• Question: are human brains different from other animals?

    Asked by bash to Michelle, Joanna on 16 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by ash001.
    • Photo: Michelle Murphy

      Michelle Murphy answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      yes. some animals have more developed brain regions than others. for example dolphins have very complex cerebellums for greated hearing ability it basically depends what the animal need to be good at to survive

    • Photo: Joanna Brooks

      Joanna Brooks answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Hi bash! The brain is the power station in both humans and animals. In both cases the brain controls the organs of the body and has an influence on behaviour (for example both me and my cat can be in mood when we are tired!). However, whereas all human brains have a surface with grooves (called sulci) and ridges (called gyri) – which play a role in things like laughter and self-awareness – some animal brains don’t have these features and are smooth – in mice for example. One of the biggest differences comes down to language. Human brains are very specialised for language processing in the left hemisphere whereas animal brains are more limited in this respect.

Comments

  • Photo: Jane

    Jane commented on :

    Yes, humans have more complex brains than most animals, you can see the greater ridging on human brains compared to others. Some sub-areas of the brain are more developed in other animals, depending on which sense(s) they depend more on, eg dogs have a developed sense for smell