the ______ controls essential functions such as heartbeat, breathing, and blood circulation
It is larger in male brains, often enlarged in the brains of sociopaths and it shrinks in the elderly. BRAIN STEM: The part of the brain that connects to the spinal cord. The brain stem controls functions basic to the survival of all animals, such as heart rate, breathing, digesting foods, and sleeping. It is the lowest, most primitive area of the human brain.