The Brain
Crystal Gartner
University of Phoenix
PSY 240
October 26, 2012
C Hines

The brain is one of the largest and most complex organs in the human body. It is made up of more than 100 billion nerves that communicate in trillions of connections called synapses. It is the portion of the vertebrate central nervous system enclosed in the skull and continuous with the spinal cord through the foramen magnum that is composed of neurons and supporting and nutritive structures (as glia) and that integrates sensory information from inside and outside the body in controlling autonomic function (as heartbeat and respiration), in coordinating and directing correlated motor responses, and in the process of learning.
The nervous system is responsible for making decisions and communication within the body. The nervous system categorized into the central and the peripheral nervous systems. The central nervous system consists of the brain and spinal cord while the periphery nervous system consists of numerous nerves. Nerves move from the brain to other parts of the body such as the nose, eyes, face and ears. They also move from the brain to the spinal cord and then to other body parts like legs, stomach and chest among others. Sensory nerves take information from the environment and transmit it to the spinal cord which finally conveys it to the brain for generation of response, which is carried by motor neurons to the other parts of the body.
The brain weighs about three pounds and involves about 10 million neurons ("Major Structures of the Brain", 2008). Cells that support the brain system are known as Glial cells. The brain consists of three major divisions known as the forebrain, the midbrain, and the hindbrain ("Major Structures of The Brain", 2008). The brain is contained within the skull, which protects it. Between the brain and the skull there are three layers of