There are few topics more fascinating than how our brains work. From the mysteries of consciousness to the workings of the brain, we’re endlessly fascinated by what goes on in there.
This fascination has led to a lot of scientific progress, and it’s also helped us better understand mental health disorders and how to treat them. This article will explore how our brain works from a neuroscience perspective. We’ll discuss what happens when you think, feel and remember.
So, without wasting any time, let’s dive right into it!
How Brain Works: A General Overview
Your brain is a complex organ that helps you think, feel, and act. Your brain consists of billions of cells called neurons. Neurons communicate with each other using signals that travel along axons. The nerve cells in your brain are organized into networks called tracts.
The brain is made up of three main parts:
The Nervous System
The nervous system is responsible for all of your body’s actions, including movement, thought, and feeling. The brain is the center of the nervous system. It controls everything that happens in your body.
The brain is made up of billions of cells called neurons. Neurons are connected by long threadlike strands called axons. Axons send signals from one neuron to another.
The brain consists of two parts: the cerebrum and the cerebellum. The cerebrum is on top of the spinal cord and controls most of your thinking and movements. The cerebellum helps maintain balance and coordination.
The Central Nervous System
The Central Nervous System (CNS) is the brain and spinal cord. It coordinates body movement, thinking, and feeling. The CNS controls everything from basic reflexes to complex decision-making.
The CNS sends messages to different body parts through the spinal cord and nerves. These nerves carry information about how the body feels, moves, and thinks.
The Autonomic Nervous System
The autonomic nervous system controls involuntary bodily functions such as cardiac rate, digestion, and breathing. The parasympathetic (or “rest and digest”) branch of the autonomic nervous system acts to restore balance after stress or excitement. In contrast, activation of the sympathetic (or “fight or flight”) branch increases heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration.
The autonomic nervous system comprises two branches: the parasympathetic and the sympathetic. The parasympathetic branch works to restore balance after stress or excitement by calming down the body. The sympathetic branch activates to help with increased heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration.
How Does the Brain Processes New Information?
Your brain is amazing! It can do things like remember the names of 100 people, solve math problems quickly, and control your body’s movements. But how does your brain do these things?
One thing your brain does is learn new things. When you see something for the first time, your brain starts to process it. This means that your neuron groups begin to work together to figure out what you saw and how to use it. Every time you see something new, this process happens again in your brain. This is how you learn new things!
Brain function also depends on hormones like dopamine and norepinephrine. Dopamine helps you feel happy and excited, while norepinephrine makes you feel stressed or afraid. These hormones help control what kinds of thoughts and feelings come into your head. They also help you pay attention, stay alert, and make decisions quickly.
Mental Illnesses
Changes in brain function are believed to play a role in the development of many mental illnesses. Brain abnormalities associated with mental illness include problems with communication between various parts of the brain, difficulties processing information, and changes in the activity of neurons (organelles within the brain). These abnormalities can lead to problems with thinking, feeling, behaving, and functioning overall.
There is still much we don’t know about how mental illnesses are formed and how the brain functions abnormally in individuals who develop these conditions. However, ongoing research provides new insights into this important topic.
The study of the brain, rather a human or any other species, is one of the most complex topics, and it doesn’t matter how much we discuss it; there will always be so much left to cover. In this article, we gave a general overview of how the brain works. We also discussed how mental illnesses are caused, and how the brain processes information. Hopefully, this article gave you a basic understanding of how the brain works.
