What is the volume of the human brain? How the size of the brain affects the intellect

Our brain is an amazing organ. It regulates all vital functions of the body, and is also able to perceive and process a huge amount of information. What affects the volume of the human brain? What are its dimensions?

Weight and volume of the human brain

The brain belongs to the central nervous system. It consists of five sections and is covered with three shells. The anterior part is represented by the right and left hemispheres, which, in turn, are covered with bark.

Absolutely all our actions are conditioned by the work of the brain. We think, analyze, walk, eat, sleep, thanks to him. When he dies, we also die. The brain is safely hidden in the skull to reduce the risk of damage.

It grows and develops with us. At birth, his weight is 300 grams, with time this number increases almost five times. The volume of the brain of modern man occupies up to 95% of the skull, taking its shape as it grows. As a rule, the brain weighs from 1 to 2 kilograms, and its volume in the average person reaches 1200-1600 cubic centimeters. In women, its size is smaller than that of men.

Ancient people

The first two-legged creatures were Australopithecus. In the evolutionary chain, they were closest to the anthropoid apes, including the size of the brain, whose volume did not exceed 600 cubic centimeters.

More than 2 million years ago, one of the lines of the great apes (hominids) began to change. In particular, their brain began to increase. Scientists suggest that this is due to a change in lifestyle and the use of the first tool of labor. So, already in the most ancient people it was much larger than that of ancestors.

They were replaced by ancient people - Neanderthals, and then Cro-Magnons. It is noteworthy that the volume of the brain of ancient people exceeded the size of this organ in modern man by about 20%. The reason for this phenomenon has not yet been clarified.

Scientists suggest that brain reduction can be explained by energy savings. One of the arguments in our favor is also the development of abstract thinking. Thanks to him, many concepts have acquired a generalized meaning, and the information is a little "squeezed" and takes up less space in the brain.

What does the size depend on?

There is a common myth that the volume of the human brain reflects on his mental abilities. But the nature of living organisms was somewhat more complicated. Numerous experiments have long refuted this hypothesis, proving that what is important is not so much the size of the brain as its correlation with body size.

An important factor is also the ratio of the brain and spinal cord. In humans it is 1:50. For comparison, in a cat this indicator is equal to 1: 1, in monkeys - 1:16. Scientists are convinced that the size of the brain is affected by the set of skills that different species have. It is also associated with more or less development of certain departments regulating specific functions in the body. For example, birds have a more developed part of the brain, which is responsible for vision and balance.

For a normal existence, it is enough to have a medium-sized brain. It will not affect intellectual development. Too large or small values may indicate violations. It is noticed that the brain volume of a person with autism may be the same as that of a healthy one, but it will be hypertrophied and asymmetrically developed. Alzheimer's disease develops more rapidly in people whose brain is smaller than the average size.

Interesting Facts

• According to recent studies, the volume of the brain is determined immediately by seven genes.
• On average, its length does not exceed 15 centimeters.
• The size of the female brain is inferior to that of the male because of the reduced centers that are responsible for the logic. Discrepancies can be up to 150 grams.
• The maximum size is about 20 years. The most active growth is usually observed from 7 to 11 years.
• The mass of our "thinker" changes with age. In infancy, it is 300 grams, in adulthood - up to 2 kilograms, but after 50 it loses 30 grams every ten years.
• The brain of the largest of the toothed whales - sperm whale - weighs about seven kilograms, the elephant has 5.

• Among women, the largest weight index was 1565 grams. In men, it was 2850 grams. The record holder was a psychiatric patient with idiocy.
• Dinosaurs did not exceed the size of the ball for pin-pong.
• In the poet Anatole France, the brain weighed 1017 g, Lenin's - 1340 g, Einstein's - 1230 g, and Turgenev reached 2012

Conclusion

The brain is a small computer that regulates all our actions. He is subject to complex operations and tasks. In different species, different sexes and age groups, its magnitude is different. So, the brain grows when we grow, and in old age it slowly decreases.

The volume of the human brain does not have a direct relationship to our intellectual or creative abilities. In many animals, the size of the brain greatly exceeds the human. Mental development and the ability to solve complex problems is determined by the structure and development of its individual parts, and not the brain as a whole.