Meet the Brain

### Cold Open

"Welcome to Brain Games and London. We're going to take a look at the brain, nothing new there. That's what we always do on brain games. But we're going to go about it a little bit differently this time. Over tens of thousands of years we have evolved from a more primitive way of survival to where we are today, but what really goes on inside our brains? Why do we react to things automatically? And adapt to the world around us? And solve problems? It's time to go sightseeing inside your head, on brain games."

## Games

We'll take a tour around London in this episode, to look at your brain.

### Brain Stem

We visit the Roman Wall to visit a primitive part of your brain, your brain stem. Breathing, sleeping and swallowing are happen here.

#### Mini-Game: Stare at the Snake

Do these snake patterns look like they're moving?

Result: They're not moving, but thanks to your brain stem, tiny movements called saccades(involuntary) constantly take in the world around you. These movements fool your brain into seeing movement where there is none.

#### Mini-Game: Villagers

Count how many villagers walk by.

Result: Did a sudden flash startle you? If you guessed 10 villagers, that's right. But that's not really the point.

So: The unexpected is a part of a brain stem. A startle reflex is an evolutionary response.

### Experiment: Come on Down!

For each game, contestants must control their startle reflex. These include a jack in the box, taking a sword out of a stone, and standing under a bucket of water in order to get paid.

#### Mini-Game: Your Reflex

Test your reflexes with a soccer ball. Cover the ball with your hand when you see the flash at a specfic point.

Result: You probably did pretty well, and you got into a rhythm as they got harder.

So: Our hand-eye coordination is something we often take for granted. It's a motor skill your brain can fine-tune.

Back to the experiment.

Result: Our volunteers couldn't get the past all three reflex tests. Some got past a few, but never all three.

Why: The startle repose could be the difference between life and death and it's so hardwired that even when we know it's coming, we're still startled.

But the brain grew over evolution and became more complex.

### Mini-Game: The Directions

Remember the route to buckingham palace from a list of directions Jason gives you. Recall it.

Result: If you remembered, you have a good memory. But if you got most wrong, you're not that bad.

### Hippocampus

#### Mini-Game: Royalty

Remember all the kings and queens we give you.

Result: You probably didn't remember, but there's a pneumonia device we're giving you to help out.

So: Pretty impressive, right?

### Expirement: The Maze

A child, PHD student, and cabbie Mark will remember where the flags are in a big grass maze.

Dr. Kinght: The hippocampus is important in spatial memory. Which is trying to navigate space.

#### Mini-Game: Check The Thumb

Are these hands facing left or right?

Result: Your hippocampus is hard at work to seeing and rotating objects in your mind.

Back to the maze.

Result: The child makes a few mistakes, but gets back on track. The PHD student makes a very minor mistake, and our cabbie seems to have a larger hippocampus. Mark didn't make any mistakes.

So: Speed & Accuracy create a memory master.

### Visual Cortex

#### Mini-Game: Upside-Down Wrong

What's wrong with these upside-down images?

Result: The eyes and mouth are upside down.

Why: The "Thacter Effect" causes your face to decode the face without seeing it as a whole. What happens if we turn your world upside down?

#### Expirement: Paint by Numbers

Using upside-down goggles, expert painters must draw using upside-down goggles.

Dr. Hicks: We're looking to see how quickly they can adapt.

One contestant is struggling, but the other doesn't have to seem too many hiccups.

Dr. Hicks: The visual cortex is the beginning of sight and the parietal lobe pieces together where objects are.

The final products show us what was happening. Why did one contestant do better?

One contestant was wearing the glasses for four days and been wearing them ever since. After four days, he began to adapt how to live in the world. After he takes the glasses off, it seems like a shock to him. Your visual cortex and eyes are crucial.

#### Mini-Game: Visual vs Auditory

When you see the flag move, stand up and when you hear the horn, stand up. When did you move faster?

Result: You moved faster when you heard the sound.

Why: Because the auditory cortex processes information faster even though light travels faster than sound.

#### Mini-Game: Word for All Three

Pick a word to form three new words.

Result: The word is sand.

#### Experiment: Language

Dr. Hope: The most important part of language is in the temporal lobes.

You will get two words, and you have to think of another word that fits that category. The key to this game is word association. You can play along.

Result: Both teams did pretty well.

So: The way your brain communicates brain ideas through language is profoundly human.

#### Mini-Game: Jumbled Up

Read a jumbled up senetence. Try to decode it.

Result: After we move it around a bit more, you get it right.

Why: Because the second time around, only the first and last letters are in position. Your brain can extrapolate the position.

#### Mini-Game: Taxi Fare

7, 14, 28, what comes next?

Result: 56, not too bad, right?

Why: Try a harder game.

#### Mini-Game: Perfect Squares

Draw 2 perfect squares for all 9 spots.

Result: Did you get an out of the box idea?

### Expirement: Escape Room

The ultimate test of the brain is put to the test with three voluteers scouring the room for clues.

Playing cards with numbers and letters are a clue. A hat with a card is also a clue which will be helpful later.

A major clue is found, but then an alarm rings. Did it startle you? If you recall, startle reflexes are controlled by our reflexes, Inside the alarm box is a key, which opens a filing cabinet.

A clue is found from a pattern in the deck of cards. If you can remember, memory has two components in your hippocampus. Using mental shortcuts can make memorization, like penumnoics. Can you recall the cards?

They find some cards which spell out their next clue. SHELF.

The upside down glasses are found on the shelf along with a note. The hat with the card says 6291. It opens a safe with a riddle. Can you use the temporal lobe to figure it out? The answer is E. If you remember the word association game, you know how important that temporal lobe can be. After finding a book with the letter E on it, it's another riddle with 8 minutes left.

Numbers are letters and letters are numbers. The frontal lobe controls problem-solving. Is the answer there?

Yes! It works! They're out! Every brain region helped them survive in the modern world.

As our journey comes to an end in London, your brain is much more than the sum of it's parts. The connectivity of the brain could be what makes the brain work.

## List of Experts

* Dr. Rebecca Knight(Guest)
* Dr. Stephen Hicks(Guest)
* Dr. Tom Hope(Guest)