Information Overload: A System for Better Managing Everyday Data

Chapter 3. BRAIN MATTERS

For centuries, humans have been trying our best to understand the working of our brains. Artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo made very realistic drawings of the human brain. Drawing a true map of our brain was not possible until recently, thanks to technologies such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Mapping the brain has enabled us to find out a lot more about the human brain.

Our brain is a complex organ. We do not know all there is to know, by far. Why, for example, is our memory so extremely good and at the same time so immensely bad? The causes of large differences between human brains in comparison with each other are also largely unknown. What we do know is that our brain is very flexible. The brain, for example, has the ability to react adequately to change in very different circumstances. This flexibility allows humans to live in all sorts of different environments, adapting to temperature, density of information, or stress levels. The brain includes a very good search engine, but we also forget an awful lot during our life.

Our brain was not just created for retaining memories over a long period of time. Over the centuries, our brains developed so that new, different matters are given extra attention. Everything that is recorded in our long-term memory has one main important quality: It surprised us. This element in particular makes human beings unique. We use our knowledge and talents for satisfying our innate curiosity ...