Brain Teasers & Puzzles
What comes next in the sequence? 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8
13
In Pixar’s Inside Out, which emotion is the leader of Riley’s mind?
Joy
This neurodegenerative disease is named after the German physician who first described it in 1906.
Alzheimer's Disease
What is the only fruit that has its seeds on the outside?
Strawberry
This theoretical physicist developed the theory of general relativity and had an above-average, but not superhuman, IQ
Who is Albert Einstein
If you rearrange the letters in "NEUROSCIENCE," you get this common English word.
Conscience
In The Big Bang Theory, which character has an eidetic memory and frequently recalls scientific facts?
Sheldon Cooper
This neurotransmitter is often called the “feel-good” chemical.
Dopamine
What is the only letter that does not appear in any U.S. state name?
This pioneering African American neurosurgeon became the first to successfully separate conjoined twins joined at the head.
Who is Dr. Ben Carson?
I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with the wind. What am I?
An echo
This classic sci-fi novel by Mary Shelley is often credited with exploring early ideas about reanimating the brain.
Frankenstein
This part of the brain is responsible for regulating hunger, thirst, and body temperature.
Hypothalamus
What is the national animal of Scotland?
Known as the “father of psychoanalysis,” this neurologist introduced the idea of the unconscious mind.
Who is Sigmund Freud?
Take the number of lobes in the human brain and multiply it by the cranial nerve that controls vision.
4 lobes × Cranial Nerve II = 8
In Grey's Anatomy, Dr. Derek Shepherd is known for being a neurosurgeon. What is the term for the brain surgery he’s famous for performing, involving the removal of a tumor or lesion?
Craniotomy
The brain uses approximately what percentage of the body’s total energy?
~20%
In a deck of standard playing cards, which king does not have a mustache?
What is King of Hearts
This famous neuroscientist mapped the motor cortex and showed how specific brain areas control certain movements.
Who is Wilder Penfield?
What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
The letter M
In the X-Men films, this mutant can read and control minds. This ability is related to the powers of which part of the brain?
Cerebral Cortex
This rare condition makes a person unable to recognize faces, even of people they know well.
Prosopagnosia
What common word changes its pronunciation when the first letter is capitalized?
What is "Polish" (as in from Poland) vs. "polish" (to shine something)
This 19th-century German physician discovered that damage to a specific left hemisphere region caused language deficits, now named after him.
Who is Paul Broca