Brain

The brain is the central nervous-system organ within the skull. It integrates sensory information, supports thought and emotion, and coordinates bodily functions.

Cerebral cortex: The brain’s outer layer of neural tissue, involved in perception, voluntary movement, language, and higher cognition. Its specialized areas support many functions commonly associated with the brain.
Action potential: A rapid, temporary change in a cell’s membrane voltage that propagates along an excitable cell. Neurons use action potentials to carry signals across brain circuits.
Electroencephalography: A method that records voltage fluctuations from the brain using electrodes placed on the scalp. EEG reveals patterns of brain activity, including seizures and sleep stages.
Spinal cord: A column of nervous tissue inside the vertebral canal that carries signals between the brain and body and coordinates reflexes. It handles signal transmission and some reflexes outside the skull-bound organ.
Consciousness: The state of having subjective experience, including awareness of oneself or the surrounding world. How physical brain activity produces subjective experience remains unresolved.
Cerebellum: A hindbrain structure that helps coordinate movement, balance, and motor learning. It refines movement rather than initiating most voluntary actions.
Synapse: A junction where a neuron communicates with another cell through chemical or electrical signaling. Synapses pass and modify signals between the brain’s neurons.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging: An imaging method that estimates brain activity by measuring changes in blood oxygenation. It maps activity-related changes across the living brain without surgery.
Enteric nervous system: A network of neurons embedded in the gastrointestinal tract that regulates many digestive functions. It can coordinate substantial local activity without direct moment-to-moment brain commands.
Memory consolidation: The processes that stabilize and reorganize memories after initial learning. Researchers continue to investigate how brain systems transform new memories over time.

Linked from 9 pages