Overview of Brain - Psychology Notes

What is the brain ? Vast collection of interconnected cells called neurons. 1012 neurons with 1015 synapses (connections) cortical neurons connect to roughly 3% of surrounding neurons cortical neuron may receive connections from up to 10000 other neurons "Supported" by an even greater number of cells called glia (not nerve cells!) Many different types of neurons in terms of size, shape and molecular properties (12 general types in the neocortex). Each neuron has three distinct parts: cell body (soma) - can …

…new long-term memories Inability to recognise faces: may easily recognise someone by their voice or other cues, but not by looking at them Severing the corpus callosum: person can only name an object (key, coin etc) if it is placed in their right hand (information can reach the language centres in the left hemisphere) but not in their left hand (information reaches conciousness in the right hemisphere, but cannot cross over to the left hemisphere).