April 10 Flashcards
Cerebellum
Controls muscle tone and balance
Hindbrain
Cerebellum Medulla oblongata Reticular activating system (RAS) Pons Thalamus Oldest part of the brain to develop in evolutionary terms
Medulla oblongata
Controls involuntary actions, such as breathing, digestion, heart rate, and swallowing (basic life functions)
Reticular activating system (RAS)
Controls arousal (wakefulness and alertness) aka reticular formation
Pons
Latin for “bridge”, passes neural information from one brain region to another
Also implicated in REM sleep
Thalamus
Relays sensory information, receives and directs sensory information from visual and auditory systems
Midbrain
Major components: tectum and tegmentum
Tectum vs tegmentum
Tectum: brains roof
Tegmentum: brains floor
Govern visual and auditory reflexes such as orienting to a sight or sound
Forebrain
Limbic system, hippocampus, amygdala, and hypothalamus
Hippocampus
Involved in processing and integrating memories
Damage here does not eliminate existing memories bc memories are stored in the neocortex, but rather it prevents the formation of new memories
Condition of damage to hippocampus: anterograde amnesia
Damage here does not eliminate existing memories bc memories are stored in the neocortex, but rather it prevents the formation of new memories
Amygdala
Implicated in the expression of anger and frustration
Cerebral cortex
Wrinkled outer layer of the brain
Involved in higher cognitive functions such as thinking, planning, language use, and fine motor controls
Sensory cortex
Receives sensory input
Motor cortex
Sends out motor information
Left cerebral hemisphere
Specialized for language processing
First noticed by Paul Broca
Paul Broca
Observed that the brain damage to the left hemisphere in stroke patients resulted in expressive aphasia or loss of ability to speak (aka aphasia)
Left hemisphere known as Broca’s area
Carl Wernicke
Discovered an area in the left temporal lobe that, when damage in stroke patients, resulted in receptive aphasia
Wemicke’s area
Receptive amnesia
Inability to comprehend speech
Right hemisphere
Processes certain kinds of visual and spatial information
Roger Sperry
Demonstrated that the two hemispheres of the braincan operate independently of each other
Performed split brain patients, who had their corpus callosums severed to control their epileptic seizure
Contralateral processing
Can describe objects without deficit if presented in the right visual field (processed on the left, more verbal side of the brain) but have great difficulty in drawing the image; whereas if the image is presented in the left visual field (and processed in the more visual right side of the brain) the person can draw or choose the object but cannot explain it verbally
Four lobes
Frontal lobe, parietal lobe, Temporal lobe, occipital lobe
Frontal lobe
Responsible for higher-level thought and reasoning
Including working memory, paying attention, solving problems, making plans, forming judgments, and performing movements
Parietal lobe
Handles somatosensory information and is the home of the primary somatosensory cortex
Received information about temperature, pressure, texture, and pain
Temporal lobe
Handles auditory input and is critical processing speech and appreciating music
Occipital lobe
Processes is visual input
Crosses the optic chiasma
Association areas
Much of the cerebral cortex is composed of this
Responsible for associating information in the sensory and motor cortices
Damage to association areas
Can lead to a variety of dysfunction, including apraxia, agnosia, and alexia
Apraxia
The inability to organize movement
Agnosia
A difficulty processing sensory input
Alexia
The inability to read
Hypothalamus
Controls the temperature and water balance of the body, controls hunger and sex drive, orchestrates the activation of the sympathetic nervous system and endocrine system
Lateral hypothalamus
The on switch for eating
Lesion to this would cause obesity and death from overheating
Vetromedial hypothalamus
Off switch for eating
Lesion to this would lead to decreased hunger drive
