Energy frugal brain

Figure 1. Cognitive Miser

Our brain uses a lot of energy, more than any other part of our body. To save energy, our brain has developed shortcuts in the way it thinks (heuristics).

Energy in the universe is finite, therefore Brain cells depend primarily on steady deliveries of the sugar glucose, which they convert to adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to fuel their information processing. When we’re a little hungry, our brain usually doesn’t change its energy consumption much. But given that humans and other animals have historically faced the threat of long periods of starvation one of the most important evolutionary pressures of gene transmission is energy efficiency.

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