ÁLVARO SOTO LABS / CEREBRO

The human brain and how it works

The brain: the control center

Interactive brain museum · 8 stations

  1. 01 · TOUCHStructure
  2. 02 · TRYLiving map
  3. 03 · TRYCommunication
  4. 04 · OBSERVEBrain chemistry
  5. 05 · TRYReward
  6. 06 · OBSERVEAdaptation
  7. 07 · TRYPlay
  8. 08 · OBSERVESources

Editorial aim: each main idea in about 20 s.

General educational content. Not diagnosis, treatment or an emergency tool.

STRUCTURE

A map to explore

Every area works with others: none acts alone.

TOUCHTap a point on the brain

schematic cutaway
CortexDeep structureNetworkIllustrative schematic, not a clinical model.

Cortex

Prefrontal cortex

Function: Executive functions: attention, working memory, self-control

Metaphor: A conductor asking the brass section to calm down.

LIVING MAP

Living signalling map

Signals change with context, receptor and pathway.

TRYSend a pulse and explore the components.

Send a pulse. Tap a component. See what changes.

5-HT

1 / 6 · Ready

Natural / sober

A serotonin message

A signal is released, reaches a receptor and is then cleared.

Release

Vesicles in the presynaptic terminal release the messenger into the cleft.

Learn more

This simplified serotonergic synapse shows SERT-mediated reuptake. The response depends on the receptor and circuit; this is not a mood meter.

Source: NIGMS · What Is a Neurotransmitter? ↗

Illustrative mechanisms; no doses or predictions about an individual.

COMMUNICATION

How neurons talk

Neurons turn electricity into chemistry and back.

TRYStep through the synapse

Step 1 of 6

The electrical signal arrives

An action potential travels down the axon to the presynaptic terminal, like a wave of voltage change.

Dots are illustrative, not real quantities.

BRAIN CHEMISTRY

Chemical messengers

Each messenger's effect depends on receptor and context.

OBSERVELook at their colours and metaphors

  • Monoamine

    Dopamine

    Reward learning, motivation, movement and flagging what matters.

    A highlighter marking “pay attention to this”.

    It is not a “pleasure meter”.

  • Monoamine

    Serotonin

    Modulates mood, sleep, appetite, impulsivity and perception; also acts in the gut.

    An equaliser adjusting many channels at once.

    “Low serotonin causes depression” is a simplification not supported as a single explanation.

  • Monoamine

    Noradrenaline

    Alertness, attention, stress response and readying the body to act.

    The volume knob of a general alarm.

  • Amino acid, main inhibitor

    GABA

    The brain's main fast brake: lowers the chance a neuron fires.

    Bike brakes: they let you go fast safely.

  • Amino acid, main exciter

    Glutamate

    The main fast accelerator: carries most excitatory signals and is key to learning.

    A car's accelerator.

  • Classical transmitter

    Acetylcholine

    Muscle contraction, attention, memory and automatic functions.

    A courier pressing “send” to the muscles.

  • Opioid peptide group

    Endorphins

    Modulate pain, stress and wellbeing; act slower and more diffusely than fast transmitters.

    A dimmer switch for pain.

    A family of modulating peptides, not a single fast transmitter.

  • Endocannabinoid

    Anandamide

    Retrograde signal tuning how much release happens at a synapse; involved in appetite, pain, memory and stress.

    A reply message: “turn it down a bit”.

    Not stored in vesicles like classical transmitters.

Measuring the amount of a messenger cannot diagnose symptoms: receptors, timing, circuits and context matter.

REWARD

The reward system

Reward is a learning network, not a pleasure button.

TRYWalk the network in 4 steps

VTANAcPFCHIPAMY

Walk through the network

A cue (a familiar tune, the smell of food) makes VTA neurons send dopamine to the accumbens.

VTA = Ventral tegmental area · NAc = Nucleus accumbens

Dopamine is linked more to learning, motivation and flagging what matters than to measuring pleasure.

ADAPTATION

The brain adapts

The brain learns and adjusts its activity with experience.

OBSERVESee one possible path

  • Learning

    Experience can modify connections. Practising a movement is one example.

  • Changing state

    Brain activity changes across wakefulness, attention and sleep.

  • Regulation

    Feedback adjusts responses; there is no single balance number for the whole brain.

PLAY

Test what you know

Playing helps you remember.

TRYAnswer or match

Quiz · Correct: 0 / 11

Question 1 of 11

Which region is particularly involved in forming new memories?

Match the messengers

Pick a messenger, then the function it is most associated with.

Messengers

Functions

SOURCES

Sources and limitations

All of this is a schematic built on public sources.

OBSERVECheck the sources

  1. NINDS · NIHBrain Basics: Know Your Brainhttps://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/public-education/brain-basics/brain-basics-know-your-brain
  2. NIDA · NIHDrugs, Brains, and Behavior: Drugs and the Brainhttps://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/drugs-brain
  3. NIAAA · NIHNeuroscience: The Brain in Addiction and Recoveryhttps://www.niaaa.nih.gov/health-professionals-communities/core-resource-on-alcohol/neuroscience-brain-addiction-and-recovery
  4. U.S. Surgeon General · NCBI BookshelfFacing Addiction in America, Ch. 2: The Neurobiology of Substance Use, Misuse, and Addictionhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK424849/
  5. FDAFDA requiring Boxed Warning updated to improve safe use of benzodiazepine drug classhttps://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-requiring-boxed-warning-updated-improve-safe-use-benzodiazepine-drug-class
  6. NIAAA · NIHAlcohol's Effects on the Bodyhttps://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohols-effects-body
  7. NIDA · NIHCannabis (Marijuana)https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/cannabis-marijuana
  8. NIDA · NIHCocainehttps://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/cocaine
  9. NIDA · NIHMethamphetaminehttps://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/methamphetamine
  10. NIDA · NIHOpioidshttps://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/opioids
  11. NIDA · NIHTobacco, Nicotine, and Vaping (E-Cigarettes)https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/tobacco-nicotine-vaping
  12. FDASpilling the Beans: How Much Caffeine is Too Much?https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/spilling-beans-how-much-caffeine-too-much
  13. NIDA · NIHPsychedelic and Dissociative Drugshttps://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/psychedelic-dissociative-drugs
  14. NIDA · NIHMDMA (Ecstasy/Molly)https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/mdma-ecstasy-molly
  15. NIDA · NIHPrescription Medicines: Misuse, Abuse, Addictionhttps://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/prescription-medicines

Limitations

  • Drawings are schematic, not anatomically precise.
  • Educational schematic, not a clinical or predictive model.
  • No doses, combinations or personal predictions.
  • Brain science keeps moving: some explanations are simplifications.

Illustrative schematic, not a clinical model. General educational content. Not diagnosis, treatment or an emergency tool.