How Your Brain Works

How Your Brain Works
by Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D. and Robynne Boyd

113
 Page 
 1 
 2 
 3 
 4 


The human nervous system
©HowStuffWorks.com
RELATED ARTICLES
* How Albert Einstein's Brain Worked
* How Brain Death Works
* Curiosity Project: 5 Ways Science is Studying the Brain
Every animal you can think of -- mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians -- has abrain. But the human brain is unique. Although it's not the largest, it gives us the power to speak, imagine and problem solve. It is truly an amazing organ.
The brain performs an incredible number of tasks including the following:
* It controls body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate and breathing.
* It accepts a flood of information about the world around you from your varioussenses (seeing, hearing, smelling, tastingand touching).
* It handles your physical movement when walking, talking, standing or sitting.
* It lets you think, dream, reason and experience emotions.
All of these tasks are coordinated, controlled and regulated by an organ that is about the size of a small head of cauliflower.
Your brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves make up a complex,integrated information-processing and control system known as your central nervous system. In tandem, they regulate all the conscious and unconscious facets of your life. The scientific study of the brain and nervous system is called neuroscience or neurobiology. Because the field of neuroscience is so vast -- and the brain and nervous system are so complex -- this article will start with the basicsand give you an overview of this complicated organ.
We'll examine the structures of the brain and how each section controls our daily functions, including motor control, visual processing, auditory processing, sensation, learning, memory and emotions.
2.- flag
* Explore »
* Education and Science (33,034) »
* Psychology and Psychiatry (1,871) »
* Cognitive Psychology (78)by girly_girl09
1,005 Followers
Human Information Processing - How Does the Brain Process Audio or Noise?
Whenever you attend a meeting, it is common that you will not leave the meeting and remember every single detail of what was discussed. This is how human information processing works.The human brain is capable to capture every auditory and visual occurrence, assuming that sight and vision are ata normal range. However, every single sound and image can never be captured simultaneously as the brain is selective in processing certain sounds and images. The brain can simply not handle and process information and every single external stimulation all at once. Because of this, some information captures our attention and other information goes unnoticed. There are several reasons to this,however all of the causes are related to psychological and physiological principles. Audio processes are a crucial part of capturing information, however visual processes contribute to memory and absorbing information, as well.

Whenever a loud enough noise is made, assuming that a person is not deaf or hard of hearing, the sound will be processed in the temporal lobe of the brain. This includestalking, music, insect buzzes, bird chirping, children crying, cars driving by, the air conditioning blowing, rain coming down and so on and so forth. Instantly, the brain is aware that these sounds and noises are occurring, but, not every single ambient sound is recognized and brought to attention because of the thalamus. The thalamus works to filter in important information that your brain deemsimportant. Every visual cue is processed by the occipital lobe in the brain, however certain details and movements may escape our attention if the mind is not actively thinking about the information. (Myron, Harold)
The fact that the thalamus processes and helps sort incoming information is helpful if you’re trying to concentrate on an important task. If you’re focusing on writing a paper and...