ALPHABETICAL BRAIN™ VOCABULARY HUMANIST FAMILY BRAIN STUDY DETAILS ABOUT YOUR CEREBRUM #11 September 1, 2020 WHAT IS YOUR CEREBRUM? AND WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT? The primary purpose of your cerebrum is to control your conscious bodily movements. It is the largest part of your brain and it includes its cerebral cortex cover and the prefrontal cortex at the front of your frontal lobes located just behind your forehead. Your cerebral cortex consists of between 100-200 billion closely connected neuron cell bodies packed into six thin layers of wrinkly, and densely folded sheets of soft brain tissue. It is divided into four sections on both your Left and Right Hemispheres. The four sections are known as your frontal lobes, temporal lobes, parietal lobes, and occipital lobes (at the back of your head). Your prefrontal cortex coordinates your language modules usually within the Left Hemisphere of your cerebrum. The prefrontal cortex itself consists of two clumps or clusters of neurons (the size of two pennies) at the front of the two frontal lobes of your cerebrum. The two modules are located in both your Left and Right Hemispheres. They give you conscious control over your own behavior. The billions of tightly packed neuron cell bodies generate biochemical currents (signals/impulses) that are the "engines" that provide the energy that drives the connections between your brain and the rest of your body. This nano-microscopic communication system manages your thoughts and feelings and memories so you are able to make smart decisions regarding your survival, security, and pleasure options. The entire system is known as your connectome. Since your cerebrum is split into two parts, a Left Hemisphere and a Right Hemisphere, the cerebral cortex is referred to in its divided sense as having two "cortices" (plural for "cortex"). Since humans have evolved to become the greatest survivalists on earth, it is important to know how the evolution of our cerebrum caused humans to become the most dominant species on earth during the past 300 thousand years. Our cerebrum is the newest part of the human brain to have evolved. The evolutionary changes have given us (Homo sapiens) the ability to reason and master nature and explore the cosmos for only about the past 40,000-50,000 years, since we emerged as the front runner in the evolutionary struggle among proto-humans. Written language began among humans about 5,200 years ago (3,200 BC) and the modern world began about 550 years ago (1450 AD) with the beginning of modern science and brain science began a little more than a century ago beginning in the late 1800s! Your cerebrum provides you with the ability to think. You have more brainpower than any other animal has, including animals that are larger in physical size who have larger brains, such as elephants and whales. That is because their brains have proportionally much less gray matter in the cerebral cortex covering their cerebrums than what your brain contains. The unmistakable fact is that the primary function of your brain's cerebrum is to help your body survive and reproduce. Now brain scientists consider your brain to be inextricably connected to your body. It is provable — by both evidence and argument — that your brain is the primary source of your conscious self-awareness. This means that you have an intellectual and emotional self, but not a spiritual or mystical soul. That is because your conscious self-awareness or sense-of-self depends upon having a healthy brain in a healthy body. Therefore, to understand reality, you must comprehend the truth of this cause and effect relationship. The soul has always been a mythological, metaphorical meme, which means that it has always been an imagined figure of speech. It is produced by our incredibly creative human imagination. However, the make-believe soul has never been a provable empirical entity. The soul is only an imagined mythopoetic reality that was started back in the language of the ancients and now it is stuck in our modern language. The basic structure of English was invented during ancient times before anybody knew how human brains actually worked. That is why we have to understand many word meanings by knowing the linguistic context or semantic meaning of the words. By optimizing the relationship between your cerebrum (intellectual brain) and your limbic system (emotional brain), you can empathize with other people and work with them to create something greater than yourself. You have the creative capacity to transcend ordinary perceived limitations and improvise solutions to your problems. Knowing these brain facts can compel you to be a rational educated person who is curious and eager to discover more true information about how to solve problems effectively and how to manage your emotions. The cerebrum is not the source of your feelings, but it is intimately and intricately connected to your limbic system, which is the source of your feelings. Your limbic system creates your emotions out of neurotransmitters and hormones that have been stimulated by neuronal signals coming to your brain from your sensory organs (personal experience). The bionic signals are transmitted to your prefrontal cortex located in your cerebrum. Precisely because of the brain's incredible cerebrum, with its cerebral cortex cover and prefrontal cortex, we (Homo sapiens) have achieved worldwide supremacy over all other forms of life. Our very adaptable neuroplastic brain (along with our upright stance and strong muscles and opposable thumbs) has made it possible for us to create the scientific method and all of the wonderful discoveries and inventions in both ancient and modern times. In addition, your human brain gives you a virtually unlimited potential to bond with others to create more liberal democratic values so more people can prosper in the future. You can learn the proper thinking skills and strategic strategies to use so your thoughts can manage your feelings. NOTE: See in context: potentiation #9, plasticity #10, prefrontal cortex #12, limbic system #13, pleasure circuit #14. and long-term memory #15. Printable PDF Form DETAILS ABOUT YOUR CEREBRUM (for your own editing and memory consolidation) RECOMMENDATION: You can re-read this summary according to a reinforcement schedule, such as a few hours later and a few days later and then several times in the next week or two. This strategy can help you take advantage of the power of the spaced-repetition method of memorization. Such deep introspection can strengthen your willpower and change your adaptive self-identity to increase your self-esteem. REMEMBER ALWAYS: You are your adaptable memory! instantly return to: FACT CHECKER ABOUT YOUR CEREBRUM #11 instantly return to: BRAIN FLASH CARD #11: CEREBRUM or instantly return to: LIST OF 15 FREE BRAIN FLASH CARDS produced by Infinite Interactive Ideas™