what has been done to understand the brain throughout history

                                            what has been done to understand the brain throughout history

For centuries, humans have made many attempts to unravel the secrets of the brain, using a wide range of methods.

The Science Museum in London displays objects and technologies used to understand the brain in the past.

Initially, we see tiny heads in different shapes made from a dozen or so ceramics. Museum curator Katie Dabin explains that these are used by so-called phrenology practitioners who perform personality analysis according to The Shape of the skull.

skull mow

18. at the end of the century, it was believed that the shape of a person's skull gave information about his personality and mental state.

Phrenology experts aimed to measure the indentations and protrusions in the skull to gain information about how their patients ' brains work.

William Bally, who collected these skull ceramics, removed the head patterns from the plaster of patients, dead and prisoners trying to get information about their mental state.

In the 1840s, 50 years after its emergence, phrenology was discredited as a science.

Scientists have started working on real cases. Early brain experts, such as Paul Broca, thought that different regions of the brain had different functions. He was aware that the problem of his two patients ' inability to speak was caused by a special area of the brain.

In other words, although phrenology was discredited, the idea continued that special areas of the brain led to certain behaviors.

Electrical signals

But it didn't help to see the brain in action. But by the 1920s, researchers had begun to read electrical signals in the brain. In this way, the first information about electrical activity in the living brain was formed and the electroencephalography (EEG) technique was developed.

Initially, the EEG was used for interesting reasons, such as whether couples were suitable spouses for marriage or studying the brains of criminals.

But it was later used to understand what was going on in the brains of epilepsy patients during seizures.

Dabin showed an EEG machine stored in the museum's warehouse. In addition to reading the brain's signals, this machine was also used to activate it by giving it Electricity. But these signals alone were not enough to understand the brain.

Basis of tomography

Godfrey Hounsfield, who worked as an engineer at EMI, known as The Beatles ' record label, in the 1970s, was able to see the inside of the brain through X-rays. So the basis for today's CT was laid.

The technology used to scan the brain today is called functional magnetic resonance imaging, or ‘emar’ (fMRI) for short. Then neurologist Joe Devlin from UCL University applied the brain scan on me.

In this scan, he can see the oxygen change in the brain in motion. If a part of the brain is focused on a particular job, for example, if a study of words or language is performed, blood flow increases because energy is used in that area. Here's the fMRI scanner to see this blood flow.

According to the work done, it is possible to see the color change in the active parts of the brain on the screen during the scan.

For example, when you think about what to say, a different region of the brain becomes active in a monotonous process that does not require thinking, such as counting numbers.

But, of course, it is not the same to see which area of the brain is activated when you are doing a job, and to read thinking through a brain scan.

Blood flow is seen in the active region of the brain through functional magnetic resonance imaging, or 'emar' for short. (SPL)

Yet such scans have led to a revolution in understanding the brain.

Previously, doctors only knew where the problem was with a patient with brain damage and what kind of malfunction it caused. But a brain scan allows neurologists to see a healthy brain and understand how different parts of it are used and the relationship between them.

What happens in the future?

So, what improvements can be expected in the future in terms of understanding the brain?

EEG and brain tomography are still in use today and will continue to be used as it appears. In many hospitals, tomography is used, while EEG machines are also used in research. For example, neurologists are looking for ways to reduce the symptoms of diseases such as Parkinson's and depression by electrically stimulating the brain.

Perhaps as we see phrenology today, future generations will find our efforts to understand the brain primitive. But what's certain is that our efforts to unravel the secrets of this grizzly substance inside our skulls will always continue.