How the Brain Works: The Facts Visually Explained

224 Pages·2020·30.948 MB·English

by  DK

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HOW
THE BRAIN
WORKS
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S
Editorial Consultant Contributors
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First American Edition, 2020
Published in the United States by DK Publishing
1450 Broadway, Suite 801, New York, NY 10018 N
Copyright © 2020 Dorling Kindersley Limited
DK, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC
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001–315999–Feb/2020
All rights reserved.
Without limiting the rights under the copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be
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means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written
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Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-4654-8979-1
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Neither the publisher nor the author is engaged in rendering professional advice or services to
the individual reader. The ideas, procedures, and suggestions contained in this book are not
intended as a substitute for consulting with your physician. All matters regarding your health C
require medical supervision. Neither the author nor the publisher shall be liable or responsible
for any loss or damage allegedly arising from any information or suggestion in this book.
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S
T BRAIN FUNCTIONS
AND THE SENSES
Sensing the World 64
N
Seeing 66
THE PHYSICAL BRAIN
The Visual Cortex 68
How We See 70
Perception 72
E What the Brain Does 10 The Limbic System 38
How We Hear 74
The Brain in the Body 12 Imaging the Brain 40
Perceiving Sound 76
Human and Animal 14 Monitoring the Brain 42
Brains Smell 78
Babies and Young 44
T Protecting the Brain 16 Children Taste 80
Fueling the Brain 18 Older Children 46 Touch 82
and Teenagers
Brain Cells 20 Proprioception 84
The Adult Brain 48
Nerve Signals 22 Feeling Pain 86
N
The Aging Brain 50
Brain Chemicals 24 How to Use Your Brain 88
How to Slow the 52 to Manage Pain
Networks in the Brain 26
Effects of Aging
The Regulatory System 90
Brain Anatomy 28
Brain Food 54
Neuroendocrine System 92
O The Cortex 30 Genetics and 56
Hunger and Thirst 94
the Brain
Nuclei of the Brain 32
Planning Movement 96
Male and Female 58
Hypothalamus, 34
Thalamus, and Brains Making a Move 98
Pituitary Gland
Nature and Nurture 60 Unconscious 100
C
The Brain Stem 36 Movement
and Cerebellum
Mirror Neurons 102
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COMMUNICATION CONSCIOUSNESS
AND THE SELF
Emotions 106
Fear and Anger 108
What Is Consciousness? 162
Conscious Emotion 110
Attention 164
MEMORY,
Reward Centers 112
How to Focus 166
Your Attention
Sex and Love 114 LEARNING,
Free Will and
Expressions 116 AND THINKING
the Unconscious 168
Body Language 118
Altered States 170
What Is Memory? 134
How to Tell if 120
Sleep and Dreams 172
Someone Is Lying
How a Memory Forms 136
Time 174
Morality 122
Storing Memories 138
What Is Personality? 176
Learning a Language 124
Recalling a Memory 140
The Self 178
The Language Areas 126
How to Improve Your 142
Memory
Having a Conversation 128
Why We Forget 144
Reading and Writing 130
Memory Problems 146
Special Types 148
of Memories
Intelligence 150
Measuring 152
Intelligence
Creativity 154
How to Boost 156
Your Creativity
Belief 158
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DISORDERS
Headache and Migraine 196 Seasonal Affective 207
Disorder
Head Injuries 197
Anxiety Disorders 208
Epilepsy 197
THE BRAIN Phobias 208
Meningitis and 198
Encephalitis Obsessive- 209
OF THE FUTURE
Compulsive Disorder
Brain Abscess 198
Tourette’s Syndrome 209
Superhuman Senses 182 TIA 199
Somatic Symptom 210
Wiring the Brain 184 Stroke and Hemorrhage 199
Disorder
The Unexplored 186 Brain Tumors 200
Munchausen 210
Brain
Dementia 200 Syndrome
Artificial Intelligence 188
Parkinson’s Disease 201 Schizophrenia 211
The Expanded Brain 190
Huntington’s Disease 201 Addiction 212
The Global Brain 192
Multiple Sclerosis 202 Personality Disorder 213
Motor Neuron Disease 202 Eating Disorders 214
Paralysis 203 Learning Disabilities 215
and Difficulties
Down Syndrome 204
Attention Deficit 216
Cerebral Palsy 204
Hyperactivity Disorder
Hydrocephalus 205
Autism Spectrum 217
Narcolepsy 205 Disorders
Coma 206
Depression 206 INDEX 218
Bipolar Disorder 207 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 224
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THE
PHYSICAL
BRAIN
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THE PHYSICAL BRAIN
What the Brain Does
What the
DO BRAINS
Brain Does FEEL PAIN?
Despite the fact that it
registers pain from around
The brain is the body’s control center.
the body, brain tissue has
It coordinates the basic functions required
no pain receptors and
for survival, controls body movements, and
cannot feel pain itself.
processes sensory data. However, it also
encodes a lifetime of memories and creates
consciousness, imagination, and our sense of self.
The physical brain Weight Fat
At the largest scale, the human On average, an adult The brain’s dry weight
human brain weighs is 60 percent fat. Much of
brain appears as a firm, pink-gray
2.6–3.1 lb (1.2–1.4 kg), this fat is present as
solid. It is made mostly from fats which is approximately sheaths coating the
(about 60 percent) and has a 2 percent of total body connections between
weight. neurons.
density just a little greater than
that of water. However,
Water Volume
neuroscientists, the people who The brain is 73 percent The average volume of a
study the form and function of water, while the body as a human brain ranges from
whole is closer to 60 69 to 77 cubic in (1,130 to
the brain, see the organ as being
percent. The average 1,260 cubic cm), although
constituted from more than 300 brain contains around the volume decreases
separate, although highly 35 fl oz (1 liter) of water. with age.
interconnected, regions. On a much
Gray matter White matter
smaller scale, the brain is made
About 40 percent of Around 60 percent of
from approximately 160 billion cells, the brain’s tissue is gray the brain’s tissue is white
half of which are neurons, or nerve matter, which is tightly matter. This is made
packed nerve-cell from long, wirelike
cells, and about half are glia, or
bodies. extensions of nerve cells
support cells of one kind or another covered in sheaths of fat.
(see pp.20–21).
LEFT BRAIN VS. RIGHT BRAIN
It is often claimed that one side, or hemisphere, of
the brain dominates the other—and that this has an
impact on someone’s personality. For example, it is
RIGHT HEMISPHERE
sometimes said that logical people use their left
brain hemisphere, while artistic (and less logical)
people rely on the right side. However, this is an
extreme oversimplification. While it is true that the
hemispheres are not identical in function—for
LEFT HEMISPHERE
example, the speech centers are normally on the
left—most healthy mental tasks deploy regions on
both sides of the brain at the same time.
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