The Brain
Evolution of Understanding the Brain
As you discovered during the warm-up activity, people have many misconceptions about the brain. In the past 25 years, scientists have discovered more about the brain than in the previous 2,500 years. In the early 21st century, researchers made significant advances in neuroscience because of recent technological developments that enable scientists to examine the brain without needing to remove it from the skull or damage the organ in the process. For most of history, however, such noninvasive examinations did not prove possible. Learn about the evolution of understanding the brain. Click the player to begin.
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Amazingly, the brain can recover and regain function after injury. Take a moment to view the video, The Man with a Hole in His Brain: BrainCraft, from eMediaVASM, and gain more insight into how and why Phineas Gage survived with a hole in his brain. What have psychologists and scientists learned from Gage's injury?
In the example of Phineas Gage, the importance of brain plasticity becomes glaringly evident. Specifically, brain plasticity, also called neuroplasticity, refers to the brain's ability to change at any age. This happens when the brain is forming at the beginning of life, when the brain becomes injured, or as people learn. Such changes happen as the gray matter in the brain changes size, and neural connections get stronger or weaker. In addition, brain plasticity helps shape personality, has implications on memory, and impacts abilities.
Image: Autopsy of Phineas Gage
Modern Techniques for Studying the Brain
In the 20th century and beyond, modern scientific techniques have provided new ways to study what the brain looks like, what it does, and the location of specific actions. None of these technologies harm the brain and often can enable doctors or researchers to view it in real-time. Take a moment to explore the most common modern techniques used to study the brain. Click the player to begin.
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Brain Tour
Now that you have explored people's understanding of the brain in the past and how scientists and researchers continue to study it today, discover how your brain actually works based on recent discoveries from the field of neuroscience. Click the player to begin.
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The human brain has many important features, and is larger than the brains of other animals. To learn more about why brains of various animals differ in size, view the video A Matter of Size from eMediaVA℠. As you watch the video, make note of why humans need such large brains. Do you think the theory presented sounds plausible?
Brain Review
Now that you have learned a bit about the brain, review your knowledge in this non-graded activity. Click the player to get started.