Basic Brain Anatomy Flashcards
Primary Motor Cortex
Frontal Lobe
Initiates Voluntary Movements
Contains UMNs
Premotor Cortex
Frontal Lobe
Coordinates Voluntary Movements
Broca’s Area
Frontal Lobe (usually left hemisphere) Motor portion of speech, Produces written and spoken language
Pre-frontal cortex
Frontal lobe
Personality, insight, and foresight
Higher order intelligence
Primary somatosensory cortex
Parietal Lobe
Tactile and proprioceptive information
Wernicke’s Area
Parietal Lobe & some temporal (usually left hemisphere)
Sensory portion of speech, language (written and spoken) comprehension
Association Area’s (in all lobes)
Puts sensory information together, spatial orientation and perception and directing attention, spatial awareness
Primary Auditory Cortex
Temporal Lobe
Interpretation of sound, hearing
Association Area’s
Temporal Lobe
Visual/auditory processing
Advanced visual processing from occipital
Hippocampus/Amygdala
Temporal Lobe (medial part, technically limbic) Memory Processing
Primary visual cortex
Occipital lobe
Vision
Visual Association Cortex
Visual Processing
Limbic Structures
Limbic Lobe/Insula
Responsible for memory and emotion
Cingulate Gyrus
Pain perception
Thalamus
- Processing area for all sensory information (minus olfaction) before reaching cortex
- limbic processing before reaching cortex
- crucial motor pathways involving cerebellum and basal ganglia (coordination)
Hypothalamus
- Major visceral control center making hormones as well as limbic functions
- Includes nuclei to help regulate body temperature and osmolarity
Epithalamus
Consists of Pineal Gland (melatonin - sleep initiation) & Habenular Nuclei (eating behavior)
Subthalamus
Associated with basal ganglia and motor systems
Midbrain
- Connection of diencephalon to rest of brainstem and brain
- Contains cerebral aqueduct
- “Mesencephalon”
Tectum (Midbrain)
- Superior Colliculus: vision reflexes
- Inferior Colliculus: hearing reflexes
Cerebral Peduncles (Midbrain)
- columns attaching telencephalon to diencephalon/brainstem, made up of axons from the primary motor cortex
Pons
- relay for information between cerebellum to cerebral cortex
Basal Pons
- Cell bodies of corticocerebellar pathway
- Pontine Nuclei spread throughout - information from cerebral cortex to cerebellum
Medulla Oblongata
- Connects brainstem to spinal cord
- Contains centers that are critical to life (respiratory and cardiovascular center, cranial nuclei)
