The Brain from the Inside Out Let’s start with a bizarre thought: the discipline of neuroscience is actually the brain coming to understand itself. To try and understand the folded, overlapping, brilliant mess of the structure of the brain, biologist Paul MacLean developed the famous triune brain theory based on the evolutionary processes that formed it. According to the theory, the brain was built from the inside out, with three main parts layering on top of each other over time: the reptilian, the limbic, and the neocortex. The reptilian brain is the oldest and most primal, first emerging in fish nearly 500 million years ago. It controls basic but vital biological functions such as heart rate, breathing, and temperature, and it’s also responsible for aggressive territorial behaviours and social heirarchies. The limbic brain emerged next, 150 million years ago with the first mammals—it’s the major source of human emotions, moods, judgements, self-awareness, and concern for our young. Lastly, the necortex evolved with the primates (and the genus Homo) just 2–3 million years ago. It is this outer layer that truly makes us human. It’s responsible for the development of language, imagination, astract thought, and consciousness, and is the reason human culture developed—the reason poetry and mathematics and music and science exist. The three parts don’t operate independently, but instead have developed trillions of neural connections in a complex network. It’s like the brain is an ancient city that has expanded and developed over time, but roads and tunnels have sprung up to connect the old to the new. (via sciencesoup:)
Pop-upView Separately

The Brain from the Inside Out

Let’s start with a bizarre thought: the discipline of neuroscience is actually the brain coming to understand itself. To try and understand the folded, overlapping, brilliant mess of the structure of the brain, biologist Paul MacLean developed the famous triune brain theory based on the evolutionary processes that formed it. According to the theory, the brain was built from the inside out, with three main parts layering on top of each other over time: the reptilian, the limbic, and the neocortex. The reptilian brain is the oldest and most primal, first emerging in fish nearly 500 million years ago. It controls basic but vital biological functions such as heart rate, breathing, and temperature, and it’s also responsible for aggressive territorial behaviours and social heirarchies. The limbic brain emerged next, 150 million years ago with the first mammals—it’s the major source of human emotions, moods, judgements, self-awareness, and concern for our young. Lastly, the necortex evolved with the primates (and the genus Homo) just 2–3 million years ago. It is this outer layer that truly makes us human. It’s responsible for the development of language, imagination, astract thought, and consciousness, and is the reason human culture developed—the reason poetry and mathematics and music and science exist. The three parts don’t operate independently, but instead have developed trillions of neural connections in a complex network. It’s like the brain is an ancient city that has expanded and developed over time, but roads and tunnels have sprung up to connect the old to the new.

(via sciencesoup:)

349 Notes/ Hide

  1. berg-sonata reblogged this from sciencesoup
  2. mathgirl277 reblogged this from khyeili
  3. khyeili reblogged this from stark-aesthetics
  4. simplysweet07 reblogged this from sciencesoup
  5. atlanticagalactica reblogged this from sciencesoup
  6. neezieneezie reblogged this from sciencesoup
  7. heavymetalbeliever reblogged this from stark-aesthetics
  8. zumbadorcito reblogged this from stark-aesthetics
  9. piscoforone reblogged this from stark-aesthetics
  10. stark-aesthetics reblogged this from sciencesoup
  11. mrmerc reblogged this from sciencesoup
  12. intellectualconsilience reblogged this from sciencesoup
  13. blankspacesinbetween reblogged this from sciencesoup
  14. wildside-aninnocentface reblogged this from sciencesoup
  15. the-devil-dances-again reblogged this from littlemisshamish
  16. axewave reblogged this from sciencesoup
  17. thatsciencejunkie reblogged this from sciencesoup and added:
    -1?'https':'http';var...
  18. cattsunami reblogged this from enchanteresse
  19. enchanteresse reblogged this from chimera-silente
  20. moisab reblogged this from theantidote
  21. iamgbtm reblogged this from theantidote
  22. csmj reblogged this from theantidote
  23. stainedglass-and-mayhem reblogged this from theantidote
  24. ohgodwhoseroomsarethese reblogged this from the36thprime
  25. the36thprime reblogged this from theantidote
  26. jirowsky reblogged this from theantidote
  27. chimera-silente reblogged this from theantidote
  28. theantidote reblogged this from sciencesoup and added:
    The Brain from the Inside Out Let’s start with a bizarre thought: the discipline of neuroscience is actually the brain...