brain
Sign in to saveThe brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for special senses such as vision, hearing, and olfaction. Being the most specialized organ, it is responsible for receiving information from the sensory nervous system, processing that information (thought, cognition, and intelligence) and the coordination of motor control (muscle activity and endocrine system).
AI overview
The brain is a specialized organ made of nervous tissue that serves as the control center for the nervous system in animals, typically located in the head near sensory organs like the eyes and ears. It receives information from your senses, processes it to create thoughts and intelligence, and controls your movements and bodily functions through the muscles and endocrine system.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Anatomy.Name
- Brain
- Anatomy.Latin
- cerebrum
- Anatomy.Greek
- ἐγκέφαλος (enképhalos)
- Anatomy.Image
- Chimp Brain in a jar.jpg
- Anatomy.Caption
- Brain of a chimpanzee
- Anatomy.Image2
- Brain model - Insula.jpg
- Anatomy.Caption2
- Model of a human brain
- Anatomy.IsPartOf
- Nervous system
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
30 sectionsContents
- Structure
- Cellular structure
- Evolution
- Generic bilaterian nervous system
- Invertebrates
- Vertebrates
- Reptiles
- Birds
- Mammals
- Primates
- Development
- Physiology
- Neurotransmitters and receptors
- Electrical activity
- Metabolism
- Function
- Perception
- Motor control
- Sleep
- Homeostasis
- Motivation
- Learning and memory
- Research
- History
- Society and culture
- As food
- In rituals
- See also
- References
- External links
The brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for special senses such as vision, hearing, and olfaction. Being the most specialized organ, it is responsible for receiving information from the sensory nervous system, processing that information (thought, cognition, and intelligence) and the coordination of motor control (muscle activity and endocrine system).
While invertebrate brains arise from paired segmental ganglia (each of which is only responsible for the respective body segment) of the ventral nerve cord, vertebrate brains develop axially from the midline dorsal nerve cord as a vesicular enlargement at the rostral end of the neural tube, with centralized control over all body segments. All vertebrate brains can be embryonically divided into three parts: the forebrain (prosencephalon, subdivided into telencephalon and diencephalon), midbrain (mesencephalon) and hindbrain (rhombencephalon, subdivided into metencephalon and myelencephalon). The spinal cord, which directly interacts with somatic functions below the head, can be considered a caudal extension of the myelencephalon enclosed inside the vertebral column. Together, the brain and spinal cord constitute the central nervous system in all vertebrates.