involved in Language processing, speech or sign production and comprehension Beyond cognitive functions, the brain regulates autonomic processes related to essential body functions such as respiration and heartbeat. The brain controls all movement from lifting a pencil to building a superstructure.

Extended neocortical capacity allows humans some control over emotional behavior, but neural pathways between emotive centers of the brain stem and cerebral motor control areas are shorter than those connecting complex cognitive areas in the neocortex with incoming sensory information from the brain stem. An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings thoughts and behaviours Behavior or behaviour (see spelling differences) refers to the actions or Reactions of an object or Organism, usually Motor cortex is a term that describes regions of the Cerebral cortex involved in the planning control and execution of voluntary motor functions Information as a concept has a diversity of meanings from everyday usage to technical settings Powerful emotional pathways can modulate spontaneous emotive expression regardless of attempts at cerebral self-control. Emotive stability in humans is associated with planning, experience, and an environment that is both stable and stimulating. Planning in Organizations and Public policy is both the organizational process of creating and maintaining a Plan; and the psychological process of Experience as a general concept comprises Knowledge of or skill in or Observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or

The 19th century discovery of the primary motor cortex mapped to correspond with regions of the body led to popular belief that the brain was organized around a homunculus. The primary motor cortex (or M1) works in association with pre-motor areas to plan and execute movements The concept of a homunculus ( Latin for "little man" plural "homunculi" the diminutive of homo, "man" is often used to illustrate A distorted figure drawn to represent the body's motor map in the prefrontal cortex was popularly recognized as the brain's homunculus, but function of the human brain is far more complex than this simple figure suggests. A similar, "sensory homunculus" can be drawn in the parietal lobe that parallels that in the frontal lobe.

The human brain appears to have no localized center of conscious control. The brain seems to derive consciousness from interaction among numerous systems within the brain. Executive functions rely on cerebral activities, especially those of the frontal lobes, but redundant and complementary processes within the brain result in a diffuse assignment of executive control that can be difficult to attribute to any single locale. The frontal lobe is an area in the Brain of Mammals It is located at the front of each Cerebral hemisphere and positioned anterior to (in front of the Visual perception generally is processed in the occipital lobe, whereas the primary auditory cortex resides in the temporal lobe. In Psychology, visual perception is the ability to interpret information from Visible light reaching the Eyes The resulting Perception is also The occipital lobe is the visual processing center of the Mammalian Brain containing most of the anatomical region of the Visual cortex. The primary auditory cortex is the region of the Brain that is responsible for processing of auditory ( Sound) information The temporal lobes are parts of the cerebrum that are involved in speech, Memory, and Hearing. Midbrain functions include routing, selecting, mapping, and cataloging information, including information perceived from the environment and information that is remembered and processed throughout the cerebral cortex. In biological anatomy the mesencephalon (or midbrain) comprises the Tectum (or corpora quadrigemini Tegmentum, the ventricular mesocoelia (or "iter" Information as a concept has a diversity of meanings from everyday usage to technical settings Endocrine functions housed in the midbrain play a leading role in modulating arousal of the cortex and of autonomic systems. The endocrine system is an integrated system of small organs that involve the release of extracellular signaling molecules known as Hormones The endocrine system is instrumental Arousal is a physiological and psychological state of being awake

Nerves from the brain stem complex where autonomic functions are modulated join nerves routing messages to and from the cerebrum in a bundle that passes through the spinal column to related parts of a body. A nerve is an enclosed cable-like bundle of peripheral Axons (the long slender projections of Neurons. In Human anatomy, the vertebral column ( backbone or spine) is a column of 34 Vertebrae the Sacrum, Intervertebral Twelve pairs of cranial nerves, including some that innervate parts of the head, follow pathways from the medulla oblongata outside the spinal cord. Cranial nerves are Nerves that emerge directly from the Brain stem in contrast to Spinal nerves which emerge from segments of the Spinal cord.

A description of the biological basis for consciousness so far eludes the best efforts of the current generation of researchers. Foundations of modern biology There are five unifying principles Research is defined as Human activity based on Intellectual application in the investigation of Matter. But reasonable assumptions based on observable behaviors and on related internal responses have provided the basis for general classification of elements of consciousness and of likely neural regions associated with those elements. Researchers know people lose consciousness and regain it, they have identified partial losses of consciousness associated with particular neuropathologies and they know that certain conscious activities are impossible without particular neural structures. Neuropathology is the study of Disease of nervous system tissue usually in the form of either small surgical biopsies or whole autopsy brains

A sketch of the human brain by artist Priyan Weerappuli superimposed upon the profile of Michelangelo's David. Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni Two biographies were published of him during his lifetime One of them by Giorgio Vasari, proposed that he was the pinnacle of all David is a Masterpiece of Renaissance Sculpture sculpted by Michelangelo from 1501 to 1504

Study of the brain

Picture of a human brain generated from MRI data.

Grey matter, the thin layer of cells covering the cerebrum, was believed by most scholars to be the primary center of cognitive and conscious processing. White matter, the mass of glial cells that support the cerebral grey matter, was assumed to primarily provide nourishment, physical support, and connective pathways for the more functional cells on the cerebral surface. Glial cells, commonly called neuroglia or simply glia (Greek for "glue" are non- Neuronal cells that provide support and nutrition But research fueled by the interest of Dr. Marian Diamond in the glial structure of Albert Einstein's brain led to a line of research that offered strong evidence that glial cells serve a computational role beyond merely transmitting processed signals between more functional parts of the brain. Albert Einstein 's Brain has often been a subject of research and speculation In the fields of communications, Signal processing, and in Electrical engineering more generally a signal is any time-varying or spatial-varying quantity In 2004, Scientific American published an article suggesting scientists in the early 21st century are only beginning to study the "other half of the brain. Scientific American is a Popular science magazine, published (first weekly and later monthly since August 28, 1845, making it "

For many millennia the function of the brain was unknown. Ancient Egyptians threw the brain away prior to the process of mummification. Ancient Egypt was an Ancient Civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now A mummy is a Corpse whose Skin and Flesh have been preserved by either intentional or Incidental exposure to Chemicals extreme Ancient thinkers such as Aristotle imagined that mental activity took place in the heart. Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. The heart is a muscular organ in all Vertebrates responsible for pumping Blood through the Blood vessels by repeated rhythmic Greek scholars assumed correctly that the brain serves a role in cooling the body, but incorrectly presumed the brain to function as a sort of radiator, rather than as a thermostat as is now understood. The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca Radiators and convectors are types of Heat exchangers designed to transfer Thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling A thermostat is a device for regulating the Temperature of a System so that the system's temperature is maintained near a desired setpoint The Alexandrian biologists Herophilos and Erasistratus were among the first to conclude that the brain was the seat of intelligence. Alexandria ( Egyptian Arabic: اسكندريه Eskendereyya; Standard Arabic: ar الإسكندرية Al-Iskandariyya; Ἀλεξάνδρεια Herophilos, sometimes Latinized Herophilus (335-280 BC was a Greek physician Erasistratus of Chios (304 BC- 250 BC was a Greek anatomist and royal physician under Seleucus I Nicator of Syria Intelligence (also called intellect) is an Umbrella term used to describe a property of the Mind that encompasses many related abilities such as the capacities Galen's theory that the brain's ventricles were the sites of thought and emotion prevailed until the work of the Renaissance anatomist Vesalius. Galen ( Greek: Γαληνός Galēnos; Latin: Claudius Galenus, Aelius Galenus, Claudius Aelius Galenus, or Thought and thinking are mental forms and Processes respectively ("thought" is both The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere Andreas Vesalius ( Brussels, December 31, 1514 - Zakynthos, October 15, 1564) was an anatomist, Physician

A slice of an MRI scan of the brain. See an animation of the scan from top to bottom.

The modern study of the brain and its functions is known as neuroscience. Neuroscience is a field devoted to the scientific study of the nervous system Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior. Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and Neurophysiology is the study of normal healthy brain activity, while neurology and psychiatry are both medical approaches to the study of the mind and its disorders and pathology or mental illness respectively. Neurophysiology (from Greek grc νεῦρον neuron, "nerve" grc φύσις physis, "nature origin" and grc -λογία Psychiatry is a medical specialty which exists to study, prevent, and treat Mental disorders in Humans Psychiatric Pathology (from Greek grc πάθος pathos, "fate harm" and grc -λογία -logia) is the study and Mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern that occurs in an individual and is thought to cause distress or disability that is not expected as

The brain is now seen as the primary organ responsible for the phenomena of consciousness and thought. In Biology, an organ ( Latin: organum, "instrument tool" from Greek όργανον - organon "organ instrument A phenomenon (from Greek φαινόμενoν, pl φαινόμενα - phenomena) is any observable occurrence Consciousness has been defined loosely as a constellation of attributes of Mind such as Subjectivity, Self-awareness, Sentience, and the Thought and thinking are mental forms and Processes respectively ("thought" is both It also integrates and controls (together with the central nervous system) allostatic balance and autonomic functions in the body, regulates as well as directly producing many hormones, and performs processing, recognition, cognition and integration related to emotion. In Vertebrates the central nervous system ( CNS) is the part of the Nervous system which is enclosed in the Meninges. Allostasis is the process of achieving stability or Homeostasis, through physiological or behavioral change Hormones (from Greek ὁρμή - "impetus" are chemicals released by cells that affect cells in other parts of the body An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings thoughts and behaviours Studies of brain damage resulting from accidents led to the identification of specialized areas of the brain devoted to functions such as the processing of vision and audition. In scientific inquiry an experiment ( Latin: Ex- periri, "to try out" is a method of investigating particular types of research questions or In Psychology, visual perception is the ability to interpret information from Visible light reaching the Eyes The resulting Perception is also

Neuroimaging has allowed the function of the living brain to be studied in detail without damaging the brain. Neuroimaging includes the use of various techniques to either directly or indirectly image the structure, function/ Pharmacology of the Brain New imaging techniques allowed blood flow within the brain to be studied in detail during a wide range of psychological tests. Blood flow is the flow of Blood in the Cardiovascular system. Functional neuroimaging such as functional magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography allows researchers to monitor activities of the brain as they occur (see also history of neuroimaging). Functional neuroimaging is the use of Neuroimaging technology to measure an aspect of brain function often with a view to understanding the relationship between activity in Functional MRI or functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI is a type of specialized MRI scan Positron emission tomography ( PET) is a Nuclear medicine imaging technique which produces a three-dimensional image or map of functional processes in the The history of Neuroimaging, began in the early 1900s with a technique called Pneumoencephalography.

Molecular analysis of the brain has provided insight into some aspects of what the brain does as an organ, but not how it functions in higher-level processes. In Chemistry, a molecule is defined as a sufficiently stable electrically neutral group of at least two Atoms in a definite arrangement held together by Further, the molecular and cell biological examination of brain pathology is hindered by the scarcity of appropriate samples for study, the (usual) inability to biopsy the brain from a living person suffering from a malady, and an incomplete description of the brain's microanatomy. Molecular biology is the study of Biology at a molecular level See also List of basic cell biology topics. Cell biology (also called cellular biology or formerly cytology, from the A biopsy (in Greek: βίος life and όψη look/appearance is a Medical test involving the removal of cells or tissues With respect to the normal brain, comparative transcriptome analysis between the human and chimpanzee brain and between brain and liver (a common molecular baseline organ) has revealed specific and consistent differences in gene expression between human and chimpanzee brain and a general increase in the gene expression of many genes in humans as compared to chimpanzees. The transcriptome is the set of all Messenger RNA (mRNA molecules or "transcripts" produced in one or a population of cells. Chimpanzee (often shortened to chimp) is the common name for the two extant Species of Apes in the Genus Pan. The liver is a vital organ in the human body and is present in Vertebrates and some other animals Gene expression is the process by which inheritable information from a Gene, such as the DNA sequence, is made into a functional Gene product, such Furthermore, variations in gene expression in the cerebral cortex between individuals in either species is greater than between sub-regions of the cortex of a single individual. ^[5]

In addition to pathological and imaging studies, the study of computational networks, largely in computer science, provided another means through which to understand neural processes. Computational neuroscience is an interdisciplinary science that links the diverse fields of Neuroscience, Cognitive science, Electrical engineering, Computer science (or computing science) is the study and the Science of the theoretical foundations of Information and Computation and their A body of knowledge developed for the production of electronic, mathematical computation of systems provided a basis for researchers to develop and refine hypotheses about the computational function of biological neural networks. Electronics refers to the flow of charge (moving Electrons through Nonmetal conductors (mainly Semiconductors, whereas electrical Mathematics is the body of Knowledge and Academic discipline that studies such concepts as Quantity, Structure, Space and A hypothesis (from Greek) consists either of a suggested explanation for a phenomenon (an event that is observable or of a reasoned proposal suggesting a possible In Neuroscience, a neural network describes a population of physically interconnected Neurons or a group of disparate neurons whose inputs or signalling targets define The study of neural networks now involves study of both biological and artificial neural networks. Traditionally the term neural network had been used to refer to a network or circuit of biological neurons. An artificial neural network (ANN, often just called a "neural network" (NN is a Mathematical model or Computational model based on Biological neural

A new discipline of cognitive science has started to fuse the results of these investigations with observations from psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science as expressed in On Intelligence. Cognitive science may be broadly defined as the multidisciplinary study of mind and behavior Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Linguistics is the scientific study of Language, encompassing a number of sub-fields On Intelligence How a New Understanding of the Brain will Lead to the Creation of Truly Intelligent Machines is a book by Palm Pilot -inventor Jeff Hawkins

Recently the brain was used in bionics by several groups of researchers. Bionics (also known as biomimetics, biognosis, Biomimicry, or bionical creativity engineering) is the application of biological In a particular example, a combined team of United States Navy researchers and Russian scientists from Nizhny Novgorod State University worked to develop an artificial analogue of olivocerebellar circuit, a part of the brain responsible for balance and limb movement. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Nizhny Novgorod (Ни́жний Но́вгород Nižnij Novgorod) colloquially shortened as Nizhny, is the fourth largest city in Russia In Anatomy, the olivary bodies or simply olives (Latin oliva and olivae, singular and plural respectively are a pair of prominent oval structures Equilibrioception or sense of balance is one of the physiological Senses It helps prevent Humans and Animals from falling over when The researchers plan to use it to control Autonomous Underwater Vehicles. An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV is a Robot which travels underwater

Neurolinguistics

Or Language and the Brain

In human beings, it is the left hemisphere that usually contains the specialized language areas. While this holds true for 97% of right-handed people, about 19% of left-handed people have their language areas in the right hemisphere and as many as 68% of them have some language abilities in both the left and the right hemisphere. The two hemispheres are thought to contribute to the processing and understanding of language: the left hemisphere processes the linguistic meaning of prosody, while the right hemisphere processes the emotions conveyed by prosody. In Linguistics, prosody (from Greek προσωδία) is the Rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech ^[6] Studies of children have provided some fascinating information: If a child has damage to the left hemisphere, the child may develop language in the right hemisphere instead. The younger the child, the better the recovery. So, although the "natural" tendency is for language to develop on the left, our brains are capable of adapting to difficult circumstances, if the damage occurs early enough.

The first language area within the left hemisphere to be discovered is called Broca's Area, after Paul Broca. The Broca's area doesn't just handle getting language out in a motor sense, though. It seems to be more generally involved in the ability to deal with grammar itself, at least the more complex aspects of grammar. For example, it handles distinguishing a sentence in passive form from a simpler subject-verb-object sentence. For instance, the sentence: "The boy was hit by the girl. " implies the girl hit the boy, not the other way around. As a simple subject-verb-object interpretation it could mean: "The boy was hit by the girl. ", and therefore, the boy hit the girl.

The second language area to be discovered is called Wernicke's Area, after Carl Wernicke, a German neurologist. The problem of not understanding the speech of others is known as Wernicke’s Aphasia. Wernicke's is not just about speech comprehension. People with Wernicke's Aphasia also have difficulty naming things, often responding with words that sound similar, or the names of related things, as if they are having a very hard time with their mental "dictionaries. "

Common misconceptions

Visualization of a diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measurement of a human brain. Diffusion MRI is a Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI method that produces In vivo images of biological tissues weighted with the local microstructural The brain is the center of the Nervous system in animals All Vertebrates and the majority of Invertebrates have a brain Depicted are reconstructed axon tracts that run through the mid-sagittal plane. An axon or nerve fiber is a long slender projectionof a nerve cell or Neuron, that conducts electrical impulses away from the neuron's Cell A sagittal plane of the human body is an imaginary plane that travels from the top to the bottom of the body dividing it into left and right portions Especially prominent are the U-shaped fibers that connect the two hemispheres through the corpus callosum (the fibers come out of the image plane and consequently bend towards the top) and the fiber tracts that descend toward the spine (blue, within the image plane). A cerebral hemisphere ( hemispherium cerebrale) is defined as one of the two regions of the Brain that are delineated by the body's median plane. The corpus callosum is a structure of the Mammalian Brain in the longitudinal fissure that connects the left and right Cerebral hemispheres It also facilitates

The following are some commonly held misconceptions of the mind and brain perpetuated through urban legends, mass media, and the promotion of dubious products to consumers (Sala, 1999):

• Holes in the brain: Often lesions in the brain, from injury, disease, or drug use, are described as 'holes', however, these 'holes' are in fact not cavities, most often are simply inactive areas of the brain where neurons no longer fire. An urban legend or urban myth is a form of modern Folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them "Popular press" redirects here note that the University of Wisconsin Press publishes under the imprint "The Popular Press"
• The human brain is firm and grey: The fresh/living brain is actually very soft, jelly-like, and deep red. It does not become firm and grey until it has been preserved with various chemicals/resins.
• Humans use only 10% or less of their brain: Even though many mysteries of brain function persist, every part of the brain has a known function. ^[7][8][9]
  • This misconception most likely arose from a misunderstanding (or misrepresentation in an advertisement) of neurological research in the late 1800s or early 1900s when researchers either discovered that only about 10% of the neurons in the brain are firing at any given time or announced that they had only mapped the functions of 10% of the brain up to that time (accounts differ on this point). In Neurophysiology, the action potential is a self-regenerating Wave of Electrochemical activity that allows Nerve cells to carry a signal
  • Another possible origin of the misconception is that only 10% of the cells in the brain are neurons; the rest are glial cells that, despite being involved in learning, do not function in the same way that neurons do. Glial cells, commonly called neuroglia or simply glia (Greek for "glue" are non- Neuronal cells that provide support and nutrition
  • Lower level of brain activation does not mean a lower performance of cognitive functions; this variable has confounded scientists, because some gifted individuals showed less activity than the average person. Haier proposed that indeed more gifted individuals might possess more efficient brain circuits.
  • Some New Age proponents propagate this belief by asserting that the "unused" ninety percent of the human brain is capable of exhibiting psychic powers and can be trained to perform psychokinesis and extra-sensory perception. New Age ( New Age Movement and New Age Spirituality) is a Social Collective Phenomenon and a Spiritual Nature Psionics is the study and/or practice of using the mind to induce paranormal phenomena The term psychokinesis (from the Greek ψυχή, "psyche" meaning mind soul heart or breath; and κίνησις, "kinesis" Extrasensory perception (ESP is the apparent ability to acquire information by Paranormal means independent of any known physical Senses or deduction from previous
• Mental abilities are absolutely separated into the left and right cerebral hemispheres: Some mental functions such as speech and language (cf. A cerebral hemisphere ( hemispherium cerebrale) is defined as one of the two regions of the Brain that are delineated by the body's median plane. Speech refers to the processes associated with the production and perception of Sounds used in Spoken language. A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them Broca's area, Wernicke's area) tend to be localized to specific areas in one hemisphere. Broca's area is a section of the human brain that is involved in Language processing, speech or sign production and comprehension Wernicke's area is a part of the Human cerebrum that forms part of the cortex, on the posterior section of the Superior temporal gyrus, encircling the If one hemisphere is damaged at a very early age however, these functions can often be recovered in part or even in full by the other hemisphere. Other abilities such as motor control, memory, and general reasoning are spread equally across the two hemispheres. "Somatic" redirects here for the musician known as Somatic see Hahn Rowe. See lateralization of brain function. A Longitudinal fissure separates the Human brain into two distinct Cerebral hemispheres connected by the Corpus callosum.
• Learning can be achieved more powerfully through subliminal techniques: The extent to which subliminal techniques can influence learning depends largely on what level of perception the techniques affect. In the fields of Neuropsychology, Personal development and Education, Learning is one of the most important Mental function of humans A subliminal message is a signal or message embedded in another medium designed to pass below the normal limits of the human Mind 's perception
• New neurons cannot be created, they only die as one ages. Neurons (ˈnjuːɹɒn also known as neurones and nerve cells) are responsive cells in the Nervous system that process and transmit information In fact, new neurons can grow within the mature adult brain; this process is known as neurogenesis. Neurogenesis ( birth of Neurons ' is the process by which neurons are created Regardless of neuron growth or death, brain function and capabilities can be learned and developed throughout life.
• The brain cells do not duplicate at all after it has developed (around late childhood). Although most of the brain does not grow, the cells in the hypothalamus are still growing. The hypothalamus links the Nervous system to the Endocrine system via the Pituitary gland (hypophysis

Comparison of the brain and a computer

Much interest has been focused on comparing the brain with computers. A computer is a Machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions. A variety of obvious analogies exist: for example, individual neurons can be compared with a transistor, and the specialized parts of the brain can be compared with graphics cards and other system components. In Electronics, a transistor is a Semiconductor device commonly used to amplify or switch electronic signals A video card, also known as a graphics accelerator card, display adapter, or graphics card, is a hardware component whose function is to An electronic component is a basic electronic element usually packaged in a discrete form with two or more connecting leads or metallic pads However, such comparisons are fraught with difficulties. Perhaps the most fundamental difference between brains and computers is that today's computers operate by performing often sequential instructions from an input program, while no clear analogy of a program appears in human brains. The closest equivalent would be the idea of a logical process, but the nature and existence of such entities are subjects of philosophical debate. Logic is the study of the principles of valid demonstration and Inference. Given Turing's model of computation, the Turing machine, this may be a functional, not fundamental, distinction. Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS (ˈt(jʊ(ərɪŋ (23 June 1912 &ndash 7 June 1954 was an English Mathematician Turing machines are basic abstract symbol-manipulating devices which despite their simplicity can be adapted to simulate the logic of any Computer Algorithm However, Maass and Markram have recently argued that "in contrast to Turing machines, generic computations by neural circuits are not digital, and are not carried out on static inputs, but rather on functions of time" (the Turing machine computes computable functions). A digital system uses discrete (discontinuous values usually but not always Symbolized Numerically (hence called "digital" to represent information for Computable functions are the basic objects of study in computability theory. Ultimately, computers were not designed to be models of the brain, though constructs like neural networks attempt to abstract the behavior of the brain in a way that can be simulated computationally. Traditionally the term neural network had been used to refer to a network or circuit of biological neurons.

In addition to the technical differences, other key differences exist. The brain is massively parallel and interwoven, whereas programming of this kind is extremely difficult for computer software writers (most parallel systems run semi-independently, for example each working on a small separate 'chunk' of a problem). Parallel processing is also another term for Parallel computing. The human brain is also mediated by chemicals and analog processes, many of which are only understood at a basic level and others of which may not yet have been discovered, so that a full description is not yet available in science. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, the human brain appears hard-wired with certain abilities, such as the ability to learn language (cf. Broca's area), to interact with experience and unchosen emotions, and usually develops within a culture. Broca's area is a section of the human brain that is involved in Language processing, speech or sign production and comprehension An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings thoughts and behaviours Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate" generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic This is different from a computer in that a computer needs software to perform many of its functions beyond its basic computational capabilities.

Human beings are capable of not only giving non-random answers to questions such as, "What color is November?", but also of providing reasons in support of their answer. Human beings can also make "intuitive" sense of statements such as, "If I were you, I would hate myself", which computers cannot do without specific programming instruction.

There have been numerous attempts to quantify differences in capability between the human brain and computers. According to Hans Moravec, by extrapolating from known capabilities of the retina to process image inputs, a brain has a processing capacity of 0. Hans Moravec (born November 30 1948 in Austria) is a research Professor at the Robotics Institute (Carnegie Mellon of Carnegie The vertebrate retina is a light sensitive part inside the inner layer of the Eye. 1 quadrillion instructions per second (100 million MIPS). Instructions per second (IPS is a measure of a Computer 's processor speed In comparison, the fastest supercomputer in the world, called Roadrunner and devised and built by engineers and scientists at I.B.M. and Los Alamos National Laboratory, is capable of handling 1. A supercomputer is a Computer that is at the frontline of processing capacity particularly speed of calculation (at the time of its introduction Roadrunner is a Supercomputer built by IBM at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, USA. International Business Machines Corporation abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue", is a multinational Computer Technology Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL (previously known at various times as Site Y, Los Alamos Laboratory, and Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory) is a 026 quadrillion calculations per second^[10], and an average 4-function calculator is capable of handling 10 instructions per second. It is possible the brain may be surpassed by normal personal computers (in terms of Instructions Per Second, at least) by 2030. ^[11]

The computational power of the human brain is difficult to ascertain, as the human brain is not easily paralleled to the binary number processing of today's computers. Moore's law describes an important trend in the History of computer hardware. The binary numeral system, or base-2 number system, is a Numeral system that represents numeric values using two symbols usually 0 and 1. For instance, multiplying two large numbers can be accomplished in a fraction of a second with a typical calculator or desktop computer, while the average human may require a pen-and-paper approach to keep track of each stage of the calculation over a period of five or more seconds. Yet, while the human brain is calculating a math problem in an attentive state, it is subconsciously processing data from millions of nerve cells that handle the visual input of the paper and surrounding area, the aural input from both ears, and the sensory input of millions of cells throughout the body. The brain is regulating the heartbeat, monitoring oxygen levels, hunger and thirst requirements, breathing patterns and hundreds of other essential factors throughout the body. It is simultaneously comparing data from the eyes and the sensory cells in the arms and hands to keep track of the position of the pen and paper as the calculation is being performed. It quickly traverses a vast, interconnected network of cells for relevant information on how to solve the problem it is presented, what symbols to write and what their functions are, as it graphs their shape and communicates to the hand how to make accurate and controlled strokes to draw recognizable shapes and numbers onto a page.

CT images

See also

• Cephalic disorders, concerning defects of the head, especially the brain
• Cerebral hemispheres
• Holonomic brain theory
• History of the brain
• Lateralization of brain function
• Neuroanatomy
• Neuroanthropology
• Regions in the human brain
• The Memory-Prediction Framework

References

Books

External links

• The Brain from Top to Bottom
• The Whole Brain Atlas
• High-Resolution Cytoarchitectural Primate Brain Atlases
• Brain Facts and Figures
• Current Research Regarding the Human Brain ScienceDaily
• Estimating the computational capabilities of the human brain
• When will computer hardware match the human brain? – an article by Hans Moravec
• How the human brain works
• Everything you wanted to know about the human brain — Provided by New Scientist. Hans Moravec (born November 30 1948 in Austria) is a research Professor at the Robotics Institute (Carnegie Mellon of Carnegie New Scientist is a weekly International science magazine and website covering recent developments in science and technology for a general English -speaking
• More about the Human brain!
• Differences between female & male human brains
• Surface Anatomy of the Brain
• Scientific American Magazine (May 2005 Issue) His Brain, Her Brain About differences between female and male brains.