Chapter 4B & 4C Flashcards
What are the four major regions of the brain?
The hindbrain, midbrain, forebrain, and cerebral cortex.
What structures are included in the hindbrain?
Pons, medulla, and cerebellum.
Where is the hindbrain located?
At the base of the brain around the brainstem.
What is the function of the hindbrain?
Controls vital and automatic responses such as breathing, heart rate, sleep, and arousal.
Where is the cerebellum located, and what does it look like?
The cerebellum is located at the base of the brain and has a cauliflower-shaped structure.
What are the main functions of the cerebellum?
It coordinates fine muscle movements and regulates posture and balance to ensure smooth and precise movement.
Does the cerebellum initiate movement?
No, the cerebellum organises and adjusts muscle activity but does not initiate movement.
What types of movements does the cerebellum help with?
It is involved in voluntary procedural movements like tying your shoes or riding a bike.
What happens if the cerebellum is damaged?
It can cause difficulty coordinating muscle control for everyday activities and problems with balance.
Where is the medulla located?
The medulla is located at the very bottom of the brainstem.
What is the primary function of the medulla?
The medulla controls vital bodily functions that occur automatically and are essential for survival.
What vital functions does the medulla regulate?
The medulla controls swallowing, breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, vomiting, salivating, coughing, and sneezing.
Where is the pons located?
The pons is located directly above the medulla.
What are the main functions of the pons?
The pons is involved in sleep, dreaming, arousal from sleep, breathing control, and muscle movement coordination.
What role does the pons play in relaying information?
The pons relays information between the cerebral cortex and cerebellum and between the medulla and midbrain.
Where is the midbrain located?
The midbrain is located in the middle of the brain, between the hindbrain and forebrain.
What is the midbrain responsible for?
The midbrain is involved in movement, processing of visual, auditory, and tactile sensory information, sleep, and arousal.
Where is the reticular formation located?
It is mostly in the midbrain but extends to other brain areas.
Where is the forebrain located?
The forebrain is located above the midbrain and extends across the top of the brain.
What are the main functions of the reticular formation?
It filters incoming information to prevent brain overload, maintains consciousness, regulates the sleep-wake cycle, and controls muscle tone.
What functions is the forebrain involved in?
The forebrain is involved in thinking, learning, memory, perception, emotion, and personality.
What are the three major structures of the forebrain?
The forebrain includes the Thalamus, Hypothalamus, and Cerebrum.
What role does the thalamus play in cognition?
The thalamus is involved in attention by helping the brain focus on important sensory inputs.
What is the primary role of the thalamus?
The thalamus acts as a gateway, filtering sensory information (except smell) and relaying it to the appropriate brain areas for processing.
What is the primary function of the hypothalamus?
The hypothalamus maintains the body’s internal environment by regulating hormone release and basic biological needs like hunger, thirst, and sleep.
Which sensory information does the thalamus NOT process?
The thalamus processes all sensory information except for smell (olfaction).
How is the hypothalamus linked to emotions?
As part of the limbic system, the hypothalamus is involved in emotions such as anger and fear.
How does the hypothalamus regulate hormones?
The hypothalamus controls the release of hormones from various glands in the body, helping maintain homeostasis.
Where is the cerebrum located?
The cerebrum is located above and in front of the cerebellum and occupies most of the forebrain.
What is the outer surface of the cerebrum called?
The cerebral cortex.
How is the cerebrum divided?
It is divided into two hemispheres (left and right), which are connected by the corpus callosum.
What are the hemispheres of the cerebrum further divided into?
They are subdivided into the lobes of the brain.
What is the cerebral cortex?
The thin outer layer of the brain’s surface.
What percentage of the brain’s neurons are in the cerebral cortex?
Approximately 75% of the brain’s neurons.
What are the main functions of the cerebral cortex?
Processing sensory information, initiating voluntary movements, language, symbolic thinking, and regulating emotions.
How much of the cerebral cortex is visible from the outside?
Only one-third, the rest is hidden in folds and wrinkles.
How is the cerebral cortex divided?
Into two hemispheres (left and right), connected by the corpus callosum.
What is the function of the corpus callosum?
It is a bridge of nerve fibers that allows communication between the two hemispheres.
Which side of the body does the right hemisphere control?
The left side of the body.
Which side of the body does the left hemisphere control?
The right side of the body.
Do both hemispheres contribute equally to all functions?
No, while both are involved in everything, each hemisphere has dominance over certain functions.
How is the cerebral cortex structured?
It is divided into four lobes: frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal.
What are the primary and specialty areas of the frontal lobe?
Primary area: Primary motor cortex. Specialty area: Broca’s area.
Where is the frontal lobe located?
It occupies the upper forward half of each hemisphere, behind the forehead.
What are the key functions of the frontal lobe?
Judgment, thinking, planning, abstract reasoning, personality, and emotional control.
What is the function of the primary motor cortex?
It controls voluntary movements of skeletal muscles.
What are skeletal muscles?
Where is Broca’s area located?
In the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere only.
Which side of the body does the primary motor cortex in the left frontal lobe control?
Which side of the body does the primary motor cortex in the right frontal lobe control?
The RIGHT side of the body.
The LEFT side of the body.
What is the main function of Broca’s area?
It is involved in the production of clear and articulate speech.
How does Broca’s area help with speech?
It coordinates the movement of muscles in the jaw, lips, and tongue to produce speech.
What happens when Broca’s area is damaged?
It results in Broca’s aphasia, a condition affecting speech production.
What are the symptoms of Broca’s aphasia?
Difficulty speaking fluently, but comprehension remains intact.
What type of aphasia is Broca’s aphasia?
Non-fluent aphasia.
Give an example of how someone with Broca’s aphasia might speak.
“Head broke, can’t talk.”
Where is the parietal lobe located?
The parietal lobe is located behind the frontal lobe and occupies the upper back half of the brain.
What is the primary area of the parietal lobe?
The primary area of the parietal lobe is the primary somatosensory cortex.
What is the parietal lobe responsible for?
The parietal lobe monitors body limb positioning and determines the spatial positions of objects in the environment.
What cognitive functions are associated with the parietal lobe?
The parietal lobe is involved in attention and spatial reasoning.
Where is the primary somatosensory area located?
It is located at the front of the parietal lobe, next to the primary motor cortex.
How does the somatosensory cortex contribute to spatial awareness?
It helps with spatial awareness by allowing an awareness of the position of our body in space.
What is the role of the primary somatosensory cortex?
It receives and processes sensory information from the body’s senses, including taste, touch, temperature, muscle movement, position, and pressure.
How does the somatosensory cortex process sensory information from the body?
The left somatosensory cortex processes sensory information from the right side of the body, while the right somatosensory cortex processes information from the left side of the body.
Where is the occipital lobe located?
The occipital lobe is found at the rearmost area of each hemisphere, at the back of the head.
What is the primary function of the occipital lobe?
The occipital lobe is exclusively involved in vision.
What is the primary area of the occipital lobe?
The primary area of the occipital lobe is the primary visual cortex.
What can damage to the occipital lobe cause?
Damage can cause serious visual impairments, even if the eyes and their neural connections to the brain are normal.
What role does the occipital lobe play in processing visual information?
It selects, organises, and integrates visual information from the primary visual cortex.
How does the occipital lobe interact with other brain regions?
It works with association areas in the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes to integrate visual information with memory, language, and sounds.
Where is the temporal lobe located?
The temporal lobe is in the lower central area of the brain, around the top of each ear.
What is the function of the primary visual cortex?
It receives sensory information from the photoreceptors in the eyes.
How is visual information processed in the brain?
The left half of each eye (receiving information from the right visual field) sends information to the left occipital lobe.
The right half of each eye (receiving information from the left visual field) sends information to the right occipital lobe.
What is the primary area of the temporal lobe?
The primary auditory cortex.
What is the specialty area of the temporal lobe?
Wernicke’s area (involved in language comprehension).
What cognitive functions is the temporal lobe involved in?
Memory (especially recognizing people’s faces).
Object identification.
Determining appropriate behavioral responses to stimuli.
What types of memories does the temporal lobe process?
It receives, processes, and stores:
Memories of facts.
Memories of how to do things.
Personal memories.
What is the function of the primary auditory cortex?
It receives and processes auditory information from the ears.
How does the left temporal lobe process sound?
The left temporal lobe processes verbal sounds, such as words.
How does the right temporal lobe process sound?
The right temporal lobe processes non-verbal sounds, such as music.
Where is Wernicke’s area located?
Wernicke’s area is in the temporal lobe of the left hemisphere only.
What is the function of Wernicke’s area?
Wernicke’s area is responsible for:
Comprehension of speech
Speech production
Locating appropriate words from memory to express meaning
What happens if Wernicke’s area is damaged?
Damage to Wernicke’s area causes Wernicke’s aphasia, also known as fluent aphasia.
What are the symptoms of Wernicke’s aphasia?
Inability to comprehend the meaning of spoken language
Fluent but meaningless speech (word salad)
Give an example of speech from someone with Wernicke’s aphasia.
“Boy is going town to get some better, then having looking in a part.”
