Biological Basis - Areas of the Brain Flashcards
Hindbrain
oldest part of the brain
Cerebellum
movement/balance
Medulla
vital organs (heart rate & blood pressure)
Pons
bridge between regions - basic functions
Reticular Formation
alertness
Forebrain
higher thought processes
Amygdala
emotions, fear
Hippocampus
memory
Hypothalamus
keepbody in homeostasis
reward/pleasure center, eating behaviors - link to endocrine system
Thalamus
relays sensory and motor information from your body to your Cerebral Cortex
(you MUST (thalaMUST) use your thalamus, unless it’s MUSTY - smell)
Cerebral Cortex
outer portion of the brain - higher order thought processes
Occipital Lobe
vision
(in Cerebral Cortex)
Frontal Lobe
decision making, planning, judgment, movement, personality
(in Cerebral Cortex)
Parietal Lobe
sensory processing, spatial awareness
(in Cerebral Cortex)
Temporal Lobe
hearing and face recognition
(in Cerebral Cortex)
Somatosensory Cortex
processes sensory information
interprets touch, temperature, pain, preprioception (awareness of body position)
(Parietal Lobe: sensations)(in Cerebral Cortex)
Motor Cortex
- motor movements
- planning, control, and execution of voluntary movements
(frontal lobe; in Cerebral Cortex)
Damage to left hemisphere results in:
aphasia (damaged speech)
Broca’s area
speech production (Broca - boca)
Wernicke’s area
comprehension of speech
Corpus Callosum
bundle of nerves that connect the two hemispheres (sometimes severed in patients with severe seizures – leads to “split-brain patients”)
effect of split-brain procedures
patients could only process what they saw from their right eye (and it processed in the left hemisphere)
Endocrine system
sends hormones throughout the body
Pituitary gland
controlled by hypothalamus, releases growth hormones
