CHAPTER 6; THE INTERACTION BETWEEN COGNITIVE PROCESSES OF THE BRAIN AND ITS STRUCTURE

Question 1

What is the hindbrain?

Answer 1

the link between the spinal cord and the brain, it is important for movement and balance. It includes the brainstem, medulla, pons, cerebellum, and parts of the reticular formation.

Question 2

What is the forebrain?

Answer 2

responsible for high-order thinking processes including problem solving, planning, as well as memory, language, emotions and body movement.

Question 3

What is the cerebral cortex?

Answer 3

The outer area of the cerebrum. Higher mental processes and mental behaviours. The cortex comprises two hemispheres which are connected to each other by the corpus callosum.

Question 4

What is the Corpus Callosum?

Answer 4

a thick band of around 200 million nerve fibres connecting the right and left hemispheres of the brain.

Question 5

What is the Central Nervous System (CNS)?

Answer 5

comprises the brain and the spinal cord. enables communication from the brain to the rest of the body.

Question 6

What is the Peripheral Nervous System?

Answer 6

communicates information from the body’s organs, glands and muscles to the CNS, including information from the outside and inside world. it also communicates information from the CNS to the body’s organs, glands and muscles via motor neurons.

Question 7

What are the two subdivisions of the PNS?

Answer 7

somatic nervous system and autonomic nervous system.

Question 8

What are the two branches of the autonomic nervous system?

Answer 8

Sympathetic nervous system and Parasympathetic nervous system.

Question 9

What are Motor neurons?

Answer 9

neurons that communicate messages from the CNS to the particular muscles that an organism intends to move at any particular moment.

Question 10

What is a Sensory neuron?

Answer 10

a neuron that carries information from the body and from the outside world into the CNS.

Question 11

What is Wernicke’s area?

Answer 11

part of the left temporal lobe, responsible for language reception and interpretation and for creation of grammatically correct speech.

Question 12

What is Broca’s area?

Answer 12

the speech production centre of the brain.

Question 13

What is the spinal cord?

Answer 13

the bundle of nerve fibres connecting the brain with the peripheral nervous system.

Question 14

Where is the temporal lobe located?

Answer 14

part of the forebrain beneath the temporal plate of the skull, at the side of the head above the ears.

Question 15

What is the function of the temporal lobe?

Answer 15

mainly responsible for processing auditory information - sensations received in the ears. It performs the complex auditory analysis that is necessary for understanding human speech or listening to music.

Question 16

Where is the Occipital lobe located?

Answer 16

in the forebrain, at the rear of the brain.

Question 17

What is the function of the occipital lobe?

Answer 17

entirely concerned with visual stimuli.

Question 18

Where is the parietal lobe located?

Answer 18

the top middle section of the brain.

Question 19

What is the function of the parietal lobe?

Answer 19

enable a person to perceive their own body and to perceive where things are located in their immediate environment.

Question 20

What is the Cerebellum?

Answer 20

it monitors and regulates motor behaviour, particularly automatic movements.

Question 21

What is the pineal gland?

Answer 21

a pea-sized conical mass of tissue, produces melatonin, which helps maintain circadian rhythm and regulate reproductive hormones.

Question 22

What is the thalamus?

Answer 22

a structure which is shaped like 2 eggs beneath the cortex, it processes incoming sensory information and transmits it to the other, higher parts of the brain for further processing.

Question 23

What is the Medulla?

Answer 23

heartbeat, breathing and other vital bodily functions.

Question 24

What is the Amygdala?

Answer 24

an almond-shaped structure, located in the medial temporal lobe of the brain that in central in emotion, aggression and in implicit learning. It is vital in initiating and processing emotional responses and in forming emotional memories.

Question 25

What is the Pons?

Answer 25

Controls movement, breathing, sleeping, dreams and waking.

Question 26

What is the Brainstem?

Answer 26

connects the brain to the spinal cord. Regulate reflex survival responses.

Question 27

What is the Midbrain?

Answer 27

connects the hindbrain with the forebrain and controls arousal levels, attention and consciousness; essentially comprises the reticular activating system (RAS).

Question 28

What are Gyri?

Answer 28

the bulges on the brain containing an enormous number of neurons and blood vessels. (opposite to sulci)

Question 29

What are Sulci?

Answer 29

the valleys of the brain (opposite to gyri)

Question 30

What is the longitudinal fissure?

Answer 30

the large groove that runs the length of the brain, separating the two cerebral hemispheres.

Question 31

What is the primary auditory cortex?

Answer 31

located in the upper part of the temporal lobe. Receives sounds from the ears.

Question 32

What is the primary motor cortex?

Answer 32

located at the rear of each frontal lobe. Responsible for movement of the skeletal muscles of the body.

Question 33

What is the primary somatosensory cortex?

Answer 33

located at the front of each parietal lobe. Processes sensations such as touch, pressure, temperature and pain from the body.

Question 34

What is the primary visual cortex?

Answer 34

located in the occipital lobes. Processes information from the eyes.

Question 35

Where is the frontal lobe located?

Answer 35

the largest lobe of the brain, at the front.

Question 36

What is the function of the frontal lobe?

Answer 36

it has several functions, including movement of the body, language, planning, judgement, problem solving, aspects of personality and emotions.

Question 37

What are the association areas?

Answer 37

the remaining part of the cortex. includes Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas.