Anatomy of the Brain

Question 1

What does the frontal lobe do?

Answer 1

Control motor planning and motor movements

Question 2

What is the purpose of the prefrontal cortex?

Answer 2

Helps us make decisions and control primal desires

Question 3

What is the function of the parietal lobe?

Answer 3

Where information converges to integrate sensory info

Question 4

Which lobe is associated with vision?

Answer 4

Occipital lobe

Question 5

What functions are the temporal lobes associated with?

Answer 5

Limbic system: emotions
Learning/memory
Ability to recognize faces and objects

Question 6

What are the gyrus and the sulcus?

Answer 6

Gyri are the raised lumps of the brain, sulcus are the folds of the brain.

Question 7

What are the two important sulci?

Answer 7

Central sulcus: divides frontal and parietal lobes
Sylvian fissure: divides temporal lobe from the frontal and parietal

Question 8

What does the corpus callosum do?

Answer 8

Send information between the left and right hemispheres of the brain

Question 9

What is the cingulate cortex associated with?

Answer 9

Empathy and our own pain perception.
Can be seen straight through the middle of the brain (midsagittal view)

Question 10

What does the olfactory bulb do?

Answer 10

Take info from the nose and carries it into the brain

Question 11

What structures are part of the hindbrain?

Answer 11

Medulla, cerebellum, and pons.

Question 12

What does the medulla control?

Answer 12

Respiration and heart rate.
Closest structure to the brain stem

Question 13

What structure of the brain controls motor learning and memory?

Answer 13

The cerebellum.

Question 14

What is the function of the pons?

Answer 14

To regulate sensations and do fine motor movements.
Directly connected to the cerebellum

Question 15

What is the reticular formation related to?

Answer 15

Attention, arousal state, and sleep.
It’s a network of neurons that goes from dorsal to ventral

Question 16

What are the two main parts of the midbrain?

Answer 16

Tectum: the dorsal roof
Tegmentum: the ventral floor

Question 17

What structures are in the tectum?

Answer 17

The superior and inferior colliculus.

Question 18

What is the difference between the superior colliculus and the inferior colliculus?

Answer 18

The superior colliculus is related to visual information, while the inferior colliculus deals with the auditory system.

Question 19

What structures are in the tegmentum?

Answer 19

The red nucleus, the substantia nigra, the reticular formation, and the periaqueductal gray.

Question 20

What is the red nucleus?

Answer 20

A part of the midbrain involved with motor coordination that has a slightly reddish appearance.

Question 21

What exists in the substantia nigra?

Answer 21

This is where lots of dopamine neurons exist. If 85%-95% of neurons in substantia nigra are lost, this is where motor problems with Parkinsons’ start to develop.

Question 22

What is the periaqueductal gray related to?

Answer 22

The processing and regulation of pain, as well as the fear response. Has a greyish appearance.

Question 23

What are the two divisions of the forebrain?

Answer 23

The telencephalon and the diencephalon.

Question 24

What structures are in the diencephalon?

Answer 24

The thalamus and hypothalamus.

Question 25

What is the thalamus?

Answer 25

The center for processing sensory info. It communicates sensory info with the cerebral cortex and receives info from the cortex as well.

Question 26

What does the hypothalamus regulate?

Answer 26

Hormones, the stress system, and motivated behaviors/primal drives like sleep cycles and reproductive cycles. It’s a small part of the brain dorsal to the pituitary gland.