5.2: Brain Control Flashcards
What is the old brain wired for?
Survival
What does the old brain regulate?
Basic survival functions (breathing, moving, resting, and feeding)
What is the oldest and innermost region of the brain?
The brain stem
What does the brain stem control?
The basic functions of life, including breathing, attention, and motor responses.
What is the medulla?
The area of the brain stem that controls heart rate and breathing.
What part of the brain can be severed while still allowing animals to eat and breathe?
The medulla
What are pons?
A structure in the brain stem that helps control the movements of the body, playing a particularly important role in balance and walking
What is the spherical shape above the medulla?
The pons
What is the reticular formation?
It filters out some of the stimuli that are coming into the brain and relays the remainder of the signals to other areas of the brain.
It is also involved in walking, eating, sexual activity, and sleeping.
What is the cerebellum?
Consists of two wrinkled ovals behind the brain stem.
It functions to coordinate voluntary movement.
What part of the brain functions to coordinate voluntary movement?
The cerebellum
What happens to people who have damage to the cerebellum?
They have difficulty walking, keeping their balance, and holding their hands steady.
Why do people who are drunk have trouble walking in a straight line?
Alcohol influences the cerebellum
What does the limbic system do?
Governs emotion and memory
Where is the limbic system located?
Between the brain stem and the two cerebral hemispheres
What does the thalamus do?
Filters sensory information that is coming up from the spinal cord and through the reticular formation.
Where is the thalamus located?
It is an egg-shaped structure above the brain stem.
What does the amygdala do?
Regulates our perceptions of, and reactions to, aggression and fear. It is two “almond-shaped” clusters.
What does the hippocampus do?
Stores long-term memory. It has two horns that curve back from the amygdala.
What is the hypothalamus?
Contains small areas that perform a variety of functions, including the regulation of hunger and sexual behaviour, as well as linking the nervous system to the endocrine system via the pituitary gland.
Where is the hypothalamus located?
Under the thalamus
What is key to the advanced intelligence of humans?
The size of our cerebral cortex.
What is the cerebral cortex?
The outer, bark-like layer of our brain that allow us to use language, acquire complex skills, create tools, and live in social groups.