Brain Structure and Function Flashcards
Sections of the brain - hindbrain
- The oldest part of the brain
- Located deep inside our head on top of the spinal cord
- Controls basic functions: heart rate, breathing, sleeping and reflex action
Sections of the brain - midbrain
- Located on top of the brain stem
- received messaged from all senses except smell, sends messaged onto higher brain regions
Sections of the brain - forebrain
- largest and most highly developed part
- Plays major roles in how we think, feel and behave
- Outer layer known as the cortex, wrinkled, soft and pinkish grey in colour
- Has two halves known as hemispheres, separated by a deep groove
Corpus Callosum
- found in centre of the brain, connects the hemispheres
- Allows us to control both sides of our body while still receiving sensory information
Left Hemisphere
- Motor functions - movement on right side of body, production of speech
- Sensory functions - receives sensations from the right side of the body
- Perceptual functions - comprehends language
- Cognitive functions - reading, writing, analytical thinking, sequential processing, logical reasoning, mathematics
Right Hemisphere
- Motor functions - movement on left side of body
- Sensory functions - receives sensations from left side of body
- Perceptual Functions - Recognition of faces, recognition of patterns
- Cognitive Functions - musical ability, spacial ability, emotional expression
- Detection of emotion
Frontal Lobe
Reasoning, motor skills, higher level cognition and language
Parietal Lobe
Processes sensory information, contains somatosensory cortex
Occipital Lobe
Interprets visual stimuli, contains the primary visual cortex
Temporal Lobe
Interprets sounds and language. Contacts the hippocampus and so is also associated with the formation of memory
Broca’s area
Produces language. People with damage to this can understand language but cannot form words
Wernick’s Area
Where spoken language is understood. People with damage to this can’t understand language but can speak gibberish
Cognitive processes
Brain processes that involve thinking, knowing or mentally manipulating information
Cognition
Thinking, knowing or mentally processing information
Sensation
Immediate response in the brain caused by excitation of a sensory organ
Cerebrum
The two large hemispheres that cover the upper part of the brain
Cerebral hemispheres
The two halves of the cerebrum that cover the upper part of the brain
Cerebral cortec
The thin layer of tissue that forms the outer layer and surface of the brain’s cerebrum. Is responsible for basic sensory and motor functions, also higher mental processes
Association areas
Areas of the cerebral cortex that do not have a specialized sensory or motor function. Integrate information received from different brain areas and structures to enable complex mental behaviours
Primary motor cortex
Rear of the frontal lobe that directs the body’s skeletal muscles and controls voluntary movement
Primary somatosensory cortex
Strip of neurons located at the front of the parietal lobe, adjacent to the primary motor cortex, which registers and processes sensory information from receptors in the body
Primary auditory cortex
Area of the temporal lobes that registers and processes auditory information
Primary Visual Cortex
Area at the base of occipital lobe that registers, processes and interprets visual information sent from each eye
