The brain... don't understand it, can't live without it!
So what do all those funny brain bits actually do? The brain may the most complex organ around but we do have some ideas about it.
This page will take a look at different brain regions and try to give a clue about what we think they do for us.
First of all it is important to remember that although bits of the brain can be linked to specific behaviours (for example, a part of the motor cortex will control your tongue), the brain is a very complex interacting organ.
For example, even something as simple as catching a ball involves our visual system, memory systems (you've leant how to do it?) and large chunks of the motor control system. If you suddenly realised the ball was on fire then lots of other systems would come into play!

Brain bit 2- the Motor and Sensory cortexes


Here at psyberfun, we love these kind of pictures... but what is it all about? Basically, when we touch something or are touched by something receptors (sensors?) under the skin send a message up our nervous system to the sensory cortex area of the brain. The parts of the body around the cortex show us where the sensors from each bit of your body end up.
The obvious thing to note is that some parts of the body seem to have lots of the brain 'devoted' to them...(hands, fingers, face, lips) while others have hardly any. This is because there are many nerve endings and receptors in some areas like the fingers but very few on the back.

So what does all this mean?
 

The key thing is that we are very sensitive in some areas (like our fingers) and clearly this makes sense... we tend to explore 'things' with our fingers so it is important for them to be very sensitive. This also gives us a clue about why we like 'snogging'... think of all of those touch sensors in and around the lips... they give our brain a lot of stimulation... no wonder it is so much fun!

The middle of our backs only really respond to a large stimulus (such as a back scratch) because there are so few receptors there. (You can try a game where people have guess how many fingers you have placed of their backs just by touch alone... it is harder than you think.)
This little person by the way represents what we would look like if our body 'bits' were the size represented in the brain. Scary huh!... and we'd keep falling over!
Want to find out more... check out the links (your brain is more fun than you think.)

More brain bits to follow... see next issue...
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Amazing Brain Facts:
The brain grows at an amazing rate during development. At times during brain development, 250,000 neurons are added every minute!!
For a great, well designed, and simple intro to the brain try Neuroscience for Kids