A scientist unveils the mysteries of the human brain, explaining why our species is the most intelligent among all living beings on Earth.

We discussed this and much more during the broadcast of “Data Transmission” on Radio “Komsomolskaya Pravda” with neurophysiologist Vyacheslav Dubynin, Doctor of Biological Sciences, and Professor at the Department of Human and Animal Physiology at Lomonosov Moscow State University.

Vyacheslav Dubynin.

WHO IS SMARTER: WHALE OR HUMAN?

- Vyacheslav Albertovich, we know that humans are intelligent because they have large brains. However, a whale's brain is larger than ours: 4700 grams compared to 1590. It seems logical that whales should be smarter than humans...

- The optimal body size is also important. If you have a very large body—say, you’re a whale or an elephant—a significant portion of your brain is dedicated to managing muscles and gathering information from the skin, tendons, and internal organs.

- So it serves the body.

- Even in humans, two-thirds of the brain is involved in servicing the body. At the end of the 20th century, scientists estimated that out of 90 billion neurons in the brain, over 60 billion are in the cerebellum and other motor centers. It turns out that our motor functions are the most complex. In contrast, vision, hearing, and even thinking require a significantly smaller number of nerve cells. This is evident in the pace of development of artificial intelligence and robotics. Remember the song from the movie about Elektronik: “Robots work hard, happy is the human.” We imagined a scenario where robots would plant potatoes, work at machines, while we would engage in creativity. Suddenly, it turned out that painting and working with texts are simpler tasks than digging a garden. Because ChatGPT writes quite decent texts, and Midjourney generates amazing images. We cannot entrust a robot with digging potatoes. This requires very delicate movements and intricate motor skills. Each muscle cell in our body is controlled by a separate signal from the brain. Creating this evolutionary system was incredibly complex. No wonder anthropologists say that humans distinguished themselves from the animal kingdom because they developed a hand capable of fine motor movements.

Thus, it appears that in large creatures like whales or elephants, about 95% of their brains are dedicated to movement.

On the other hand, we are just beginning to seriously understand how complex these creatures communicate. When you share information within a group, it develops the brain. Elephants communicate using infrasound. Cetaceans produce sounds comparable in power to a jet plane taking off. This allows large whales to converse with each other over hundreds of kilometers.

- Is this an innate ability for them?

- No, whale calves also learn this speech. Whales, like us, have their own names—a sort of call sign that is assigned to them throughout their lives.

Any brain function is a result of evolution. Why did we become the first intelligent beings on the planet? We don’t have the best vision, sense of smell, or hearing. Humans won this race largely due to their hands, complex social communication, and a large empty brain capable of learning.

AN EMPTY BRAIN IS AN ADVANTAGE

- You say that humans win because of their empty brains...

- Look, evolution on our planet has chosen two global paths. The first involves small, standard brains that are innately capable of a lot. For instance, a spider with 100,000 neurons (compared to our 90 billion) can innately weave a web. Bees can create cells in honeycombs. The second path is to create initially large but empty brains, where information will be recorded throughout life. Where do you get this information? From interactions and communication with parents and other group members. The strength of Homo sapiens lies in the fact that we are born with truly vast empty areas in our brains. But there is already a pre-installed neural network that can accommodate any language. By the age of three or four, a child in any linguistic environment can speak reasonably well. You could live in the Amazon rainforest, the African desert, a small village by the Barents Sea, or a metropolis—it doesn’t matter. But the programs for the native language, verbal communication, and social skills are installed in a child’s brain with equal success.

- How can we learn to manage our brains? For example, if we plan to lose weight. The brain understands that smoking and overeating are harmful, yet it still makes me open the fridge. Why?

- The brain consists of numerous systems that often work together but also compete. If you start listening to your needs, you’ll find that you want to lose weight and relax, learn English and play video games. All at once. This is a conflict among different neural networks in the brain, primarily located in the brainstem. Modern neurophysiology identifies about twenty blocks associated with needs. Programs of laziness or anxiety tell us: “Why go to the gym? You’ll burn calories, and then you’ll be hungry and unhappy!” Meanwhile, curiosity, leadership, and empathy programs encourage us to step out of our comfort zones. This competition occurs at the level of the unconscious, and this is the first part of our personality, which can be called temperament.

By the way

Photo: Dmitry POLUKHIN. Go to the Photo Bank of KP

- And what about the second part?

- It is concentrated in the parietal region, where speech centers are formed. A child memorizes words, which create a verbal model of the world. In essence, the very ChatGPT—a large language model—was created in the likeness of the human system. From this verbal representation of the world, we begin to assist the frontal cortex by selecting optimal behavior programs. Every time we plan to do something, we need to assess which model to choose. For example, there’s a candy on the table; it’s clear that a child wants to eat it. What are the options? Approach and take it. Or ask parents. Or wait until the parents leave, then approach and take it. Upbringing and the example of others leave an imprint on this world model. Then, a very serious thing happens. Within this model, our self-concept also arises. Each of us thinks something about ourselves. For instance: I am a person with a certain biography, certain interests, and certain goals. From this arises the willpower, which allows us to tell the frontal cortex: “No, we’re not eating the bun; instead, we’re going to run 5 km because I’m an athlete.”

- Who is stronger, the frontal area or the parietal?

- Every time it’s a struggle. Willpower is essentially the ability of our self from the parietal zone, based on self-perception and long-term plans, to take control of the frontal zone. Then a person tells themselves: we don’t eat just anything, we don’t stay up late on gadgets, we don’t get lost in the news feed, we study math instead. And this willpower is developed like all brain functions.