A Computer in Your Head Flashcard

Front

According to “A Computer in Your Head?,” how do both brains and computers send information?

Back

through electrical signals

Front

What describes the process by which brains and computers receive energy, according to “A Computer in Your Head?”

Back

Computers get energy by plugging into a source of electricity, while brains get energy from glucose in food.

Front

According to “A Computer in Your Head?,” why are some messages not sent through the brain?

Back

Neurons may get thousands of messages at once, and the total signal for a message must exceed a certain level before it can continue in the brain.

Front

Based on the information in “A Computer in Your Head?,” what is an example of a function that a brain can perform, but a computer cannot?

Back

rewire itself

Front

If a satellite is sent into space to transmit signals, what is the satellite doing?

Back

sending messages

Front

Monitor (in the context: Laura logged on to the school website to monitor her son’s progress in math class.)

Back

check

Front

When a medical student is studying neurological disorders, what part of the body is she learning about?

Back

nerves

Front

How does the following passage in “A Computer in Your Head?” work to affect the reader?

Back

It fills the reader with a sense of wonder.

Front

What is the most likely reason the author included this passage in “A Computer in Your Head?”

What has billions of individual pieces, trillions of connections, weighs about 1.4 kilograms, and works on electrochemical energy? If you guessed a minicomputer, you're wrong. If you guessed the human brain, you're correct!

Back

to impress upon the reader the sheer power of the brain

Front

What is the underlying message of the following excerpt from "A Computer in Your Head?" Although computers can perform extraordinary computational feats at astounding speeds, they do not experience the emotions, dreams, and thoughts that are an essential part of what makes us human.

Back

While computers have many capabilities, there are some important ways in which human brains are unique.