It’s been said that your brain is the crown jewel of your body, and who can argue with that precious analogy?

It’s our most complex organ, by far, the only one we possess with consciousness. Resting in a bony shell, and bathed by protective fluids, the brain harbors all the essential qualities that define our humanity.
It’s the repository of our intelligence, interpreter of our senses, initiator of our body movements, and controller of our emotions and behavior. Not bad for an organ weighing a mere three pounds! Simply put, our brain is divided into three layers, each with a very different set of functions.

The outermost layer is called the neo-cortex.

The middle layer is the cerebral limbic system.

And the innermost layer is the brain stem.

So, in a sense we really have three brains. The reptilian brain, or brain stem, focuses on survival. Our mammalian brain, or limbic system, regulates emotions. And, our “human” brain, or neo-cortex, allows us to reason, analyze and create.

This video briefly describes the various regions of the brain.