These 5 amazing facts explain the mysteries of the human brain!
Our brain is the most complex organ in the body. It can not only control basic body functions, such as breathing, organ function and movement, but also hide more complex bodies. Processes, such as thinking, controlling behaviors and emotions, and creating memories, but although the brain is very important to the body, many people know very little about its mysteries.
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1. Always active
Even when we sleep, our brain is very active. Different parts of the brain are responsible for different functions. It is divided into four pairs of brain lobes, located on each side of the head, the frontal lobe is located in front of the head, and the temporal lobe Just below them; the parietal lobe is in the middle and the occipital lobe is behind the brain. The frontal lobe is usually associated with "making us human", which involves cognitive processes such as reasoning, learning, creativity, attention, and control of muscles used for exercise and speech, but also helps us form memories and learn to regulate emotions and behaviors .The parietal leaf participates in a variety of mixed functions, including sensory and digital processing, as well as visual spatial information required for movement, depth perception and navigation. The temporal lobe also receives sound-related information, including the language we hear and the memory process. The occipital lobe participates in visual processing; when light enters the eye, it is transmitted to this area through the nerve and converted into the image we "see".
These lobular structures can be further divided into functional areas, which are separate areas of a certain brain lobe, mainly responsible for specific functions, for example, the frontal lobe has an area called Broca's area, which is specifically responsible for the production of language And understand. By scanning the brain, researchers can observe and analyze the areas in the brain where blood flow will increase to measure when areas of the brain will become active. Increased blood flow will help transport the body to run or perform a certain The extra oxygen required for a task, and where to perform which tasks are important for scientists to conduct research and surgery.
2. Can continuously receive information
The brain will continue to receive the information flow, which is controlled by two channels. The sensory information will flow into the brain, and the movement information will flow out of the brain. Although the brain is always receiving this information, we often do not realize that because it will Areas of "unconscious" information processed by the brain, such as information about the position of muscles and joints, are always sent to the brain, but we rarely notice this until the body becomes uncomfortable or we need to adjust the information , But when it comes to the motion information including the autonomous behavior that we control, we will realize its existence, however, this is like the sensory information, and the motor behavior will also occur involuntarily, such as breathing, muscle passing The gastrointestinal system of our body moves food, etc.
3. About 20% of the blood in the body will flow to the brain
Like all living tissues, maintaining the function of the brain depends on the supply of oxygen in the blood. At rest, the brain receives 15% -20% of blood from the heart, but many factors affect this, including age and gender And weight; for ordinary men, each heartbeat requires about 70 milliliters of blood circulation, so about 14 milliliters of oxygen in each heartbeat will be delivered to the brain, which is also necessary for oxygen to be delivered to brain cells of.
As we all know, more strokes often occur on the left side of the brain, because the blood supply to the patient ’s brain is interrupted there, which is very important, because the right side of the brain often controls the left side of the body, and vice versa. The researchers found that more strokes often occur on the left side of the brain, which may affect the function of the patient's right hand, so people who are right-handed are more likely to lose their right hand function after a stroke.
Image source: Singularity Hub
4. Brain surgery will not hurt
A widely circulated video on the Internet shows a woman playing the violin when a surgeon removes a brain tumor. This video has caused many people to have many questions about our brain. Although this may seem strange, staying awake during brain surgery is much more common than people think. Often, operations related to the "functional" areas of the brain responsible for movement, language, or vision require general anesthesia for the patient, and then wake the patient to evaluate these functions as the operation proceeds.
Surprisingly, real surgery does not harm the brain at all, because the brain does not have a dedicated pain receptor. The only painful part of the operation is the incision through the skin, skull and meninges (the layers of connective tissue that protect the brain). Based on many factors, patients may undergo general or local anesthesia for this part of the operation.
5. Brain damage can change us
Much of our understanding of the brain comes from things that go wrong. One of the most famous cases is Phineas Gage, a responsible and upright worker, but when a work accident caused a metal rod to pass through his skull, his frontal lobe was damaged, causing him to become naive , Rudeness and impulsiveness; Gage proved to scientists in the 19th century that damage to the frontal lobe of the brain can cause significant personality changes. In addition, we also know that people who lose their eyesight after the occipital lobe is damaged due to trauma, tumor growth or stroke can still maintain certain aspects of vision through something called "blind vision", which tells us that not all All of the visual information enters the visual cortex of the occipital lobe. Even if they are blind, people can still detect visual information and bypass obstacles. Some people even say that they can "see" certain emotions and describe how they feel to them, which shows the function of the brain. High degree of interconnectivity.
Although researchers currently know a lot about the brain and its functions, we still have a lot to understand. Today, researchers are still not clear about the specific functions of certain regions of the brain and how they perform with other parts of the body. communicate with.
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