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“. . . If I only had a brain.”

Ever since I first learned that the popular Christian heart/mind dichotomy was based on faulty interpretation, I’ve wondered why Scripture uses the word “heart” as it does. It’s really quite simple, as Dan Phillips explains:

Contrary to years of Christian traditional definition, the heart is not primarily the seat of emotions, but rather of intellect, volition, and evaluation. It is used specifically of memory in various places, including Deuteronomy 4:39 and Proverbs 4:21.
Wouldn’t “brain” be the better modern term for this idea? Why is the heart used for the mind, rather than “brain”? As a matter of fact, the word “brain,” as a part of the body, is never mentioned in the OT. The word simply was not in use in the Hebrew working vocabulary as it is in modern English. The question is not, “Why didn’t the Hebrew use our word,” but rather, “What Hebrew word (if any) has a meaning equivalent to ‘brain’?”—and usage shows that the answer is, “Heart.”
—Dan Phillips, God’s Wisdom in Proverbs (Kress Biblical Resources, 2011), 115.