Chapter Two- The Biology of the Mind

This chapter discusses the brain, its functions, and how they affect people's lives. This is important because without this organ you would not be able to survive. Also every part of the brain has a significant impact on how a person thinks, acts, feels, remembers, or interacts with others around them. If one part is not functioning properly than it will affect other parts of your body such as your muscle movements or your speech.

I learned so much from this chapter. I found it interesting how each part of our brain has a purpose and if one part is not functioning correctly it could affect the parts of the brain. An example of this would be the man with two brains. It was intriguing to see how he can draw separate shapes with each hand. I also took for granted how complex our brain really is. As humans we have more association areas we have compared to those of a mice, cats, and chimpanzees. I also never realized how if the frontal lobe of the brain were to get damaged it could change your outlook on life or become less inhibited and act on our impulses instead. Look at Phineas Gage who was kind and soft spoken before his accident and then he became irritable and dishonest. I also found it interesting that our brain shape is not necessarily determined by genes but also by our experiences. This is through brain plasticity which allows the shape of the brain to modify itself when some types of damage occur or through experiences that a person has. These changes especially take place during childhood. However some parts of the brain are not able to adapt such as the temporal lobes which are used for facial recognition. However in a blind or deaf person the brain makes space for other senses that would have normally been used for sight or sound. These are just a few out of the numerous things that I learned in this chapter.