Seeing the Brain on Display at the American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH)'s exhibit "Brain: The Inside Story" offers an interactive look into the workings of the human brain. Visitors begin their adventure by passing through a 3-pound preserved brain and traveling down a tunnel where an exhibit by Spanish artist Daniel Canogar employs lights to stimulate firing neurons. A range of visuals will illuminate the brain's function such as a 6-foot-tall homunculus, a human figure designed with abnormal proportions that illuminates the portions of the brain that focuses on sense of touch in varying body parts, and a 8-foot-tall model of the subcortical brain.

Some of the exhibits highlights include:

Neuron Gesture Table: By putting one's hand on this table, this interactive table transforms the hands into neurons. When several people put their hands on the table one can see a simulation of how neurons create a synapse in action.

Build-a-Brain: Children will enjoy assembling this oversize model of the brain while learning about the differences between human and animal brains.

Neurotransmitters: Visitors can manipulate a virtual character by informing their decision-making process. Along the way, the display teaches about how these brain chemicals are involved in various emotional states like distress and conflict.

Stacking Game: A project that may look like a child's game but even adults will have difficulty moving these sets of tiles from one pole to another in a demonstration of the profrontal cortex, the part of the brain involved in all conscious thought.

Stroop Test: This common psychological test shows subjects a list of colors. Sometimes the word printed on the color matches the meaning (e.g., the word "blue" is put on a blue card) but in other instances the color is put on a card that doesn't match the color. By trying to identify the correct color, visitors can come to a bit more of an understanding regarding how the brain deals with competing stimuli.

As the exhibit winds down, visitors are given opportunities to preview scientific endeavors underway related to the brain such as implanting electrodes into the brain to reduce epileptic seizures, treating Parkinson's patients with electrical stimulation, implants that will enable deaf people to hear and blind people to see; and brain-computer interfaces that will aid paralyzed individuals to do activities with the assistance of computerized devices.

At the end of the exhibit, visitors can chill in the brain lounge by viewing brain scans of a New York Knicks shooting guard, which demonstration his reactions when he sinks a ball and hears the crowd roar. They can also watch musicians' brains lighting up to both rock and classical music and see a United Nations translator move from speaking Arabic to English.

This exhibit is on display until August 14, 2011. The AMNH is open daily from 10am to 5:45pm (closed Thanksgiving and Christmas). For ticket prices, directions and other information log on to the museum's website.