IT WORKS AND ALL ITS QUIR

HOW KS

BY LEANNE BOUCHER GILL, PhD

Magination Press • Washington, DC

American Psychological Association
 L CO M E TO
WE
BOOK
BIG BRAIN
THE

...written for kids just like you who are interested

in big brains! Maybe you have wondered “Why
does my heart race when I’m scared?” or “Why
do we need sleep?” This book has the answers
to these and many other interesting psychology
and neuroscience questions about the brain and
human behavior. On the next page you will find
a list of these questions and the pages that cover
the topic. You can read these in order, or you
can pick and choose where to start depending
on your curiosity! By the end you will be in awe
of that squishy organ between your ears!

Each section explains the reasons behind

our thoughts, feelings, actions, and senses—
your real-life experience explained with
the help of psychology and neuroscience.
There are graphics, factoids, infographics,
and bolded terms that may be new to you
with a glossary in the back to reference.
 At the end of some chapters you will have the chance to see
these concepts in action. You will be able to conduct your own
simple experiments at home using common items listed in the
materials section and following step-by-step instructions. You will
need a journal, spiral notebook, or loose pieces of paper to write
down the results of your lab. Let’s call this your Brain Journal—
very scientific! Be sure to include what you observe during the
experiment and write down any questions you may have.

You don’t want to miss out on the

Dr. Brain sections! Here you’ll
have the opportunity to meet
real scientists who are out there
researching these same topics.
This is your chance to learn more
about the people behind the
brain research, what they study,
and what they have discovered.

Throughout the book, you can Pick Your Brain with fun
facts, because let’s face it—the brain is pretty cool! These
sections are filled with follow-up questions or facts on a
topic related to the chapter. These are things that will really
make you ponder next time you think about why your
heart races when you are scared or why you need sleep.

LET’S GET S
TARTED!
 This book is dedicated to my parents,
Ronald and Rosemary Boucher,
who always believed in me and my brain—LBG

Text copyright © 2021 by Leanne Boucher Gill. Illustrations copyright © 2021 by Magination Press, an imprint
of the American Psychological Association. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States
Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any
means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Magination Press is a registered trademark of the American Psychological Association.

Order books at maginationpress.org, or call 1-800-374-2721.

Book design by Collaborate Agency Ltd.

Printed by Worzalla, Stevens Point, WI

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Boucher Gill, Leanne, author.
Title: Big brain book : how it works and all its quirks / Leanne Boucher Gill, PhD.
Description: Washington, DC : Magination Press, 2021. | Summary: “Answers to several common and
interesting questions that kids have about the brain and human behavior”-- Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020033724 (print) | LCCN 2020033725 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781433830457 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781433835780 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Brain--Physiology--Juvenile literature. |
Brain--Miscellanea--Juvenile literature.
Classification: LCC QP376 .B6914 2021 (print) | LCC QP376 (ebook) |
DDC 612.8/2--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020033724
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020033725

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
 BRAIN ANATOMY
Chapter 1. What is the brain made of and how does it work? 6
Chapter 2. How is the brain organized? 14
Chapter 3. How is my brain different from the brains of other animals? 22
Chapter 4. How do I learn things? 30
Chapter 5. How do scientists measure brain activity? 40

BRAIN AND BODY

Chapter 6. Why do we need to sleep? 48
Chapter 7. How can we see in 3D at the movies? 56
Chapter 8. Why do we feel pain? 64
Chapter 9. Why does learning how to ride a bike seem so hard at first? 72
Chapter 10. Why do ice cream headaches happen? 80
Chapter 11. Why can’t I ever get that itch on my back? 88
Chapter 12. What does it mean to be conscious? 96
Chapter 13. Why can’t we hear dog whistles? 104
Chapter 14. Why is there always room for dessert? 112
Chapter 15. Why do I remember seemingly random things after smelling something? 120
Chapter 16. Why is it hard to learn a new language? 128
Chapter 17. Why do I feel sick when I am in a moving car or boat? 136
Chapter 18. Why can’t we tickle ourselves? 144
Chapter 19. Why does my heart race when I’m scared? 152
Chapter 20. When I shut off the lights in my room, I can’t see anything, but after a few minutes, I can. Why? 160

WHEN THINGS GO WRONG

Chapter 21. Why does Grandma keep forgetting things? 168
Chapter 22. Why do I have to wear a helmet when playing sports? 176
Chapter 23. Why do I need physical therapy? 184
Chapter 24. What does it mean when someone has a stroke? 192
Chapter 25. Why can’t Grandpa talk normally after he has had a stroke? 202

Glossary 210
Index 220
About the Author 224
 EAT
TALK THINK FEEL
WALK SLEEP
 CHAPTER 1

WHAT IS

TH E BR A IN M A D E OF

AND HOW DOES IT WORK?

YOUR BRAIN IS A BEAUTIFUL THING! YOU NEED IT TO...

PLAN SING
AM
D RE REMEMBER SMELL
 ING!
YOUR BRAIN IS AMAZ

in your skull
clu mp of gra y ma tte r stuck sloshing around
Your brain is not a squis
hy biological computer
thi nk of it as an extraordinary little
between your ea rs. Ins tea d, s as the center
u do an d are . Th e br ain is an organ that serve
yo imals. Your brain is
that controls ever ything te and most invertebrate an
ste m in all ve rte bra ent functions.
of the nervous sy d int o dif fer ent parts, each with differ
d is org an ize
wonderfully complex an

The part that does your

remembering, problem solving,
thinking, and feeling is called the
cerebrum, and it fills up most
of your skull. The cerebrum is
made up of four lobes: frontal,
parietal, occipital, and temporal.

The cerebellum, which keeps you

upright and controls balance and
coordination, sits at the back of
your head, under the cerebrum.

The brainstem sits beneath your

cerebrum in front of your cerebellum
and serves as a relay station
between your brain and your spinal
cord—picture a long highway
down your back, carrying messages
between your brain and your body.

8 BRAIN ANATOMY