Brain Structure and Function

Question 1

Sections of the brain - hindbrain

Answer 1

• 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

Question 2

Sections of the brain - midbrain

Answer 2

• Located on top of the brain stem

- received messaged from all senses except smell, sends messaged onto higher brain regions

Question 3

Sections of the brain - forebrain

Answer 3

• 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

Question 4

Corpus Callosum

Answer 4

• found in centre of the brain, connects the hemispheres

- Allows us to control both sides of our body while still receiving sensory information

Question 5

Left Hemisphere

Answer 5

• 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

Question 6

Right Hemisphere

Answer 6

• 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

Question 7

Frontal Lobe

Answer 7

Reasoning, motor skills, higher level cognition and language

Question 8

Parietal Lobe

Answer 8

Processes sensory information, contains somatosensory cortex

Question 9

Occipital Lobe

Answer 9

Interprets visual stimuli, contains the primary visual cortex

Question 10

Temporal Lobe

Answer 10

Interprets sounds and language. Contacts the hippocampus and so is also associated with the formation of memory

Question 11

Broca’s area

Answer 11

Produces language. People with damage to this can understand language but cannot form words

Question 12

Wernick’s Area

Answer 12

Where spoken language is understood. People with damage to this can’t understand language but can speak gibberish

Question 13

Cognitive processes

Answer 13

Brain processes that involve thinking, knowing or mentally manipulating information

Question 14

Cognition

Answer 14

Thinking, knowing or mentally processing information

Question 15

Sensation

Answer 15

Immediate response in the brain caused by excitation of a sensory organ

Question 16

Cerebrum

Answer 16

The two large hemispheres that cover the upper part of the brain

Question 17

Cerebral hemispheres

Answer 17

The two halves of the cerebrum that cover the upper part of the brain

Question 18

Cerebral cortec

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Association areas

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Primary motor cortex

Answer 20

Rear of the frontal lobe that directs the body’s skeletal muscles and controls voluntary movement

Question 21

Primary somatosensory cortex

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Primary auditory cortex

Answer 22

Area of the temporal lobes that registers and processes auditory information

Question 23

Primary Visual Cortex

Answer 23

Area at the base of occipital lobe that registers, processes and interprets visual information sent from each eye