Brain activity and mental functions interesting facts. Facts and myths about the human brain

Amazing in its complexity, the human brain is a kind of biological computer, a thinking center capable of processing great amount information. Everything depends on its correct functioning, from the working capacity of the organism as a whole to the mental health of a person. But the brain is still fraught with many secrets that scientists have yet to figure out.

Facts about the human brain

It takes its form, which is widely known to everyone, in the process of growth, as it fills cranium. If the skull were a different shape, the human brain would also change.
The human brain consumes about half of all glucose supplied by the liver, which releases it into the blood.
The average human brain has about 100,000,000,000 neurons - one hundred billion.
In an average adult, the brain is about 2% of total weight of the whole body.
For a long time it was believed that the larger the brain, the better the person is intellectually developed. Research has shown that this is not the case. For example, the brain of the famous writer Anatole France weighed a little more than 1 kg, and Turgenev's brain weighed more than 2 kg ().
The weight of the largest brain ever discovered in a person reached 2.85 kg, and this person was mentally handicapped.
Among all modern ethnic groups, the smallest the average size brain - in Australian aborigines, the indigenous inhabitants of Australia.
The human brain weighs 50 times more than the spinal cord. In other mammals, this ratio is very different. In cats, for example, both the head and spinal cord weigh about the same.
Up to 60% of brain mass is fat. In fact, it contains more fat in percentage terms than in any other human organ.
The amount of brain memory is practically unlimited. Its limits are still unknown.
The human brain usually occupies 90 to 95% of the internal volume of the skull.
The brain of our Paleolithic Cro-Magnon ancestors was 10-12% larger than the brain modern man ().
There are no nerve endings directly on the brain, and it is not able to feel touched.
In the process of work, the brain generates electricity, and it is powerful enough to power a light bulb from it.
At night, during sleep, the human brain works even more actively than when we are awake.
Two substances vital for the functioning of the brain are glucose and oxygen.
There are about 1 trillion glial cells that provide neurons with food in the human brain, 10 times more than the neurons themselves.
Active thought processes and brainwork train the brain in the same way that exercises on simulators train muscles ().
The human brain stores information in short term memory no more than 20-25 seconds, plus or minus. Therefore, sometimes, being distracted by something, we forget about what we thought a minute ago.
The brain of the famous Albert Einstein weighed about 1.2 kg, which is slightly less than the average.
The length of axons (threads that conduct impulses) in the human brain exceeds 160,000 kilometers. They could wrap our planet around the equator 4 times.
Contrary to popular myth, a person does not use 5 or 10 percent of his brain capacity, but more than 90.
Sleep lowers the temperature human brain. If you do not sleep for a long time, it overheats and starts to work worse.
Human brain development continues until the age of 25.
Propagation speed nerve impulses when passing through neurons, it can reach 440 km / h.

Despite all the achievements modern science and medicine, today the human brain is perhaps the least studied organ in the human body. We have collected for our readers little known, but such facts about the human brain.

1. Up to 60% fat

The brain is the fattest organ in the human body. It can contain up to 60% fat.

2. No pain receptors

The brain has no pain receptors, so it doesn't feel anything. That is why doctors can perform open surgery on the brains of patients who are not under anesthesia.

3. Power up to 25 watts

At any given time, the brain can generate up to 25 watts of power. This is enough to, for example, power a light bulb.

4. Size and genius

A fairly common myth is that smarter man the bigger his brain. In fact, a number of brilliant people, such as Einstein, had smaller than average brains. Another curious fact is also connected with Einstein. The pathologist who performed the autopsy on his corpse stole the scientist's brain and kept it for 20 years.

5. 160,000 km of axons

There are over 160,000 kilometers of axons in the human brain. This is enough to wrap the Earth around the equator 4 times. Information travels through the brain at speeds up to 420 km/h.

6. Develops up to 40-50 years

The brain continues to develop until about 40-50 years of age. Interestingly, in an adult, the brain size is approximately equal to that what he was at the time of birth. This is one of the reasons why babies have disproportionately large heads.

7. 70,000 thoughts a day

An average of 70,000 thoughts pass through the human brain every day. Every second, more than 100,000 chemical reactions. Also, curiously, the brain is actually more active during sleep.

8. 2% of total body weight

The weight of the brain is about 2% of the total body weight. At the same time, it uses up to a quarter of all consumed oxygen and energy.

9. Tricks with the mind

Sometimes the brain can play funny tricks with the mind. For example, in this picture, squares A and B are the same color.

10. IQ 210

Highest IQ on this moment from Kim Un-young from South Korea. His score is 210. Einstein had an IQ of 200.

11. Trepanning and drilling holes

Brain surgery is nothing new. In the past, some cultures practiced trepanation, or drilling holes in the skull, to relieve the pain of migraines or cure certain diseases.

12. Proportions and "Homunculus"

Wilder Penfield (1891-1976) created the drawing that became known as "The Homunculus". It shows what a person would look like if all parts of the body were as large as the brain relative to the whole body.

13. Shrinks during pregnancy

The human brain: only 10% of the brain.

Contrary to popular belief, humans don't use just 10% of their brains. Most of the brain is active all the time, even when a person is sleeping.

And in continuation of the topic more. Worth a try for yourself!

Interesting facts about the human brain

The human brain is generally recognized as one of the most complex and at the same time the most advanced devices in the universe. Users of modern tablets and smartphones do not even think about the fact that in their head there is a storage device and a processor immeasurably more advanced than the most powerful computer.

1. In 2015, the fourth most powerful supercomputer in the world for 40 minutes to simulate only one second of human brain activity. According to the American inventor Raymond Kurzweil, only in 2023 personal computers will reach the processing power of the human brain.

2. The memory of the brain can accommodate the number of bytes expressed as a number with 8432 zeros. According to rough estimates of scientists, this is about 1000 terabytes. For comparison: the National British Archives, which stores the history of the last nine centuries, occupies only 70 terabytes.

3. There are 100,000 kilometers in our brain blood vessels. The brain is also made up of one hundred billion neurons, as many as there are stars in our entire galaxy. The brain includes more than 100 trillion neural connections (synapses). New neural connections in the brain are formed every time you memorize something. That is, when you learn something new, the structure of the brain changes.

4. When waking up, the brain creates an electric field of 23 watts, which is enough to light a light bulb.

5. The brain only makes up 2% of the body, but it uses 17% of the body's energy and 20% of oxygen and blood.

6. The human brain is 75% water, and its consistency resembles tofu cheese. 60% of the human brain is fat. Therefore, for its proper functioning, it is very important to eat and consume properly " the right fats", which are contained in fish, olive oil, seeds and nuts.

7. Scientists believe that diet can cause the brain to “eat” itself. And the lack of oxygen in the brain for 5 minutes leads to irreversible damage.

8. A person cannot tickle himself. The fact is that the human brain is tuned to perceive external stimuli, so as not to miss important signals in the stream of sensations caused by the actions of the person himself.

9. Forgetting is natural process for the brain: removing unnecessary information helps nervous system keep it flexible. Alcohol does not affect memory - it's just that when a person gets drunk in the trash, the brain temporarily loses the ability to remember.

10. It only takes 6 minutes for the brain to react to alcohol. That is, intoxication begins 6 minutes after alcohol enters the body.

11. The world's largest brain donor is the monastic order of sister teachers in Mankato, Minnesota. The nuns of this order donated more than 700 brain units posthumously to science.

12. A person has more nerve cells at birth than throughout life.

13. The brain is divided into two hemispheres. In this case, only the left or right hemisphere of the brain cannot work. They always work at the same time, but left hemisphere responsible for rational, analytical thinking, and the right one for visual and mental thinking. They also work in opposition to - you get itchy left heel and sensations are perceived right side brain. But there is one interesting fact, if half of the brain is turned off, then the person still survives.

14. Cruelty in the family has the same effect on the brain of a child as war does on the brain of a soldier. It has been scientifically proven that even a weak sense of power changes the way a person's brain works and reduces his ability to empathize.

15. Pathologist Thomas Harvey, who performed Albert's autopsy in 1955, stole his brain and stored it in formalin solution for about 20 years. In 1978, American journalist Steven Levy tracked Dr. Harvey to Wichita, Kansas, where the physician admitted that he still had his brain in a formaldehyde solution.

16. The size and mass of the brain have nothing to do with the intellectual abilities of a person. For example, Einstein's brain weighed one kilogram two hundred and thirty grams, which is less than average weight human brain at this age - one kilogram four hundred grams.

17. Despite the fact that the male brain is 10 percent larger than the female, the female brain has more nerve cells and connectors, and it works faster and more efficiently than the male. Women process information more emotionally using the right hemisphere, while men use the left "logical" part of the brain.

18. Confidence can be generated without the need for a rational explanation, but simply by stimulating a certain part of the brain.

19. Long conversations on a mobile phone significantly increase the risk of a brain tumor. Cell phones 217 electromagnetic pulses are sent to the human head every minute, that is, the brain is irradiated. The brain of a child is most susceptible to such radiation, in contrast to the brain of an adult.

20. A baby's brain can use up to 50% of all glucose in the body, which explains why babies need so much sleep. Lack of sleep in an adult significantly affects the functioning of the brain, leading to poor judgment and slow reaction. The brain makes our consciousness spend a third of our life in a dream, and at this time it is actively working.

21. Half of the brain can be surgically removed with no apparent effect on personality or memory.

22. According to scientists, the brain perceives rejection as physical pain.

23. In the human brain, there are areas with the following names: “aqueduct”, “beak and knee of the corpus callosum”, “cerebellar vermis”, “head of the caudate nucleus”, “bridle of the upper cerebral sail” and even “seahorse toes”.

24. An interesting fact is that most people who have had a body part amputated feel heat, pain or pressure in a non-existent limb. Scientists have not come to a single conclusion that would explain this phenomenon. Some say that nerve endings, which led to the amputated limb, make new connections and send signals there, as if it were in place. Others suggest that the human brain has a memory of the entire body, and therefore it works with a limb even after its loss.

25. Another interesting fact is that the human brain does not feel pain, because there are no pain receptors in the brain. But this does not apply to headaches. When we have a "headache" - the pain is felt not by the brain itself, but by the tissues adjacent to it.

26. Half of our genes describe the complex structure of the brain, while the other half describes the organization of the remaining 95% of the body.

27. During orgasm, the brain produces so much dopamine that when it is scanned, the results will be the same as those of a drug addict under the influence of a hard drug.

31. The highest IQ - 210 was recorded by the Korean child prodigy Ung Yang, born in 1972. The child prodigy mastered algebra at the age of 8 months. By the age of 2, he was fluent in 4 languages. He entered the university at the age of 4 and graduated at the age of 15. In addition, Young is excellent at drawing and writing poetry. Now he lives in South Korea and enjoys what he was previously deprived of, that is, he rests from science, from work, from study.

32. The IQ of Anatoly Wasserman is 150. The highest national average is recorded in Japan and is 130. In Russia, the average result is 99 units. Belarus and Ukraine scored 92 points each. Naturally, these data are approximate and may differ in different sources.

33. The human brain continues to develop until the age of 50. physical training help keep the brain in good shape even after fifty. Regular sports activity contributes to an increase in the number of capillaries in the brain, which accordingly improves the access of oxygen and glucose. Former athletes with age are much less likely than others to experience brain diseases, sclerosis and schizophrenia.

34. Intellectual activity causes the production of additional brain tissue, which compensates for the diseased, so do not be lazy to "pump your brains" - this will save you from senile dementia and mental disorders.

Engaging in unfamiliar activities The best way brain development. Associating with those who are superior to you in intelligence is also potent agent brain development.

The fact that our brain has tremendous potential has long been known. All his abilities have not been fully studied to this day, but researchers have already made many amazing discoveries about this organ. Below are 5 interesting facts about the human brain, knowing which, you can discover new facets of yourself.

Scientists have much more to discover about how the brain works, but existing facts never cease to amaze.

1. The brain makes our thoughts come true

Any mental and physical activity of a person forms neural connections in the brain. It is thanks to the lined neural network that we remember information and learn. But scientists have proven that the organ is capable of completely destroying old neural networks and creating new ones. This property is called neuroplasticity.

The more we think about the same thing, the more neural connection. So, for example, if a person constantly thinks that he is too fat, while having only a couple of extra pounds, the brain will only strengthen the belief by strengthening the neural network tied specifically to this thought form. He will send commands “I am fat” to all body systems, and as a result, the body will take the form that the person constantly kept in his mental images - the brain simply executed the command, the will of the owner, and will make him fat.

In turn, if the belief is replaced by “I am slim”, the old neural network that appeared as a result of thoughts “I am fat” will begin to weaken, and the new one will gain strength. After some time (not quickly, and not immediately), the body will really build up. But in order to keep the result, a person will have to constantly concentrate on the belief "I'm slim, I'm thin."

It is on this ability of the human brain that the factor of the power of positive thinking is based, which, alas, many underestimate.

2. The brain can and should be turned off

Based on all those discoveries that have occurred in the field quantum physics per last years, even scientists have already leaned towards the fact that a person is an energy entity. The brain is far from the only organ through which we can perceive and comprehend information. There is something more that goes beyond the brain and thinking.

Hundreds of thoughts rush through our head every minute, and a huge amount of information gets through the organs of perception (eyes, ears, smell). The task of the brain is to process all this and sort it out. An overloaded brain becomes inefficient. A person feels the clutter of his consciousness as general fatigue, fatigue, low mood.

To restore strength, the brain can and even needs to be periodically turned off. Many people think that this organ rests in a dream. But in fact, in the state of sleep, when the consciousness is inactive, it works even more intensively. And it turns off in a state of awareness - when consciousness is active, but the thought process is completely stopped.

Meditation helps to turn off the brain. There are a lot of different meditation techniques - you can choose to your taste and do it. the most useful thing 15 to 40 minutes a day. This is quite enough to give the brain a rest. Also, mental activity is turned off when a person does unusual things, for example, writes with his left hand (if he is right-handed), jumps on one leg instead of walking, masters a new game.

3. The brain does not distinguish between reality and imagination

Our thinking organ sees absolutely no difference between the imagination that takes place inside the consciousness and objective reality. Scientists conducted an experiment where one musician played the piano, and the other just imagined his game. Both musicians had exactly the same reactions in their brains. There were a lot of such observations, and they all showed the same result - everything that our brain sees (in the world, on the TV and computer screen, in fantasies), it perceives as the present.

It is on this phenomenon that the placebo effect is built - even if a person is given a “dummy” drug, but they assure him that this is a medicine, therapeutic effect is actually happening.

If a training person more often imagines himself pumped up, strong, fit, then he will achieve results much faster. But there is also back side such amazing abilities of the brain - all the negative that we sometimes see in the movies and from monitors also significantly affects us, and not the most in the best way. Therefore, it is better to watch less horror and thriller films, reduce the negative information into your consciousness, and surround yourself with positive emotions more.

4. What you think about will surround you.

Whatever you focus your attention on will appear in your life more and more often. For example, you want to buy a red car and think about it very often, imagine driving a bright car. After a while, you will notice that red cars are increasingly caught in your eye. They will literally start chasing you.

Many people are afraid of the phenomenon, but in reality it is just another amazing ability of the brain. It captures in the outside world everything that happens in your inner world. He makes you see what you think.

It's very funny when you think a lot about good things, about your dreams, goals, desires. But if your head is full of fears, pictures of tragic news, anxious thoughts, not the best events will begin to surround you.

In order for the factor to work for your benefit, filter your thoughts, periodically clean them up, and think less about the bad. After all, thoughts are material.

5. The brain is on autopilot most of the time.

Every day, more than 50 thousand thoughts arise in our head. We are aware of only about 10% of all this mass. The rest of the lion's share of thoughts - endless repetitions and twisting of the same thing. Many thoughts we do not even notice. Ask yourself what you were thinking 15 minutes ago and you won't remember.

We do not fix about 90% of our thoughts with our consciousness, but the subconscious catches everything. And the more that goes through your head negative forms, the worse your condition and your reality. Thus, the brain works almost autonomously. But we have to figure it all out ourselves.

The practice of mindfulness helps to control your thoughts, stop them, redirect them in a different direction. The greater the percentage of the thought process that is conscious and controlled, the less you will encounter unpleasant and unexpected situations.

Each of us has everything in order to subjugate our brain, take many unconscious processes under control, improve our lives and achieve everything we wish. After all, physical reality always begins with a thought.

The human brain is perhaps the only organ whose work has not been 100% studied. It is simply impossible to determine the presence and explore all the facets of its capabilities. Therefore, we have collected for you the most Interesting Facts about the brain, which will allow you to get closer to the knowledge of the human body.

1. No pain receptors were found in the brain. As a result, surgeons can complex operations on this organ without anesthesia, which allows not to affect the vital important features(motor, visual). But why do patients still feel pain? The fact is that a sensitive receptor sends a signal to the spinal cord about an approaching danger.
2. The brain has been recognized as the most complex device throughout the universe.

3. The mass of the brain is approximately 2% of the total body mass. This organ uses only 17% of the total energy of the body. It consists of 100 billion neurons interconnected by 100 trillion synapses.
4. When a person wakes up, his brain creates a light electric field, which would be enough to light a light bulb.

5. The human brain can hold 1,000 terabytes of information, which is equivalent to five volumes of Encyclopedia Britannica.
6. Scientists have found that the fact that a person does not use his brain to the full extent is a myth.

8. Regular brain activity contributes to excellent prevention of Alzheimer's disease. If you are busy learning something new, doing an activity that is unusual for you, thereby increasing intellectual activity, your brain begins to reproduce tissue that compensates for the cells affected by the disease.
9. The brain is ¾ water. Therefore for him normal functioning Try to drink the amount of water recommended for your age. If you comply strict diet, which removes water from the body, then together with extra pounds you will lose your brains. That is, your mental abilities will significantly deteriorate.
10. The brain uses 20% of the oxygen that enters the body, which is more than any other organ. This property makes the brain very susceptible to lack of oxygen. Therefore, try to breathe evenly, calmly and deeply, do not allow the state of oxygen starvation.
11. Interesting facts about the brain also apply to the intellectual abilities of great people. For example, Albert Einstein. After his death in 1995, scientists opened his skull for research. This was done by Dr. Thomas Harvey, who in 1978 admitted to keeping Einstein's organ at home in a formaldehyde solution.

12. According to statistics, people with well-developed intellectual abilities are much less likely to suffer from senile dementia and various mental disorders.
13. The two hemispheres of the brain function simultaneously. Wherein left lobe is responsible for analytical and mathematical abilities, and the right one - for mental, creative, visual. Right hemisphere responsible for the work of the left half of the body, and the left - for the right. An interesting fact remains that if one part of the brain does not function in a person, he will still survive.
14. The brain of every person has a craving for learning.
15. At night, our brain does not rest, but diligently processes all the information that it received during the day. But scientists have not figured out what happens to him during sleep. According to one theory, information is processed during sleep, according to another, it is reset.