Middle brain weight of a person. Human Brain - Only Facts

One of the most unusual questions that have probably wondered by each of us - how much our brain weighs. It would seem that knowledge of the answer to this question will not give any useful, but we still continue to ask it. The point here is rather not in the rift to the knowledge. We often often meet people who affect us with their mental abilities in the best or worse. About the genius we enthusiastically think - how many brains is! About fool - thoughts quite the opposite. However, you will be very surprised when you learn that the size and weight of our brain is in no way associated with intelligence.

But first will answer the question we asked at the very beginning. The mass of the brain at the average range ranges from 1100 to 2200. If the range is stronger than the range, then the figure of 1200-1500 is obtained. At the same time, the brain changes its mass during the human life. The weight of the brain is 300-450 g, after which it begins to grow together with the organism. It does not cause surprise and is quite logical, but about the next fact, almost no one, except doctors, does not know. It turns out that the weight of the brain in each adult reaches its maximum to age 27, after which he begins to fall. For every next ten years, the brain "Loses" by as many as 30 grams.

In percentage ratio, the weight of the brain is approximately 1/50 from the total weight of the human body. In this case, this body receives a lot more than 2% of their total quantity. All this testifies to him as the most important part. The work of other organs and systems is managed through the brain, motor activity is carried out, there is a reaction to external stimuli, etc.

Men love to fool over the fact that women allegedly stupid them. Not very intelligent men will also be happy when they learn that on average their brain is 100-150 grams harder female. However, it does not affect the intellect, and the difference in the mass is explained very simple. The female organism is less and more easier for male, therefore the head weight will be lower. And if you translate it into a percentage regarding body weight, then the advantage will be at all the weak floor.

Dependence of brain weight and intelligence level

Not knowing the results of scientific research, it is possible to make a simple conclusion about the dependence of the mass of the head and its mental abilities. Like, if the man is stupid, then he has little "brains". Conversely, smart people are often called "cerebrals", although they do not differ from the sizes of the head.

However, studies of scientists will affect you. The biggest brain, whose mass managed to measure, belonged to a low-minded person. Scientists were surprised to find out how much he weighs after the patient's death: almost 3 kg! In the brilliant or simply smart people, the brain weighed neither more and no less than the rest. In addition, as stated above, the brain weight in humans gradually decreases after 27 years. Weigh the brain after the death of a person, that is, as a rule, in old age.

Explain these differences in the weight of "brains" will help the knowledge of the structure of this body. The mental ability affects the gray matter of the brain, which is a thick network of nervous cells. It is not known how much they are absolutely accurate, but the bill goes to billions. In smart people of these cells, more than the rest, but they do not affect the brain mass. But weakly and are characterized by an increase in the thickness of the cortex of the brain, which gives a significant increase in mass.

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Mass brain some famous people

How much the brain weighs in a person is best to study on concrete and well-known examples. Weighing the brain of famous personalities once again confirmed the fact that the mass of human brain tissue does not affect his genius. Below is a list of famous people, the data on the brain of which was obtained after opening. As you can see, the scatter of the values \u200b\u200bis quite large:

• Sergey Yesenin: 1.92 kg;
• Lion Trotsky: 1.57 kg;
• Otto von Bismarck: 1.97 kg;
• Vladimir Lenin: 1.34 kg;
• Ludwig van Beethoven: 1.75 kg;
• Anatole France: 1.02 kg;
• Ivan Turgenev: 2.01 kg.

Especially unusually seen two last lines. "Brains" of two well-known writers differ from each other twice by weight. This means that it doesn't matter at all how much the brain weighs in a person.

Comparison of the brain of man and animals

Use brain weight as a confirmation of high human mental abilities, perhaps in comparison with animals. In this case, the comparison must be carried out not in absolute values, but relative to the mass of the rest of the body. After all, if you take only numerical values, then Blue Whale would be the most "smart" mammal on Earth. How much of his brain weighs, you can read in the book of records: As many as 9 kg, which is the highest indicator among all animals .. However, these 9 kg constitute only 1/40000 share from the rest of China, which speaks eloquently about his "mental abilities."

The brain of the elephant weighs less is about 4-5 kg, and the ratio between this value and the mass of the rest is approximately 1: 500. Compared to whales, this is a very good indicator, so it is not surprising that the elephants are considered smart animals. Dolphins are considered even more intelligent mammals, the mass of the brain of which in different species lies within 1.7-2.3 kg. In monkeys of the type of chimpanzee, the brain weighs about 0.75-0.8% of the total body weight.

"Let the horse think, her head is more!" - Familiar phrase?
And here everything seems to be logical - the more the brain, the clearest of his happy owner. Yes, and examples of this mass: all sorts there are bug-cocks with a brain of several milligrams, mice, squirrels yes, a cinema cinema weight is only about 1 gram and further - cats (about 30 grams), dogs (about 100g) and human moncelas with Brain, weighing about 400 gr. - Well, no way you can do with such clever as us with you, with an average, 1400 grams of gray substance. Here, while everything seems to be right.

Well, and then the complete misunderstandings begin: I miss all sorts of horses and cows with a brain weight in 300-400 grams, an elephant is a brain weight of more than 5 kg, and coushlots, at all 7kg with superfluous! Wow! So that's who they are - the most the most naile and theorest! AN-No!

It turns out that rationality just depends on not how much of the size and weight of the brain, as much on the ratio of its weight with the common weight of the whole body. And here is no man no equal!

Well, for example: people have a body weight ratio for brain weight: .... So…. 70 kg divided by 1.4 kg ... so .... Yeah - 50 times. But the cow is 1000 times, the dog is 500 times, the chimpanzee -120 times. Well, if you count the whales of whales from the "clever", then it turns out that the weight of their body exceeds the brain weight is 3000 times!

In general, our only and coming "on the mind" relatives are dolphins, the brain weight of some species of which reaches 1700 gr., With the weight of the body about 135 kg.

But I wonder if there is a difference in the weight of the brain, so to speak, inside the human race? It turns out yes, exists!

We continue.
In general, our brain - the thing is quite the energy intensive and power consumption. For example, the "resting" brain consumes 9% of the entire body's energy and 20% oxygen, and "working", that is, the thinking brain, consumes about 25% of all the nutrients entering the organism and about 33% of the so-generated oxygen body. In general, it turns out that it is not very profitable to think! And even the question arises: why should we then such a big and "voracious" brain?

It turns out that, both in the animal world and in human, for survival, in addition to saving energy, another factor is very important - the reaction time. And here then our big brain is very much by the way! A person uses it in essence as a large and powerful computer, which turns on when it is necessary to sharply speed up the solution of complex tasks that require huge stress and rapid reaction. So because, although our brain and insanely voracious, but sooo needed and indispensable.

So how does this "computer" work?

Brain - It is the center of control of the entire body, is responsible for thinking and consciousness. Located in a cranial box that protects it from damage. Surprisingly, it is the most fatal of all organs in the body, since more than half consists of fat. This statement involuntarily makes thinking about the fact that if the most fat, it means the hardest. Is it so? How much does a human brain weigh? Is there a difference in the mass of adult man's brain, baby and old man? How many brains in humans? How much do men and women differ in this issue? Does intelligence affect brain weight? Is the average mass of the gray substance among representatives of different nationalities? Who in the animal world has the biggest and most small brain? Let's try to figure out and answer all the questions.

Brain weight and factors that affect it

The human brain, like the whole body as a whole, changes throughout life. The human brain begins its development from 15 to 21 days of intrauterine development of the child, by the time of birth fully formed and its weight ranges from 300 to 500gram. During the first 27 years of life, the brain weight increases in proportion to the growth of the whole organism, and after it decreases about 3 grams per year. Archimeda in his exceptions tried to calculate how much the adult brain weighs by placing the head into a water barrel. After the volume of spilled water was calculated, and on the basis of this figure, the mass was calculated. The result of such a study was, to put it mildly, not quite accurate and only understood by the Archhymedic. To date, scientists have established that the average weight of human brains is 2% of the total body weight, in general it ranges from 1 to 2 kg.

The question is how much the man's brain weighs and how the intellectual abilities of the individual depend on its mass, I was interested in scientists since ancient times. For example, Archimedes, who lived in 300 to our era, calculated this indicator, immersing his head into the water container and on the outgoing liquid, by mathematical calculations, calculated the intended weight of this body. This method, of course, did not give a true result, but the very fact that they were interested in those times, it strikes.

At the moment, it is known that the mass of human brains is about equal to 2% of the weight of the whole body, but this judgment is inaccurate, since the indicator changes throughout life and depends on the set of factors.

Answer how much an adult brain is accurately weighing, it is impossible not to weighing this body, which is possible only after the death of the surveyed. At the same time, existing average data can only be given an exemplary idea of \u200b\u200bthis magnitude.

So, the mass of the brain of the usual middle-aged person fluctuates within 1100-2000. Such a scatter is due to various factors affecting the development of the body. It is known that the mass of a person depends on the gender, age and race of the individual.

So, men may well make fun over the weak flooring about the fact that their brains weigh 100-150 g more, nevertheless, this fact does not allow to judge mental abilities and indicates the features of the building of the central nervous system: men have a connection between the perception of reality and coordination Movement is better, therefore, spatial and motor activity is developed, as evidenced by the development of zones responsible for performing these functions. And women have more developed intuition and associative thinking, which allows them to handle the information received faster and find lighter ways to solve the tasks.

Brain development

The human brain is part of the CNS, which controls the vital activity of the body. A large number of psychologists, doctors and other specialists studying the structure and the relationship of its integrity with the functioning of physiological body systems work on the study of this body.

The usual brain sizes are 20 × 20 × 15 cm, while it has a complex structure, and each of the departments includes several types of neurons.

As already written the wound, the average weight of the human brain fluctuates in the range of 1100-2200 g, but mostly stacked in the range of 1100-1500 g, and reaches the maximum weight to the 27-year age, and then gradually begins to decrease, losing on average for 1 year 3g.

Prenatal development

The formation of the CNS in the intrauterine period of life of the child begins on the 3rd week after fertilizing the egg. At the same time, a nervous plate is first developing from an outdoor germs, which is bent over time, forming a nervous furrow. The edges of this winding are growing, creating a nervous tube of the fetus, from the front part of which the baby's brain is formed. At the same time, first the end of the tube is divided into 3 departments or 3 primary brain bubbles. Of the first, large hemispheres and the intermediate department are formed, from the second - medium, and from the last - cerebellum, bridge and the oblongable brain.

The brain development in the prenatal period occurs in parallel with the ripening of other structures, and the most ancient departments are formed faster and more active, therefore, in a healthy newborn baby, when there is no such unconditional reflexes, both breathing, swallowing, etc., and the weight of this The body at the time of birth is approximately 300-500g.

Natal state

Further development of the functions of the CNS continues after birth, and at the end of the first year of the child's life, the mass of the brain, located in the cerebral skull cavity, is approximately 1000 g. In an adult, this figure fluctuates around the figure in 1300. Based on this, it becomes obvious that the greatest The rate of magnification occurs in the first year of life.

By this time, the subcortical structures have already been almost completely formed, and the mass of the organ is growing due to the division of glial cells and increasing the number of branches of dendrites, while the number of neurons remains the same, as they cease to share even during intrauterine development.

During this period, the final ripening of the projection areas, originating from the receptors of the senses and motor conductors, and the largest development occurs in structures responsible for the regulation of the motor system and the activity of brain activity.

Period from 2 to 5 years

During this period, the brain weight increases through the development of areas responsible for spatial orientation and targeted motion, as well as for complex psychological processes, such as thinking, memory, and the assimilation of information from the surrounding world.

Period from 5 to 7 years

Lastly, the fields of the human brain ripen, responsible for learning and memorizing ability. At the same time, all mental processes occurring in the brains of the child (perception, attention, memory, thinking and imagination) are primarily associated with the development of speech, which in turn is formed under the influence of these functions.

Thus, the development of the brain occurs in several stages, and the failure of the formation of one of the levels entails a violation of the ripening of the structures of the next stage and as a result: mental and behavioral deviations.

Comparison of the brain of man and animals

The brain mass of various fauna representatives depends on the huge number of factors. For example, amphibious and ancient lizards cannot boast of the severity of this organ: a dinosaur brain weight, with its rather large dimensions, was about 1000g.

If you compare this indicator in mammals and humans, the data will also be varied: for example, the elephant brain weight is from 4000 g to 5000 g, and the largest mass of the brain is fixed in the blue whale - about 9000

The most sociable animal - a dog, has brains weighing no more than 100g, which does not interfere with these representatives of the animal world, it is well aware of training, it is not for the study of unconditional reflexes by Academician Pavlov, they were chosen.

As can be seen from the foregoing, the mass of the animal brainstant does not affect their mental abilities, and people on the contrary: too much the weight of the head of an adult is talking about the development of pathology. Therefore, it can be concluded that the level of intelligence only a lesser extent depends on the collapse of the brain mass by body weight: therefore, animals with a high indicator are better than dresser and they are easier to control them, respectively.

Dependence of brain weight and intelligence level

To answer the question of how much an adult brain weighs on average and how the intelligence is influenced by the weight of the brain, scientists had to do a huge work on the study of this body. Thus, for the normal functioning of neurons, the CNS requires not less than 30% of the oxygen accepted through light oxygen, and its disadvantage leads to the fuse of brain activity and the damage to the cells and the structures of this organ, respectively, to reduce its weight. It is known that after a decrease in physical activity, the acuity of human mental abilities is reduced, so the people of old age are prone to memory disorders and they lose the ability of logical thinking.

The theory that the mass of the adult brain does not affect the intellect, confirmed during the studies of this body in people suffering from mental disabilities: for example, the largest brain weighing 2800 g belonged to the weakness, while the mass of brains of geniuses did not differ from the average data. This is explained by the fact that the development of abilities affect the characteristics of the structure of the crust structures, and the thick of its neurons, the talented individual, and the increase in other structures, entails the deviation of mental abilities.

Studies conducted on people with microcephalus have shown that these individuals are able to conduct simplified social life, but they always needed extraneous care.

Mass brain some famous people

The heaviest brain in physically and mentally healthy person was described in the 19th century by the German natural resource of Rudolph, and amounted to 2,222 kilograms, which makes it possible to judge that the middle brain mass fluctuates in the range of 1000-2200

The examination of the cerebral substance of famous people, confirms the theory that the weight of the brain does not affect the genius, since this indicator does not go beyond the established framework:

• Vladimir Mayakovsky, Soviet poet -1.7 kg;
• Albert Einstein, physicist-theorte -1.23 kg;
• Otto von Bismarck, politician -1.97 kg;
• Vladimir Lenin (Ulyanov), politician -1.34 kg;
• Ludwig van Beethoven, composer -1.75 kg;
• Anatole France, literary critic and writer - 1.02 kg;
• Ivan Turgenev, writer - 2.01 kg;
• Karl Friedrich Gauss, German Physicist, Mathematics - 1,492 kg.

At the same time, a detailed examination of the structures of this body revealed the dependence of the development of the bark sites responsible for creative thinking or a mathematical mindset of the mind from manifested abilities.

Video: How developed your brain? 6 tasks for checking the brain

The famous scientist-criminalist XIX century Cesare Lombroso argued that the genius is abnormal activity of the brain, bordering the epileptoid psychosis. " Brilliance is a breakdown of the brain"After a hundred years, Svyatoslav Medvedev supported his director of the human brain institute.

Fools, clever, genius

It is well known that, depending on mental abilities, humanity is divided into people of ordinary, smart and stupid and still - geniuses. For a long time, scientists assumed that it all depends on some anatomical features of the thought apparatus, and tried hard to find them. The first three groups failed to identify any differences, we decided to do a genius.

Recognized scientific authorities began to measure the volume of the brain of the Great People, weigh it, count the number of convolutions. The results were obtained the most controversial: someone from the ingenious personalities had a very big brain, someone is very small.

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev possessed the largest brain (from the studied): his weight - 2012 grams, which is almost 600 grams more average. But the brain Anatoly France is almost a kilogram easier than Turgenevsky. But who will argue that Turgenev wrote two times better than France!

In women, the brain was on average per 100 grams easier for male, although among them there were specials not only did not give way, but also far superior to men in the mind. And what is interesting, the biggest brain - 2222 grams - possessed by a person who surrounding unanimously considered a fool.

So the hypothesis was refuted that mental abilities directly depend on the magnitude of the brain. But the authors came out of, it would seem logically obvious: the more the brain, the more nervous cells, which can perform more complex tasks. But at the same time it was not taken into account that the nervous cells work in cell ensembles with a specific hierarchical structure.

Then another parameter was offered to evaluate the genius - the number of furrows and sowls on the surface of the cerebral cortex. But here, scientists were waiting for disappointment: the bark of the brain of Geniyev turned out to be no relief, and the sorus on it was no more than that of ordinary people.

Einstein's brain: view of the left and right (BRAIN (2012) / National Museum of Health and Medicine).

Pantheon brain

At the end of the 20s of the 20th century, the government puts the "task of the century" before the Soviet scientists: find out how to achieve that "any cooking could manage the state." In other words, it is possible to grow people with exceptional mental abilities.

For relevant research, the famous neurologist, psychiatrist and psychologist Academician Bekhterev proposed to create a so-called "pantheon of the brain" in Leningrad, where the flasks would be kept with the national domain of the famous Soviet people. He even wrote a draft decree, according to which the brains of "Great" after their death should have been mandatory to be transmitted to Pantheon.

The scientist himself died suddenly in 1927 with mysterious circumstances, but his idea survived. At the initiative of the People's Commissar of Semashko in Moscow, where since 1924 there was already a laboratory for studying Lenin's brain, the institute was opened, which began to transfer the brains of party leaders and the government, science, literature and artists.

In 1934, for example, it was reported that the Scientific Collection of the Institute studies the brains Clara Zetkin, A.V. Lunacharsky, Academician M.N. Pokrovsky, V.V. Mayakovsky, Andrey White, Academician V.S. Guleleich. Then the meeting was replenished with brains K.S. Stanislavsky and singer Leonid Sobyanov, Maxim Gorky and Poet Edward Bagritsky and others.

Before you get to the table to a scientist for a detailed study, the brain was subjected to a preparatory research.

It continued for about a year. At first, the brain was shared with the help of a macrotom - a machine resembling a guillotine, on the parts that "compacted" in formalin and poured with paraffin, forming blocks. Then, with the help of the same macrotom, they were divided into a huge amount - up to 15 thousand - cuts with a thickness of 20 microns.

However, many years of anatomical studies are not revealed by the secret of genius. True, in the reports they fixed that all outstanding brains combined "lost" the main exhibit of Pantheon - the brain of Vladimir Ilyich. But it was no longer science, but ideology.

The brain leader of the revolution was removed immediately after his death in 1924. For ten years, he studied him carefully under the microscope, the German professor Oscar Fogt, before whom was tasked to prove that Lenin was not just a genius, but superman.

By weight, the "gray substance" of the leader did not have any particularly specialized, so Fogt focused on its structure. At the first stage, he stated that the "material base" of Ilyich's brain is "significantly richer than usual." And then made a report, in which I argued: "Vladimir Ilyich's brain is distinguished by the presence of very large and numerous pyramidal cells, from the layer of which the cerebral cortex consists -" gray matter ", - just as an athlete's body is highly developed muscles ... anatomy Lenin's brain is such that it can be called a "associative athlete."

But the colleague of Fohta Walter Spielmayer criticized the report, stating that the pyramidal cells of a large magnitude were also found in the brain of weak people. Since 1932, the question of the secret of the genius of the leader has ceased to discuss.

The painstaking perennial studies of the employees of the brain of the desired results were not given, rather, even removed from the mystery attenuation.

Brilliant Tugodums

It was established that the usual person "exploits" only one tenth of his brain. It is logical to assume that the geniuses "Supreme Commander" works on a complete coil. It turned out no! It is not enough that the sorts of them are even less involved, so they still have lower, primitive and evolutionarily ancient brain departments that ordinary citizens sleep quietly.

Neurophysiologists John Mitchell and Allan Snyder came to such an unexpected conclusion from the Center for Studying the Brain of the Australian National University in Canberra. For several years, they investigated people with phenomenal abilities, using an installation for positron and nuclear-resonant tomography, allowing to see which brain departments work in the processing of information coming from the senses.

It turned out that between the moment, when the image focused on the retina, the image focused, and the conscious perception of what was seen about a quarter of a second. Here, during this time, an ordinary person automatically comprehensies the information. But, treating it, hesitates most of the information received, leaving the overall impression from what he saw.

Genius perceives everything fantastically in detail. With hearing the same: an ordinary person estimates the melody entirely, and the genius hears individual sounds. It turns out that the secret of genius lies in the "wrong" work of the brain - the main attention is paid to items. Which allows him to make ingenious conclusions.

American colleagues of Australian neurophysiologists, a few years studied the functioning of the brain of people with a very high level of intelligence, characteristic of geniuses, found that such individuals think slower than ordinary people and therefore more often can come to a truly ingenious solution.

This is due to the fact that in the brain zone, which is responsible for the perception of visual and sensual information, they have an increased concentration of Naa molecules.

It is these molecules that are necessary to form an unusual intelligence and extraordinary creative thinking.

However, at the same time, to the surprise of experts, the movement of NAA in the brain of individuals with very high IQ (that is, geniuses) is slower than their less intellectual fellow. In particular, according to researchers, Albert Einstein differed a habit of thinking about any question for a long time and invariably found a brilliant decision. Such a feature was from his childhood, he was even called Tugodum.

Americans so describe the work of the brain of geniuses. Naa molecules are contained in a gray tissue, which consists of neurons. The relationship between them is carried out through axons (nerve cell processes conducted by nerve pulses from the cell body to innervored organs or other nervous cells), which are part of the white substance.

At the same time, the averages of the axons are covered with a thick fat membrane, which allows nervous pulses to move faster. In the geniuses, this fat sheath is extremely thin, due to which the progress of the pulses occurs very slowly.

Scientists believe that most of the geniuses from infancy are energitably developing some kind of brain area due to "de-energization" of others. It is the most "capable" - increases, begins to dominate the rest and over time turns into a strictly specialized one. And then the person begins to amaze or visual memory, or musical abilities, or chess talents. And in ordinary people, all brain zones develop evenly.

Confirm these results of a recent study of the brain Albert Einstein. The brain areas, which are responsible for mathematical abilities, has been increased. And did not cross the winding, restricting other zones, as is observed in ordinary people.

Therefore, it is likely that Einstein's "mathematical neurons", using the lack of boundaries, captured the cells from the neighboring zones, which, remaining independent, would fulfill a completely different job.

So, now the nature of genius is known and you can grow geniine artificially?

"Improvable abilities potentially possesses each of us, and they can be awakened in some kind of area, that is, make a man by genius. In the next ten years, as a result of further research, it turns out that the brain departments should be included and turned off to make a person, for example, Leonardo da Vinci or Pythagora, "says one of the co-authors of the sensational discovery Professor Allan Snyder.

- But the nature of man itself does not allow it to do, because "brilliant idiocy" in one very narrow area she does not need. Higher brain departments are aware of the complete uselessness of too detailed information and leave it in the subconscious. The genius is a deviation from the norm, and here the brain rebels against idiocy. "

Sergey Dalekin