CNS and Human Behaviour Flashcards
Functions of the CNS
- Collects, processes and responds to info in the environment.
- Coordinates the working of different organs and cells.
Spinal Cord
Responsible for reflex actions like when you touch something hot.
The Brain
Source of conscious awareness and decision making.
Corpus Callosum
Connects the two brain hemispheres.
Left and Right hemisphere
Left hemisphere controls activity on right side of the body and vice versa.
Brains outer layer
Cerebral cortex
3mm thick and covers inner parts of the brain
Cortical and subcortical
Cortical belongs to the cortex and subcortical is below the cortex.
Subcortical - Thalamus
- Receives info from various senses except smell.
- Passes info to appropriate areas of cerebral cortex for processing.
- Acts as a filter of info.
- Plays a role in sleep, wakefulness and OCD.
Subcortical - Hypothalamus
- Below the thalamus,
- Controls motivational behaviours like hunger, thirst and sex.
- Controls fight or flight.
- Balances temp and regulates endocrine system.
Subcortical - Limbic System
- Several structures like the amygdala.
- Regulates emotional response.
- Memory and learning.
Subcortical - Cerebellum
- 2 hemispheres.
- Coordinate balance, posture and movement.
Subcortical - Corpus Callosum
- Dense collection of nerves connecting two hemispheres below cerebral cortex.
- Allows communication between the two hemispheres.
Lateralisation and Localisation
Left hemisphere associated with language - lateralisation.
Localisation - Certain areas in each hemisphere responsible for specific functions and behaviours.
Cerebral Cortex
- Subdivided into four lobes in each hemisphere.
- Convolutions increase cortex’s surface area giving it more processing power.
Cerebral Cortex - Frontal lobes
- 40% of the cerebral cortex.
- Control high level cognitive functions like thinking and problem solving.
- Contains motor cortex, each one controls voluntary movements on the opposite side of the body.
Cerebral Cortex - Parietal lobes
- Process sensory info from skin, in a contralateral manner.
Cerebral Cortex - Temporal Lobes
- Each lobe contains an auditory cortex dealing with sound from the opposite ear. Process location, volume and pitch.
Cerebral Cortex - Occipital Lobes
- Each lobe has a primary visual cortex and several secondary areas.
- Everything seen on the right of our FOV is initially processed by the left visual cortex and then shared with the right.
Broca’s Area
Broca identified a small area in the left frontal lobe responsible for speech production.
- Damage causes Broca’s Aphasia. Slow laborious speech.
Wernicke’s Area
He was describing patients with language understanding difficulties, producing fluent meaningless speech. He located the main area of damage in the left temporal lobe.
