Introduction
In my personal opinion, the brain is one of the most important parts of the body. This is an amazing organ since they control every single function of the body, including behavior, mind, and soul. Intelligence, creativity, perception are common functions that a brain is doing. Obviously, there are tons of more things that a brain does.
The brain gets information through five senses which are sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste. Then the brain combines those information and store in our memory. Also, the brain controls our perception (Nervous system), emotions, behaviors, memory and many other functions within our body.
Structure
The brain is divided into three main parts. One is cerebrum, another one is cerebellum and the other one is brainstem. The cerebrum is the largest part of the brain. This is again divided into two parts which are left and right hemispheres. This does high and specific functions including five senses, emotions, speech and so on. Limbic system which is closely associated with emotions is found within the cerebrum. The cerebellum is placed under the cerebrum. This part helps muscle movements, posture and balance as well. Then the brainstem is the connection between the cerebrum and the cerebellum. This controls many different automatic functions in our bodies such as respiration and digestion.
The cerebrum is then divided into two halves and we call them left brain and right brain. Left brain controls the right side of the body and the right hemisphere regulates left part of the body. Left and right hemisphere often share information they gain and transmits messages to each other. In general, the right hemisphere is known to control artistic skills including musical ability, artistic ability, and creativity. On the other hand, the left brain controls speech and understanding.
Then this cerebrum is again divided into four parts and they are called ‘lobes’. They are frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, and temporal lobe. They mainly control language ability, understanding, body movement, temperature and senses.
Limbic system
Then, there are some specific and deep structures in the brain. These deep structures are related to emotions and memories which take a really important role. There are many deep structures and one of them is ‘Limbic system’. The limbic system is known to take charge of emotions and memory. Included structures are hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus.
To begin with, the hypothalamus is located in the center of the brain. This controls pituitary gland which releases hormones that control moods. Therefore, this regulates behaviors such as thirst, hunger, sleep, and sexual response. These behaviors are included in autonomic functions. This also signals body temperature and blood pressure.
Second, amygdala is paired and looks like an almond. The amygdala works with hippocampus to create memories especially related to emotional memories. It particularly manages fear, aggression and social ability such as identifying social rewards. When the amygdala is damaged, aggression is reduced but also makes it hard for people to distinguish and perceive dangerous situations. This is considered to be significant in human body structure since, without this organ, people would perceive any emotions including happiness, sadness, depression and so on.
Lastly, hippocampus takes charge of controlling memory. The hippocampus remembers which actions are related to the results that match with our mood. For example, if you are happy, you would like to sing a happy carol while you are going to blame someone when you feel mad. Stress and depression are known to shrink the size of the hippocampus. Alzheimer reduces its functions and makes people gradually forget information.