Brain Anatomy And Its Function

The brain is the most intricate part of the body. It holds the central position as it regulates our emotions, feeling, thought processes, memory, sensory-motor skills, and whatnot. Every process that occurs in our body, is somewhat, regulated by the brain. In order to understand how well your brain works, you can use a third-party online service: iq-global-test.com.

The brain connects with the spinal cord to form the CNS formally known as the central nervous system. This central nervous system is very important as it helps the human body to function properly.

Structure of the brain

The weight of an average human brain is only three pounds. It is such a lightweight organ but is one of the most significant ones. The human brain has almost 60 percent of fat. While the rest of the 40 percent is the mixture of liquid, sugars, protein, and salts.

The brain contains a large number of blood vessels carrying neurons and glial cells. There are two dissimilar areas in the central nervous system (CNS) namely gray and white matter.

In the structure of the brain, the gray substance is the darker one and is the outer portion whereas the white matter is lighter in tone and is present inside the brain. On the other hand, in the spinal cord, this composition is reversed. In the spinal cord, white matter is the outer portion while the gray substance is the inner portion.

Gray material is composed of neuron somas. Somas are rotund central cell bodies. While the gray matter carries axons. Axons are long stems that connect all the neurons together. Axons are wrapped in myelin, which is a protective covering. During the scanning, both these parts appear in different colors i.e. lighter and darker tones.

Every portion has its own different function. Gray matter regulates and interprets the information while the function of white matter is to transfer the required data to other portions of the nervous system.

How does the brain work?

The key purpose of the brain is to send and collect signals from all parts of the human body. Different signals have different purposes as they all control different processes and the function of the brain is to interpret all of them. Some make you feel uplifted while some make you feel tired and sad.

The processing of every message is also different. Some messages are retained inside the brain while others are replayed by the network of neurons present in different parts of the human body. To get this done the central nervous system (CNS) depends on billions of nerve cells.

Key parts of the brain and their working

Each and every part of the brain performs a specific function. The brain can be distributed into the main three portions i.e. cerebrum, brainstem, and cerebellum.

Cerebrum

The cerebrum is the forward-facing portion of the brain carrying gray material. It contains a white substance present in its center portion. The cerebrum is considered to be the largest part of the brain. The key function of the cerebrum is to control the movements and the overall temperature.

Other parts of the cerebrum regulate acts of speech, thinking, emotions, problem-solving and judgment, etc. other functions of the cerebrum are related to visualization, touch, and other senses.

Cerebral Cortex

It is the external gray substance that shelters the cerebrum.  The cerebral cortex is separated into two halves (hemisphere). It covers gyri and sulci. The right part of the hemisphere regulates the left portion of the body while the left part of the hemisphere regulates the right portion of the body.

These two halves connect with each other with the corpus callosum. Corpus callosum is present in the middle of the cerebrum.

Brainstem

The brainstem is the central part of the brain. It joins the cerebrum with the spinal cord. The brainstem comprises three main portions: the midbrain, the pons, and the medulla.

Midbrain is considered to be one of the most complex structures present in the brain. It contains diverse neuron clusters, neural paths, and other arrangements. They perform numerous roles such as movement and hearing.

Pons originates the four of the 12 cranial nerves and they regulate hearing, facial expressions, vision, focus, production of tears, etc.

The medulla is present at the bottom of the brainstem. It is very important for survival and regulates functions like the flow of blood, heart rhythm, breathing process, etc.

The spinal cord spreads from the lowest part of the medulla and over a big inaugural in the bottom of the skull.

Cerebellum

It is a small size portion that is present at the backside of the head. It has two hemispheres. The external part comprises neurons, and the internal part links with the cerebral cortex. Its main functions include regulating posture, balance, and equilibrium.

Conclusion

The brain is a complex organ with various sensitive portions performing several functions. The brain regulates the body and it is important for every portion to work in order to make the brain function properly.