It all comes down to gray and white--matter that is. A study conducted by Yaling Yang and Adrian Raine of the University of Southern California (USC) College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, showed there are structural abnormalities in the brains of pathological liars.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that helps us feel pleasure and stay motivated. A lack of dopamine is also central to the development of Parkinson’s Disease and restless leg syndrome.

Every year, thousands of people are affected by some sort of head trauma. Head trauma is classified as an injury to the head, neck, scalp or brain. This trauma is a serious injury that can lead to major health issues, including death.

Approximately 180,000 people are diagnosed with a brain tumor each year, according to the American Brain Tumor Association. A brain tumor is simply a mass of abnormal cells that grows in the brain. The temporal lobe processes sounds and spoken words as well as memory and emotion.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter -- a molecule that neurons release to communicate with each other -- that is synthesized from the amino acid tyrosine.

If you have experienced a concussion, you may wonder when it is safest to resume exercising. Concussions, a type of head injury also known as mild traumatic brain injury, affect many people in the United States -- 128 people out of every 100,000 each year, according to the February 2009 "

The brain requires daily nutrition for optimal performance. If this is not received, mental clarity is affected. Signs of reduced mental clarity include poor memory, trouble recounting specific times or locations, and an inability to cope with stress.

In the human brain, information must be stored in order for learning to take place. So, the areas of the brain that are most important to learning are those involved in memory. Other crucial areas include regions involved in processing information from the five senses and information about your body.

Bleeding in the brain, or hemorrhagic stroke, is a life-threatening situation. It typically occurs when an aneurysm, a bulge in a blood vessel, bursts. Brain cells, starved of blood supply, immediately begin to die. Brain tissue begins to swell in response to the bleeding, which can also kill cells.

The idea that you must keep a baby awake after a head injury to prevent a coma is actually an old wive’s tale.

Seizures, abnormal electrical activity that temporarily disrupts brain function, can cause symptoms as severe as convulsions or as mild as a brief moment of altered consciousness.

As you walk around and move throughout the day, the muscles in your legs contract, forcing blood up the veins of your legs. Valves in the veins keep the blood from flowing back down. When these valves weaken, they can't hold back the blood, and it pools in your lower legs.