1 - Brain Organization Flashcards
Cerebral Cortex
=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
Basal Ganglia
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
Limbic system
Emotion + Memory
Around basal ganglia
Part of forebrain
Septal nuclei, Amygdala, hippocampus
Thalamus
Sensory Relay Sensory + Motor All senses but smell (smell -> hippocampus, etc.) Under basal ganglia Part of forebrain
Hypothalamus
Endocrine / homeostatic control Talks to pituitary Part of forebrain Ex) fight, flight, food, sex Hunger, thirst, thermoregulation, sexual arousal
Inferior + Superior Colliculi
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)
Cerebellum
Basic Functions
Balance & Coordination of Voluntary movement (refined)
w/o = drunk
Hindbrain
Medulla Oblongata
Vital functioning- breathing, heartbeat, digestion
Brainstem
Reticular formation
Sleep, wakefulness
Brainstem, near medulla
Parts of hypothalamus
LH = lateral hypothalamus = Hunger
VMH = ventromedial hypothalamus = Satiety / I’m full
Anterior hypothalamus = sexual/libido
Diencephalon
Thalamus, Hypothalamus, Pituitary/Pineal glands
Posterior pituitary
ADH/VP, Oxytocin
Pineal gland
Melatonin - Circadian rhythm, regulation of sleep
Septal Nuclei
Reward/Pleasure Sensations; this is all they’ll do
-the only stronger motivator is pain
Addictions
Part of limbic
Amygdala
Fear & Rage
Part of limbic
Hippocampus
Memory/learning + Smell – that’s why smell can stimulate strong memories in us
Part of limbic
HM - anterograde amnesia (future) vs retrograde
Frontal Lobe
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
Parietal Lobe
- Somatosensory cortex
- Stimulate feelings, process different sensations
Homunculus = distorted representation of part of brain; what part of brain to body; sizes
Occipital
-visual cortex = striate cortex
Straite cortex gets visual info from lateral geniculate nucleus in thalamus
Auditory = medial geniculate nucleus
Temporal Lobe
- 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
Corpus callosum
- 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)
Meninges
Dura mater, arachnoid, pia mater
CSF in sub-arachnoid space - made by ventricles/internal cavities in brain
Cephalon Divisions of Brain
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
Cortical Maps
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
Anterior cingulate cortex
Higher order cognitive processes
- impulse connected to decision making
- connect frontal to parietal to limbic (emotion, motivation)
Dominant / Nondominant
Usually Left: Language, Letters, Logic
Nondominant - right: Faces, Music, Sense of direction
