Question by timothy: How is the Human Brain Similar to the Brains of Other Animals?
How is the Human brain similar to the brains of other animals?
And how is it different?
Best answer:
Answer by brainandspinalcord
The human brain has the same components as all mammalian brains. The differences would be size ratio, for instance humans have a much larger cerebral cortex than other mammals.
More primitive creatures such as reptiles have only the basic brain stem, which is responsible for the most basic processes of life.
What do you think? Answer below!
Very roughly speaking, the brain contains three sections wrapped around one another. The innermost sections are largely shared between humans and other vertebrates, but the outer sections are markedly different.
The outermost section, wrapped over the top and around the sides of the others, is the “cerebral cortex”. All mammals have a cerebral cortex, and (almost) no other animals have this 3-mm thick layer of brain-cell wrapping that seems to be important for things like memory, language,
Under the cerebral cortex are “subcortical” structures that are involved in slightly more “basic” functions such as appetite and habit. Beneath these subcortical structures is the brainstem, which controls very basic processes such as arousal/alertness.
The human brain is proportionally very large compared to other mamals. However, some of our fellow primates (such as bonobos) have similar brain-body volume ratios. The human brain is really special in that its cerebral cortex is larger than other primates, and it is folded (crumpled up) more than in other mammals. In particular, it seems that the front part of the cerebral cortex is particularly enlarged and folded up in human beings. This region of the brain is thought to be involved with planning and “organization” of brain activity.
Finally, it also seems that some of the most brain cells (excitatory pyramidal neurons) in the human cerebral cortex seem to make more connections with other neurons than is found in other animals.
However, it is important to keep in mind that other animals that do not have a cerebral cortex (e.g. crows) can perform very complicated cognitive operations (such as hiding their food from other crows, or inferring where they think other crows think the food is hidden).
Ultimately, much of the difference in adult behavior between humans and other animals probably arises from the rich social development that we have, which is hugely assisted by our complex language abilities.