Question: How do our brains work?

Fiona McLean answered on 16 Jun 2014:

Excellent question! One I’ve been trying to answer for a good few years now myself!

So the brain (even though it looks all the same and all squishy) is actually organised into very specific areas. And each area of the brain has a specific role or function. For example there is a part of the brain called the olfactory bulb and it is involved in your sense of smell. Whilst your nose may detect an odour, it is your brain which decides information about the odour such as whether you recognise it or not. There is another part of your brain called the hippocampus and it is really important in the formation of memories, particularly complex memories and converting short-term memories to long-term memories. Another part of the brain called the orbitofrontal cortex is used to make decisions. I could go on and on about all the parts! There are over a hundred! What is important to know is that even though there are all these parts they don’t work independently. They all work together and talk to each other.

The brain really is the centre of your whole body. It sends out information to all other parts of the body such as to your lungs to tell them to breathe or to your legs when you want to run. Additionally, your body sends signals back to your brain. For example, it you fall over and hurt your knee a sensory cell called a nociceptor will send a signal to your brain to let you know that your knee is hurt. Your brain can then send a signal back to your knee to tell it not to move so you don’t hurt it more or even signal the release of pain reducing chemicals in your body. So it is one big loop!

Within the brain there are lots of different types of cells that are responsible for how the brain works, however the main ones are called neurons (have a look on my profile at my pictures to see a big one!). Neurons have bits coming off them called axons which allow neurons to talk to each other. For example if your TV dish on the roof of your house is a neuron and your TV in your living room is another neuron then the cable which runs between them which transports the signal from the TV dish to let you watch TV in your living room would be the axon! There are approximately 86 billion of these neurons in your brain which means there is a lot of talking going on! Kind of like when your mum runs into her friend at the supermarket!

I hope that helps answer your question. If you have any questions about my answer then please don’t hesitate to ask!