The brain, a central control organ in vertebrates, processes sensory information, interprets it, and initiates responses. It's responsible for a wide range of functions, including motor control, sensory perception, higher cognitive functions like language and memory, and the regulation of autonomic functions like breathing and heart rate.
Cognitive Functions:
The brain is the seat of intelligence, thought, and memory. Specific regions like the frontal lobe (responsible for executive functions, memory, and personality) and the temporal lobe (associated with language and memory) are crucial for these processes.
Autonomic Functions:
The brain regulates essential functions like breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, and sleep through areas like the brainstem and hypothalamus.
Emotional Regulation:
The brain processes and regulates emotions, with different brain regions contributing to specific emotional experiences and responses.
Coordination:
The brain coordinates movements and maintains balance through the cerebellum.
Sensory Processing:
The brain receives sensory information from the body via sensory neurons and relays it to the cerebrum, including the thalamus. This allows us to experience the world through our senses.
Motor Control:
The brain initiates and coordinates movements, including voluntary movements controlled by the frontal lobe's motor cortex and involuntary movements regulated by the brainstem.
Brain anatomy and how the brain works. (2025, April 4). Johns Hopkins Medicine. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/anatomy-of-the-brain
The brain weighs about three pounds in the average adult and 60 percent of the brain is made of fat. The rest of the 40 percent of the brain is a combination of water, proteins, carbohydrates, and salts. The brain is not a muscle; it is fat that is combined with blood vessels and nerves (including neurons and glial cells).
The brain has two forms of "matter": white and gray matter. Both matters are in different regions of the central nervous system (CNS). Gray matter refers to the regions of the brain that are darker and on the outer portion of the brain, while white matter is the lighter and inner portion underneath. However, in the spinal cord, the order of both are reversed: gray matter is within while white matter is on the outside.
Gray matter is composed of neuron somas and white matter is made of axons that are wrapped in myelin.
On a general level, the brain can be divided into the cerebrum, brainstem, and cerebellum. The cerebrum is the front portion of the brain that is made of gray matter with white matter at the center. The cerebrum is the largest portion of the brain and initiates and coordinates movement, and regulates temperature. In addition, the cerebrum enables speech, judgment, thinking and reasoning, problem solving, emotions, and learning. Other functions are related to vision, hearing, touch, and the other senses.
The cerebrum contains the: frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, and the temporal lobe. The frontal lobe controls movement, behavior, problem solving, and speech. The parietal lobe controls intelligence, language, sensation, and reasoning. The occipital lobe controls sight and visual reception. The temporal lobe controls language, memory, hearing, and emotion.
The brainstem is the middle portion of the brain that connects the cerebrum with the spinal cord. The brainstem includes the midbrain, pons, and the medulla. The spinal cord extends from the bottom of the medulla and through an opening of the bottom of the skull. The spinal cord is supported by the vertebrae and carries messages to and from the brain to the rest of the body.
Midbrain relays sensory information such as: a portion of vision and hearing, motor control, sleep and wake cycles, and arousal. Pons is a primary source that serves as a communication hub of the brain that relays signals between the forebrain and cerebellum. In addition, it is important for regulating breathing and sleeping. Lastly, the medulla regulates important bodily functions such as: breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure (autonomic nervous system). It also controls reflexes like swallowing, coughing, and vomiting.
The cerebellum, also known as the "little brain", is a fist size portion of the brain located at the back of the head. It is located below the temporal and occipital lobes, but above the brainstem. The cerebellum has two hemispheres: the outer portion contains neurons and the inner area communicates with the cerebral cortex. The purpose of the cerebellum is to coordinate voluntary muscle movements, maintain posture, balance, and equilibrium.
Brain anatomy and how the brain works. (2025, April 4). Johns Hopkins Medicine. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/anatomy-of-the-brain
