1 - Brain Organization

Question 1

Cerebral Cortex

Answer 1

=neocortex

Thinking about thinking (cognition, perception, etc.)
Executive function; voluntary movement
Part of forebrain

Frontal, Parietal, Temporal, Occipital Lobes
-mostly interneurons + glial (glue) cells

PNS - 31 pairs of spinal nerves, 12 pairs of cranial nerves

Gyri = bumps; Sulci = valleys

Question 2

Basal Ganglia

Answer 2

Motor Relay (Brain to body)
Part of forebrain

Extrapyramidal motor system- relay body position to CNS / kinesthetic sense / proprioception
—Harmed in Parkinson’s; Dopamine; Schizophrenia

Question 3

Limbic system

Answer 3

Emotion + Memory
Around basal ganglia
Part of forebrain

Septal nuclei, Amygdala, hippocampus

Question 4

Thalamus

Answer 4

Sensory Relay
Sensory + Motor
All senses but smell (smell -> hippocampus, etc.)
Under basal ganglia
Part of forebrain

Question 5

Hypothalamus

Answer 5

Endocrine / homeostatic control
Talks to pituitary
Part of forebrain
Ex) fight, flight, food, sex 
Hunger, thirst, thermoregulation, sexual arousal

Question 6

Inferior + Superior Colliculi

Answer 6

Sensory motor reflexes - integrate info from senses
ex) auditory startle
ex) Normal eye movement = saccade - rapid eye movement b/w fixed points; smooth when tracking something
Midbrain

Inferior - auditory reflexes; superior - visual reflex
(Startle)

Question 7

Cerebellum

Answer 7

Basic Functions
Balance & Coordination of Voluntary movement (refined)
w/o = drunk
Hindbrain

Question 8

Medulla Oblongata

Answer 8

Vital functioning- breathing, heartbeat, digestion

Brainstem

Question 9

Reticular formation

Answer 9

Sleep, wakefulness

Brainstem, near medulla

Question 10

Parts of hypothalamus

Answer 10

LH = lateral hypothalamus = Hunger
VMH = ventromedial hypothalamus = Satiety / I’m full
Anterior hypothalamus = sexual/libido

Question 11

Diencephalon

Answer 11

Thalamus, Hypothalamus, Pituitary/Pineal glands

Question 12

Posterior pituitary

Answer 12

ADH/VP, Oxytocin

Question 13

Pineal gland

Answer 13

Melatonin - Circadian rhythm, regulation of sleep

Question 14

Septal Nuclei

Answer 14

Reward/Pleasure Sensations; this is all they’ll do
-the only stronger motivator is pain
Addictions
Part of limbic

Question 15

Amygdala

Answer 15

Fear & Rage

Part of limbic

Question 16

Hippocampus

Answer 16

Memory/learning + Smell – that’s why smell can stimulate strong memories in us
Part of limbic

HM - anterograde amnesia (future) vs retrograde

Question 17

Frontal Lobe

Answer 17

Prefrontal cortex

• executive function, thinking
• association functions - synthesize/combine info and use it to do something
• reasoning
• personality
• association area = integrate info

Primary motor cortex

• Voluntary movement
• Wired backwards- Right/left
• stimulate that part of the brain and the movement becomes involuntary
• projection areas = basic motor tasks

Broca’s area - speech - movement / muscular control to produce speech

• people w/ damage here cannot talk at all
• on the Left side of the brain for most people

Question 18

Parietal Lobe

Answer 18

• Somatosensory cortex
• Stimulate feelings, process different sensations

Homunculus = distorted representation of part of brain; what part of brain to body; sizes

Question 19

Occipital

Answer 19

-visual cortex = striate cortex

Straite cortex gets visual info from lateral geniculate nucleus in thalamus
Auditory = medial geniculate nucleus

Question 20

Temporal Lobe

Answer 20

• Hearing
• Left - Wernicke’s area- related to speech– speech processing + comprehension
• people w/ damage here can talk but what they say is random/senseless + hard to understand what other’s are saying
• Wernicke’s aphasia- inability to produce speech

Question 21

Corpus callosum

Answer 21

• Mediates signals b/w 2 halves of brain
• separated in epileptics
• cerebral hemisphere laterality

ipsilateral control - same side - hearing
contralateral- opposite - movement

left- logic, language; right- creative/artistic
-most are left-dominant (RH)

Question 22

Meninges

Answer 22

Dura mater, arachnoid, pia mater

CSF in sub-arachnoid space - made by ventricles/internal cavities in brain

Question 23

Cephalon Divisions of Brain

Answer 23

Forebrain = Prosencephalon

• Telencephalon = Cortex, Basal ganglia, Limbic system
• Diencephalon = Thalamus, Hypothalamus, Posterior Pituitary, Pineal

Midbrain = Mesencephalon

Hindbrain = Rhombencephalon

• Metencephalon = pons, cerebellum
• Myelencephalon = medulla

Spinal Cord

Question 24

Cortical Maps

Answer 24

EEGs - noninvasive electrodes- electroencephalogram
CT Scan - X rays at different angles
PET scans - positron emission topography - radioactive glucose
MRI - proton NMR’s
fMRI’s- blood flow

Question 25

Anterior cingulate cortex

Answer 25

Higher order cognitive processes

• impulse connected to decision making
• connect frontal to parietal to limbic (emotion, motivation)

Question 26

Dominant / Nondominant

Answer 26

Usually Left: Language, Letters, Logic

Nondominant - right: Faces, Music, Sense of direction