brain Flashcards
brainstem
where spinal cord enlarges and enters the skull and becomes the brain
manages life sustaining functions
medulla
base of brainstem
- heartbeat, respiration, blood pressure
- swallowing, coughing, blinking
pons
relays info to cerebellum
- movement; sleep/wake/dreaming/relaxation; breathing
thalamus
top of brainstem
- directs/transmits sensory messages (except smell) to the cortex. control centre.
- learning and language
- turns off to sleeo
reticular formations
- nerve network through BS and thalamus
- filters and relays info
- important role in controlling arousal
- name
cerebellum
- back of brainstem
- coordinates voluntary movement, coordination, balance, posture
- processing sensory input
- non-verbal learning and memory
- tipsy
limbic system
border/margin between old and new brain areas
primitive: emotions, motivation, memory, houses pleasure/reward centre
learned fear responses; unpleasant, painful, dangerous, aversive stimuli
amygdala
small neural clusters that enable aggression, fear and linked to emotion
hypothalamus
regulates functions, drives (hunger, thirst, sex) + maintenance of endocrine system via pituitary gland
- reward centers, biological clock, temperature control
- picks up thoughts from cerebral cortex, will get glands to release hormones
hippocampus
helps process conscious, explicit memories of facts and events
forming and retrieving memories, sense of direction
cerebrum
logic, problem solving, higher cognitive functions, 85% of brains weight
covered by cerebral cortex
cerebral cortex
language memory + thinking
covers cerebrum
what’s grey matter?
somas
conducts, processes and sends into to various parts of the body
what’s white matter?
axons
interprets sensory info
convolutions
2/3 of surface area of brain is hidden in convolutions
the divided brain
lateralization: functions are specific to a side of the brain
corpus callosum
a band of axon fibres that connect the brain hemispheres
name the 4 lobes
frontal
temporal
parietal
occipital
frontal lobe
- conscious + higher functions
- -thinking personality, emotions, memory, impulse control, planning
- speech production (left side Broca’s area)
- brocades aphasia: know what u wanna say but can’t produce the language
- motor cortex/control; muscles related to speech
motor cortex
area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements
body areas tho require precise control occupy the greatest amount of cortical space (chopsticks)
somatosensory cortex
area at the front of the parietal lobes
- body touch and movement sensations
- the sensitivity of a body region is related to the size of the somatosensory area devoted to it
temporal lobe
primary auditory cortex; perceives and recognizes sounds (language comprehension)
left lobe; wernickes area
- wernicles aphasia: fluent articulated words but nonsense
- auditory aphasia: hearing language as though its foreign
parietal lobe
bodily sensations, spatial orientation, sense of direction
somatosensory cortex; touch, pain, temperature, pressure
- identifying items by touch. brail = large part at fingertips.
occipital lobe
primary visual cortex - sight
each eye connects to both lobes
visual experiences and recognition
