Brain Structure and Behaviors Flashcards
Mind
Functioning brain
Lower Level (primitive) Brain Structures
Structures shared by many animals (be they complex or simple, and there are the first evolved brain structures
ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny
a phrase that describes the idea that an organism’s development (ontogeny) follows the same stages as the evolutionary history of its ancestors (phylogeny)
Ontological development
Ontology is the prenatal development of the organisms
Brain Stem
Oldest brain structure in terms of evolution
Central core of the brain
An extension of the spinal cord that enters the skull
Brain Structure
Reticular formation
Keeps the brain aroused
Can be related to how we see personality
Medulla
Regulates automatic survival functions such as heart rate and breathing (pons connects the medulla and the thalamus)
Reticular Formation
A finger shaped network of neurons that extends from the spinal cord up to the thalamus. Controls arousal of the brain
Cerebellum: Organ of Agility
Structure at the rear of the brain stem with convolutions
Primary function is the integration and coordination of voluntary movement (walking, balance)
These processes occur outside of awareness
Limbic Systems
A system of neural structure at the intersection of the brainstem and the cerebral hemispheres
Some general functions
Regulates emotion (e.g. fear and aggression)
Regulates drives (e.g. food and sex)
Hippocampus
A structure that integrates memories. If it is destroyed, no new memories are formed.
Amygdala
Two almond shaped (a misnomer) structure that affect aggression and fear
Hypothalamus
A structure that helps maintain different functions such as thirst, temperature, and sexual behavior.
Olds and Milner
Misplaced an electrode in the hypothalamus of a rat. The rat was stimulated on a table top and kept returning to the spot on the table top WHERE the stimulation occurred
Cerebral Cortex
The most recently evolved brain structure in animals
Hemispheres
Brain is divided into two symmetrical halves (hemispheres)
Each hemisphere is covered with a thin layer of folded (convolutions) neural cells
convolutions
the folds and ridges that make up the surface of the cerebral cortex
Size of Brain
size of an animal cortex reflects the complexity of an animal’s behavior (“the amount of “association area”), the amount of cortex increases = control of behavior is relaxed
Self-regulation increases
Frontal Lobe
Involved in the comprehension of auditory information
Involved in motor control (motor cortex)
Personality
Planning and decision-making (executive functions)
Parietal Lobe
Involved in high level processing of sensory information (sensory cortex)
Temporal Lobe
Speech comprehension;
Occipital Lobe
A visual center of the Cortex
Broca’s Area
Is located in the left frontal lobe, and is involved in speech production, controls our ability to speak, specifically controlling motor functions related to articulating words; Frontal Lobe
Wernicke’s Area
What helps us understand these words; Temporal Lobe
Corpus Callossum
Large set of myelinated (white fatty substance) neural fibers connecting the left and right hemispheres of the brain
Split Brain
When the two hemispheres of the brain are surgically severed;
Often to control random, persistent seizures of the brain that are debilitating
