34 Responses

1. Alvaro says:

   October 4, 2006 at 11:37

   Watch this fun short animation:

   http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/flash/hom.html

   In short, the fig­ure shows what a man’s body would look like if each body part kept pro­por­tion to the area of the cor­tex of the brain involved with its sen­sory perception.
2. eleanor says:

   October 5, 2006 at 2:28

   that is hilar­i­ous! — I was mildly appre­hen­sive about whether or not they would omit cer­tain body parts — par­tic­u­larly if it was for kids to see — but they cun­ningly glossed over the issue!
3. Alvaro says:

   October 5, 2006 at 8:18

   Yes, I had to be care­ful
4. avk rao says:

   December 2, 2006 at 9:06

   The funny face looks like a funny fig­ure from AESOPES FABLES OR ARABIANNIGHTS
   BUT MAY REPRESENTA STAGE IN EVOLUTIN OFMAN BETWEN APE AND HOUS ERECTUS-A V K RAO
5. Alvaro says:

   December 3, 2006 at 11:51

   Hi A V K, please check the lit­tle ani­ma­tion and enjoy it
6. » Well-deserved break: Top 10 Brain Teasers   « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains      says:

   December 9, 2006 at 8:53

   […] 5. Who is this?: A very impor­tant lit­tle guy […]
7. » Well-deserved break: Top 10 Brain Teasers   « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains      says:

   March 12, 2007 at 7:40

   […] 5. Who is this?: A very impor­tant lit­tle guy […]
8. e22 says:

   August 28, 2007 at 1:26

   he is the lit­tle man in your head that causes all your visual activities.
9. Alvaro says:

   August 28, 2007 at 8:50

   e22: please check the visual ani­ma­tion

   http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/flash/hom.html
10. Rodrigo Fuenzalida says:

    October 7, 2007 at 11:51

    This ugly and deformed man is a rep­re­sen­ta­tion of the degree of sen­si­tiv­ity of the sur­faces of our body, in means of the amount of cor­tex ded­i­cated to each. The most big­ger body parts are the mor sen­si­tive, like the lips and hands. The smaller ones are the ons that require the less sen­si­tiv­ity of all, like our legs and back.
11. Alvaro says:

    October 7, 2007 at 3:37

    Great expla­na­tion, Rodrigo, thanks.
12. » Brain Teasers and Games for adults, with a neuroscience angle: our Top 50    « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains      says:

    October 16, 2007 at 11:17

    […] 3. Who is this?: A very impor­tant lit­tle guy (Interactive). […]
13. joe says:

    October 17, 2007 at 10:27

    ummmm…this isn’t a brain exer­cise of any kind, it’s a trivia question.
14. Keetsa Mattress Store - Keetsa! Blog - Eco-Friendly and Green News » Blog Archive » 50 Fun Brain Games says:

    October 17, 2007 at 6:34

    […] 3. Who is this?: A very impor­tant lit­tle guy (Interactive). […]
15. FreeBee says:

    October 18, 2007 at 6:47

    Now THAT explains why kiss­ing is so effec­tive. See the size of the mouth, espe­cially the lips.
    Touch­ing a fel­low human being, by design, is some­thing plea­sur­able, because we need that for repro­duc­tion. Kiss­ing might be con­sid­ered just another form of touch­ing, but its effect is so much stronger than that of most other activities.
16. Alvaro says:

    October 18, 2007 at 7:00

    Great point, FreeBee
17. Beachgirl says:

    October 22, 2007 at 10:33

    The homuncu­lus is also com­monly used to describe the dis­torted human fig­ure drawn to reflect the rel­a­tive space our body parts occupy on the somatosen­sory cor­tex (sen­sory homuncu­lus) and the motor cor­tex (motor homuncu­lus). The lips, hands, feet and sex organs have more sen­sory neu­rons than other parts of the body, so the homuncu­lus has cor­re­spond­ingly dis­tort­edly large lips, hands, feet, and gen­i­tals. Well known in the field of neu­rol­ogy, this is also com­monly called ‘the lit­tle man inside the brain.’
18. Beachgirl says:

    October 22, 2007 at 10:36

    I saw the same ani­ma­tion last night on a show called “In the Liv­ing Body” on the National Geo­graphic channel.
19. Alvaro says:

    October 24, 2007 at 8:17

    Hello Beach­girl: thanks for the head up!
20. Jazz says:

    November 6, 2007 at 8:40

    It is the species of man before evolv­ing into homo sapeans
21. Alvaro says:

    November 6, 2007 at 7:48

    Hello Jazz, that would be quite funny check the ani­ma­tion and you’ll see what it is
22. LuiJirou says:

    December 8, 2007 at 11:11

    Would the size of some of Mr. Homuncu­lus’ body parts change with age, skill level, or pro­fes­sion? Some­how, I pic­ture Norm Abram hav­ing larger hands and Gar­ri­son Keil­lor hav­ing a big­ger mouth. Sorry, Mr. Keil­lor. No pun intended.
23. Alvaro says:

    December 10, 2007 at 7:52

    Indeed, it would. A pianist would devote a larger area to receiv­ing infor­ma­tion from the fin­gers, and so on. That is the kind of research that Merzenich ad oth­ers did with mon­keys, and saw clearly that effect. With humans there is of course less infor­ma­tion, but enough data to sug­gest how it applies too
24. JANICE says:

    December 26, 2007 at 2:08

    funny, enter­tain­ing and def­i­nitely edu­ca­tional… no won­der my hands feel big,tee-hee…
25. Alvaro says:

    December 27, 2007 at 8:46

    espe­cially your fingers!

    glad you enjoy the site.
26. adrian says:

    January 16, 2008 at 6:19

    the answer is hilarious
27. adriana says:

    February 22, 2008 at 6:32

    it is Penfield’s Homuncu­lus it is an schematic design of the cor­ti­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tion of the motor area in the pari­etal lobe. I saw it in physiology.
28. Karyn says:

    June 20, 2008 at 3:44

    His name is Chudler.
29. Karyn says:

    June 20, 2008 at 3:49

    Homuncu­lus is a fig­ment of someone’s imagination.
30. Alvaro says:

    June 20, 2008 at 5:44

    Karyn: indeed.

    Chudler. James Chudler.
31. raja says:

    November 16, 2008 at 8:17

    he is the man
32. Birgi says:

    November 25, 2008 at 12:58

    Sensered
33. justin says:

    October 29, 2009 at 5:21

    this was a very weird picture
34. Abhishek Goyal says:

    November 6, 2009 at 1:22

    This is us. How your brain seen us. The most impor­tant part and sen­si­tive part of our body appears big­ger to brain then oth­ers which are less sensitive.