Photo by exfordy
Man has emerged as a superior mammal over all other creatures because of his rational being; he dominated the earth with his intelligent and wise decisions; planned and took charge of the responsibility as the sole steward of the planet. All these happened due to the marvelous organ that is superiorly located in his head, the brain.
Structure and Function
The brain is the chief controller of all the actions in the body. It is a highly complicated organ that is capable of the coordination, regulation, motor and sensory actions of all the tasks in the different systems of the body. Usually, its mass is approximately 1.2 kg that is 2% of the total body mass and varies from 1.100 to 1.3 L in volume.
Variation in Sizes
It is said that men’s brain are substantially heavier and bigger than women’s brains. Differences in brain sizes among animals are also considered such as the elephant’s brain, which is considered the biggest among all land creatures. A whale’s brain weighs up to ten kilograms whereas the honeybee’s brain weighs one milligram and dinosaurs can have brains the size of nuts.
With all these sizes in relation to the body masses, one would wonder if the size of the brain really matters. Will one be more intelligent over the other in respect to the brain size, shape, and mass? Is this an indication that the human’s brain in ratio to the body mass is the biggest and hence, considered as the most intelligent in the planet?
Size over Intelligence
Generally, the complexities of human brains can be traced by the puzzling mesh of interconnections; it is estimated to contain 15–200 billion nerve cells, which are connected with up to 10,000 synaptic linkages. Increased size allowed the brain to function in more detail, perform in finer resolution, and higher sensitivity or to achieve greater precision, just like bigger animals may need larger brains because there is more to control, like more nerves to move, more muscles to coordinate.
Increased size allowed the brain to function in more detail, perform in finer resolution, and higher sensitivity or to achieve greater precision
Truly, the body size can envisage an animal’s brain size. But, it is not true that the brain size indicates more intellect. It would never mean that a big CPU of a computer will give the best processor, or that a huge engine machine would yield a tremendous horsepower.
A brain size is not an indication of intelligence because majority of the brain parts are not involved in providing intelligence, but rather perform routine actions across sensory, regulation, processes and coordination functions.
It is speculated that cortical folding when further convoluted will increase the brain’s complexities, which will be related to cognitive skills of humans. The more convoluted the cortex of a human brain due to neural traffic, the more brain function is well-done and performed, the more skills, knowledge and intelligence the brain assimilates.
Even the results of the macroscopic and microscopic scrutiny of Einstein’s brain, revealed that his brain was usual and typical of a normal individual’s brain size. But, what has been discovered was the prominence of a number of glial cells relative to nerve cells, which enhanced the functional capabilities of this genius for numerical and spatial intelligence.
Conclusion
The brain is indeed an astounding organ. A lot of researches and studies were conducted to unravel the mystery and meticulous structures and function of this organ yet nothing was revealed about the definitive source of real intelligence. This cannot be defined in simple terms as this implies several types like today’s multiple intelligences. Size and shape cannot confirm the status of the person’s intelligence. Even now, we do not have the technology that will dictate its real essence. Hence, the brain’s size does not indicate the level of intelligence.
