Brain Structure

Abstract

For orientation, this book begins with an overview of the organs of a brain, some of which are important to intelligence, such as the cerebral cortex, the hippocampus, the amygdala, the cingulated gyrus, and the corpus callosum. Brain components are diagramed below along with a brief description of their major purposes. This chapter also mentions various diseases that, although disastrous for a patient, have greatly increased scientific knowledge of the human brain.

Overall, a brain is composed of roughly 100 billion neurons. The foremost components of a neuron are presented in this chapter, including synapses, receptors, spines, dendrites, soma, axon hillock, axon, and boutons. Introduced below are neural pulses that operate across neural membrane capacitance with waveforms between roughly −70 and 40 mV, and with durations of about 2 ms per pulse. Pulses most often occur in bursts with frequencies below a few hundred hertz; and these pulse bursts constitute a fundamental signaling system via the complex conductive paths of the brain.