BRAIN WORKING.

IN CHARGE 

The cerebral cortex is the largest part of your brain. It sits like a mushroom cap on the rest of your brain and takes up about two-thirds of the total mass. This is where you think and reason. It’s where you create the kind of movements you have to think about, like playing the piano or flipping your skateboard. Parts of the cerebral cortex also control seeing, hearing, and touching.

PLAN AND REASON

The prefrontal cortex helps you plan ahead. This is where you consider the consequences of your actions. This part of your brain doesn’t finish developing until you’re 20.

MOVE

When you think about moving your body, the motor cortex tells your muscles what to do. Precise moves, like typing, or playing an instrument, use lots of brain cells.

SENSE

The posterior parietal cortex is a processing center that makes sense of what you’re feeling, smelling, and hearing, and connects those sensations to memories and ideas.

IT'S-A HABIT

The cerebellum helps with everyday tasks you do over and over. Once you’ve learned how, you don’t really have to think about how to ride a bike, dribble a basketball, or comb your hair. There’s constant messaging between the cerebellum and parts of the cerebral cortex so you can adjust your actions when conditions change.

THE BASICS 

Your brain stem is the lowest part of your brain, just above your spinal cord. This structure takes care of basic functions such as the heartbeat, breathing, and digestion.

REMEMBER

The hippocampus, which is part of the limbic system, receives and stores long-term memories. So, if you remember your teachers’ names from last year, you’re using the hippocampus.

THE FEELINGS BRIDGE 

The limbic system is like a bridge between your thinking brain—the cerebral cortex—and the parts of your brain that control your body’s physical systems. This makes it easy for strong feelings—such as pleasure, fear, or attraction to other people—to cause reactions in your stomach, muscles, and heart.

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DRUGS AND BRAIN.

Drugs change the way the brain works. And the brain has some pretty heavy responsibilities, controlling body functions such as breathing, walking, and thinking.

CEREBRAL CORTEX 

The largest part of your brain is the cerebral cortex. When it’s functioning normally, this section takes care of thinking, reasoning, the five senses, and controlling certain kinds of movements. But, smoking marijuana can make it tough for the cerebral cortex to do its work.

CEREBELLUM 

Next, making up only one-eighth of the brain’s total weight is the cerebellum. The cerebellum is in charge of coordinating movements involved in repeated, everyday actions, such as brushing teeth and riding a bike. One of the health risks of abusing inhalants is that they may damage this part of the brain.

BRAIN STEM 

Just above the spinal cord, a small section of your brain called the brain stem controls basic functions, such as breathing, digesting food, and maintaining your heartbeat. Taking heroin can slow breathing—even to the point of death—because it affects the brain stem.

LIMBIC SYSTEM 

Then, there’s the limbic system, also known as the emotional brain. This is where feelings like fear and passion are born. Many scientists believe that steroids act on the limbic system and cause some users to experience out-of-control  Feelings of violent aggression called roid rage.

NUCLEUS ACCUMBEANS 

Scientists have identified a reward pathway in the brain that includes the nucleus accumbens. When we do something that is key to survival, such as eating when we are hungry, the reward pathway is stimulated. Most drugs that are addictive, like cocaine, also stimulate this reward pathway, often more than natural rewards, such as food. Our brains are wired to remember what activates this pathway. That is why when we are hungry, we may crave food, and when a drug abuser’s brain gets used to drugs, he or she craves drugs as well.

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