The brain is a very popular organ but do you really know the brain?
This is a fun list of facts that you might not have been aware of and we hope you’ll learn a few things along the way. Different parts of our brain are responsible for understanding count (how many) vs. understanding volume (how much).
- Lipreading activates both the visual and auditory centers of the brain.
- Both hearing and deaf people use the left hemisphere to process language.
- One brain area is devoted to hearing consonants.
- Working Memory resides in the prefrontal lobes.
- The part of the brain that recognizes objects is different from the part that locates it.
- The brain’s right temporal lobe becomes active when we have “Aha!” insights.
Your Physical Brain:
- At rest, about 20% of the blood pumped from the heart is pumped to the brain.
- If one could spread out and flatten the cerebral cortex, it would be the size of a small tablecloth.
- Nerve impulses travel between 4-400 feet per second depending on the nerve signal being transmitted.
- Unconsciousness occurs 8-10 seconds after loss of blood supply to the brain.
- Each person’s brain uses about 20 watts of power which is equivalent to the energy of an energy efficient household light bulb.
- There are no pain receptors, so brains do not feel pain.
- The brain consists of 75% water.
- The average human brain has 80B neurons while rats and other animals have about 200M.
- Cambridge University estimates there are 1,000 trillion synapses or connections, between brain cells in the human cortex.
Growth and Development:
- The neurons each person has at birth are all that individual will ever have.
- Babies begin to laugh at between 12 and 16 weeks.
- At about 11-12 months, babies start to lose the ability to distinguish non-native language sounds.
Memory:
- After hearing it twice, Mozart played a 12-minute choral composition from memory.
- Scientist have created false memories in mice.
- Memories are more likely to stick if they combine information and emotion.
- Treatments to lift depression usually improve memory.
- When a human has an interruption during multi-tasking, the complex internal network and architecture is broken and has to be reactivated before you can get back to the task.
Disease and Disorders:
- The choral effect suppresses stuttering when people sing with others.
- People with associative agnosia can’t recognize objects.
- Musical memories often outlast verbal memories in Alzheimer’s patients.
- Electromagnetic pulses aimed the frontal lobes may lessen the grip of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
- Many chronic and disorder diseases have flourished in the past few decades, possibly due in part to chronic Vitamin D deficiency.
Intelligence:
- Two-thirds of the population will have IQ scores between 85-115.
- Spending more time learning the old-fashioned way may help the human brain stay sharper and longer.
Sensory Processing:
- The brain can signal the ear to reduce the reaction to loud sounds.
- Smells such as ammonia trigger pain receptors in the nose.
- Every retina has a blind spot where the optic nerve exits to the brain.
- Some odor receptors can detect just a few molecules among billions.
- The sparsest concentration of touch receptors is on your back.
- You can’t tickle yourself because your brain anticipates the touch.
- Some smells can trigger a rise in blood pressure.
- Humans have about 10,000 taste buds.
- The brain recognizes some smells, such as rotting food, at birth.
- A type of neuron called “grid cells” helps us understand the position in space.
- Reflex responses such as knee-jerks come from the spinal cord, not the brain.
Sleeping and Dreaming:
- Milk, cheese, and peanuts can help induce sleep.
- Sleep-deprived drivers have a reaction have reaction times similar to those of drunk drivers.
- About 20% of children will have at least one sleepwalking episode.
- Starving or thirsty people rarely dream of eating or drinking.
- People taking prescription sleeping pills usually gain only 30-60 minutes of deep sleep.
- About 10-15% of adults have chronic insomnia.
- Heart attacks increase by 5-8% in the week after daylight saving time starts.
- Dreams of being chased occur in 80-90% of the population.
- About 1 in 1,000 people will remain awake for part of the time during anesthesia.
- Just like restarting a computer, sleeping plays an important role in “resetting” or “clearing” the brain.
Emotions:
- A study in Europe found that playing with dogs increased levels of joy-inducing hormones which can also be triggered by exercise.
- Emotions help memories form and stick to an ecosystem using clustered neurotransmitters.
- Seeing someone in distress makes “mirror neurons” in your brain cause similar feelings.
- Alpha brain waves dominate when people feel calm and in control.
- Distress over heartbreak like divorce and physical pain activates the same brain regions.
- Men are more likely than women to hide the symptoms of depression causing major physical pain and chronic issues in the long-term.
- Pain is not an emotion although it can bring on emotional reactions.
- People with depression suffer the most in the early morning.
Drugs:
- Exposure to oxycodone and oxytocin increases the level of trust people have for each other.
- Drugs such as heroin and nicotine activate the brain’s dopamine systems.
- In many cases, behavioral interventions are safer than drug interventions.
Susceptibility
- Brain studies show that men are more likely than women to develop “in-group” biases.
- Ads often use unidentified celebrities’ voices, which may unconsciously influence consumers.
Age:
- Age-related damage to the inner ear can result in dizziness and falls in the elderly.
- Connections within the hippocampus break down during the normal aging.
- Older people are more satisfied with their lives than younger people.
- The risk of developing dementia actually decreases at age 80.
- A decline in verbal skills could be an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease.
- Optimistic older people live longer than pessimists.
- Alcohol affects older brains more strongly because of lower metabolic rates.
- Word recognition stays stable as we age while word recall decreases as we get older.
- A common trait in people who live to be 100+ is their ability to manage stress.
Brain Health:
- Strategy based games help older brains stay sharp.
- Tai Chi can relieve symptoms of depression.
- Electrical brain stimulation may help a failing memory.
- Physical exercise not only protects against age-related decline but also improves overall mental function in adults.
- Making relatively modest changes to your daily habits may help reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease later in life.
- Having access to fairly simple meditation techniques can effectively be like having a therapist in your pocket.
- Self-awareness is more than just a fad – especially when it comes to the human brain.
- Researchers are learning that while genes are important to a healthy longevity, human lifestyle choices may be even more so.