The brain

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An overview of the structure and function of the brain, including the different lobes and their roles in behavior and cognition.

Neurons: The basic building blocks of the brain, responsible for transmitting information throughout the nervous system.
Synapses: The tiny gaps between neurons where neurotransmitters are released to transmit signals.
Neurotransmitters: Chemical messengers that help send signals between neurons.
Neuroplasticity: The brain's ability to change and adapt to new environments or experiences.
Brain structures: The various regions and structures of the brain and their functions.
Lobes of the brain: The four main lobes of the brain (frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal) and their specific functions.
Hemispheres of the brain: The left and right hemispheres of the brain and their specialized functions.
Brain development: The process of brain development from infancy through adulthood.
Brain damage: How the brain can be damaged through injury, disease, or other factors.
Cognitive processes: The mental processes such as attention, perception, memory, language, and problem-solving and how they relate to the brain.
Emotions: The basic emotions such as fear, happiness, anger, and sadness, and how they are processed by the brain.
Motivation: The driving force behind behaviors and how it is processed by and affects the brain.
Learning and memory: The processes of learning and retaining information and how they relate to the brain.
Perception: How the brain processes and interprets information received through the senses.
Consciousness: The state of being aware of one's surroundings and how it relates to the brain's activity.
Cerebrum: This is the largest part of the brain and is responsible for conscious thinking, decision making, and movement control.
Cerebellum: This smaller region of the brain is responsible for coordination and balance.
Brainstem: This region of the brain connects the cerebrum to the spinal cord, and is responsible for basic bodily functions such as breathing, heart rate, and digestion.
Limbic system: This is a group of structures in the brain that control emotions, motivation, and memory.
Frontal lobe: This is the front part of the cerebrum that is responsible for decision-making, problem-solving, and planning.
Temporal lobe: This is located on the side of the brain and is responsible for listening and auditory processing.
Occipital lobe: This is located at the back of the brain and is responsible for visual processing and perception.
Parietal lobe: This is located in the middle of the brain and is responsible for processing sensory information related to touch, taste, and temperature.
Hippocampus: This is a small region in the brain that is responsible for long-term memory and spatial navigation.
Amygdala: This is a small region in the brain that is responsible for processing emotions, especially fear and aggression.
"Physiologically, brains exert centralized control over a body's other organs."
"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."