Weight of human brain

Based on brain examinations of more than 8,000 men and women without any brain disease, normal brain weight, as well as Body Mass Index, was calculated for adult men and women based on gender, age, body weight, and height.

The average brain weight of an adult male is 1336 grams; This figure is 1198 grams for adult women. As you grow older, your brain weight decreases by 2.7 g per year for men and 2.2 g per year for women. For every centimeter of body height, brain weight increases by an average of about 3.7 grams, regardless of gender. In this regard, the body mass index is of little importance and applies only to men.

The newborn baby's brain weighs about 350-400 grams. The average brain length during this period is about 15 centimeters.

Men's brains are bigger than women's. Taking into account the total body weight, men's brains are about 100 grams larger than women's.

In women, parts of the frontal lobe and limbic cortex (areas associated with problem solving and emotional regulation) are larger than in men. In men, the parietal cortex (the area associated with distance perception) and the amygdala (the area responsible for memory and emotional reactions) are larger than in women.

Neurons (nerve cells) are the main building blocks of the brain and nervous system. They transmit and carry information that allows different parts of the brain to communicate. Neurons also allow the brain to communicate with other parts of the body. Researchers currently estimate that there are about 86 billion neurons in the human brain.

Is Brain Size Important?

Not all people have the same brain size. Does this mean that highly intelligent people have larger brains? In some cases, there may be a transition.

Researchers have found that brain size can be linked to certain diseases or developmental conditions.

Children with autism have larger brains (and earlier disproportionate brain growth) than children with autism. Another area, such as the hippocampus (the area of ​​the brain strongly associated with memory), is smaller in older adults with Alzheimer's disease.

What about intelligence? It depends on who you ask. A study by Michael McDaniel, a scientist at the University of Virginia, found that many of his studies found a link between larger brains and higher intelligence.

However, not all researchers agree with McDaniel's conclusion. Such research also raises important questions, such as how we define and measure intelligence, whether we should consider relative body size when making such comparisons, and what parts of the brain we should look at when making intelligence decisions.

It should also be noted that when looking at individual differences, differences in brain size between people are relatively small. Other factors that may play a key role include the density of neurons in the brain, social and cultural factors, and other structural differences within the brain.