"Physiologically, brains exert centralized control over a body's other organs."
The organ responsible for directing all of the body's functions. The brain is divided into different regions, each with its own specialized functions.
Neuroanatomy: Study of the structure of the brain and nervous system, including regions, lobes, and pathways.
Neurophysiology: Study of the functions and processes of the nervous system, including neural firing and communication.
Neurochemistry: Study of the chemical processes and neurotransmitters involved in neural signaling.
Developmental neurobiology: Study of how the brain forms and changes throughout development.
Neuroplasticity: Study of how the brain changes and adapts in response to experiences and learning.
Neuroimaging: Techniques for visualizing the brain and its activity, including fMRI, PET, and EEG.
Neuropsychology: Study of how brain damage or dysfunction affects behavior and cognition.
Cognitive neuroscience: Study of how cognitive processes and functions are represented in the brain.
Neuropsychiatry: Study of the intersection between neuroscience and psychiatric disorders, including diagnosis and treatment.
Systems neuroscience: Study of how the brain's various parts and networks work together to produce behavior and cognition.
Cerebrum: The largest part of the brain responsible for conscious thoughts, sensations, and movements.
Cerebellum: Located under the cerebrum responsible for coordination, balance, and muscle control.
Brainstem: The region connecting the cerebrum and cerebellum with the spinal cord responsible for basic bodily functions such as breathing, heartbeat, and blood pressure.
Limbic system: The region responsible for emotions, motivation, and memory.
Basal ganglia: A cluster of structures found deep within the brain, responsible for movement control and reinforcement learning.
Thalamus: A structure in the brain responsible for relaying sensory and motor signals to the cerebral cortex.
Hypothalamus: Located below the thalamus responsible for regulating body temperature, hunger, thirst, and sleep patterns.
"It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision."
"It is the most complex organ in a vertebrate's body."
"The cerebral cortex contains approximately 14–16 billion neurons."
"The estimated number of neurons in the cerebellum is 55–70 billion."
"These neurons typically communicate with one another by means of long fibers called axons, which carry trains of signal pulses called action potentials to distant parts of the brain or body targeting specific recipient cells."
"Brains act on the rest of the body both by generating patterns of muscle activity and by driving the secretion of chemicals called hormones."
"This centralized control allows rapid and coordinated responses to changes in the environment."
"Sophisticated purposeful control of behavior based on complex sensory input requires the information integrating capabilities of a centralized brain."
"Some basic types of responsiveness such as reflexes can be mediated by the spinal cord or peripheral ganglia."
"Recent models in modern neuroscience treat the brain as a biological computer, very different in mechanism from a digital computer, but similar in the sense that it acquires information from the surrounding world, stores it, and processes it in a variety of ways."
"This article compares the properties of brains across the entire range of animal species, with the greatest attention to vertebrates."
"The ways in which the human brain differs from other brains are covered in the human brain article."
"The most important that are covered in the human brain article are brain disease and the effects of brain damage."
"The brain acquires information from the surrounding world."
"The brain stores information acquired from the surrounding world."
"The brain processes information acquired from the surrounding world."
"Each neuron is connected by synapses to several thousand other neurons."
"Brains generate patterns of muscle activity."
"Brains drive the secretion of chemicals called hormones."