The Human Brain

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Key Questions to Be Answered in This Blog:

  • The Human Brain
  • Major lobes of a human brain
  • Parts of a human brain
  • Nervous System

Psychology involves the study of human brain. Why?
Because the human brain, most complex part of our body, is the command center of our body which influences our behavior. It weighs about 1.3 kg, makes up only 2% of our body weight, and yet controls everything we do: our thoughts, movements, feelings, memories, and even our sense of who we are.

Understanding human brain will help us in the following ways:

  • Understanding our behavior and actions.
  • Developing treatments for many psychological disorders linked to brain.
  • Improving brain functions like ability to learn, remember and make decisions.
  • Understanding how our brain develops and changes over time.

The Human Brain

The Human Brain is made up of billions of tiny cells called neurons that send electrical signals to each other, like WhatsApp messages firing across a super-speed network. And all of this happens without you even realizing it.

   There are 100 billion neurons in your brain.

Human brain is the most complicated thing responsible for controlling and coordinating body functions, thoughts, emotions and behavior. Hence, it is essential to understand distinct regions of the brain that contribute to its complex functions.

Major lobes of a human brain:

Frontal lobe

The frontal lobe is the largest lobe of the brain, located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere. It plays a crucial role in various functions, including:
  • Decision making and planning
  • Problem-solving and reasoning
  • Personality
  • Voluntary movements
  • Impulse control
   Damage to the frontal lobe can change a person’s behavior and personality dramatically.

For example, speaking in public or solving a math problem.

Parietal Lobe

The parietal lobe is located at the upper-middle part of the brain. It helps you know where your body parts are without looking at them.
Functions:
  • Processing sensory information (temperature, pressure, pain)
  • Tactile sensations
  • Spatial awareness and navigation
  • Coordinating hand-eye movements
For example, you touched something hot and pulled away instantly.

Temporal Lobe

The temporal lobe is a crucial part of the brain, located at the sides of the brain, near the ears. It is linked to the hippocampus, which plays a vital role in following:
  • Hearing (auditory information) and language comprehension
  • Interpreting others' emotions 
  • Memory formation
  • Recognizing faces and objects
For example, when someone says your name and you recognize it.

Occipital Lobe

The occipital lobe, located at the back of the brain, is the smallest of all the four major lobes. It contains the primary visual cortex.
Functions:
  • Processing visual information
  • Recognizing colors, shapes, and movement
  • Analyzing and interpretation of contents
For example, recognizing a drawing of mango fruit.

Parts of a human brain

Cerebral Cortex

Cerebral Cortex is the grey matter and the outer-most portion of the brain. It involves complex behavior, and decision-making. It plays a key role in:

  • Memory
  • Thinking
  • Learning
  • Reasoning
  • Problem-solving
  • Decision-making
  • Emotions
  • Consciousness
  • Speech production
  • Processing of sensory information.
Hence, it is also called the 'Thinking Centre of the Brain'. [1]

Hypothalamus (regulates hunger, thirst and hormones)

Hypothalamus is often regarded as a 'smart control system' as it manages all the functions in our body. It plays a crucial role in releasing hormones that affect mood and emotional responses and maintain the inner balance of our body. It influences:
  • Sleep cycles
  • Appetite
  • Thirst
  • Body temperature
  • Mood

Amygdala (regulates fear and anger)

Amygdala is a small almond-shaped paired structure inside the brain. It is the storehouse of emotional memories which also include traumas. It plays a vital role in:

  • Emotional outbursts (anger, pleasure and mainly, fear) [2]
  • Regulating emotions by responding to environmental threats [2]
  • Analyzing vision and hearing information to identify and respond to potential threats [2]
  • Linking to areas in order to process ‘higher’ cognitive information with systems that control ‘lower’ functions (such as autonomic responses like breathing, touch, and sensitivity). [2]

Hippocampus (critical for memory formation)

Hippocampus is a curve-shaped structure, essential in forming and storing memories and connecting them with emotions. It plays a major role in:

  • Navigating information from short-term memory to long-term memory within the brain
  • Generation of new neurons (one of the very few areas of the brain)
Damage to this section of the brain can lead to memory loss and less memory retention (not recognizing similar faces or recalling words).

Medulla Oblongata

Medulla Oblongata is the lowermost part of the brain stem and a vital part of the brain. It is located above the spinal cord and is connected to the pons that:
  • Regulates heart rate and blood pressure.
  • Controls breathing rhythm and depth.
  • Coordinates reflexes like swallowing and vomiting.
  • Manages vital autonomic functions.
  • Facilitates the crossover of motor nerve fibers.

Nervous System:

While the brain functions as the command center for thoughts, emotions, and bodily functions, it doesn't operate in isolation. It works with the nervous system (also called as neural system), a vast network of neurons that transmits and receives messages in the form of electrical impulses [3] from your brain to all the other parts of your body.

The nervous system comprises of the brain, spinal cord, and sensory organs. It is further divided into Central Nervous System (CNS) and Peripheral Nervous System (PNS).

Central Nervous System (CNS)

CNS includes the brain and the spinal cord.

  • The human brain is the command center of our body which influences our behavior.
  • The spinal cord is a long, cylindrical bundle of nerve tissue which continues from the brainstem and runs down the vertebral column (spine). [4]

Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)

PNS is the lateral part of the nervous system that connects different parts of the body with the CNS [3].

Somatic nervous system controls voluntary movements (moving hands and legs) and transmits sensory information.

Autonomic nervous system controls voluntary movements (digestion, breathing). It further consists of the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system.
  • Sympathetic nervous system activates fight or flight responses. For example, if you're scared your heart beats faster.
  • Parasympathetic nervous system performs recovery after the fight or flight responses. For example, slowing heart rate.

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Conclusion

The human brain is an incredible organ — controlling every thought, action, and emotion. From the lobes that manage our senses and memory to deeper structures like the hypothalamus and cerebellum, every part plays a unique and essential role.

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