Lecture 2: Macroanatomy Flashcards
What is the frontal lobe responsible for?
Executive function, decision making, planning, impulse control, etc.
What is the occipital lobe responsible for?
- -Vision
- -1o, 2o visual cortices
What is the parietal lobe responsible for?
Tactile function (sense of touch), sensory & motor information processing.
What is the temporal lobe responsible for?
Auditory, visual, gustatory, emotion, memory (emotional memory)
What is the cerebrum?
- -Forebrain structure;
- -Two identical hemispheres;
- -Responsible for most conscious behaviour
What is the cerebellum?
- -Control and coordination of fine motor skills;
- -Does not initiate movements, but coordinates the timing, precision and accuracy of movements
- —Size of cerebellum increases with physical speed and dexterity
What is the function of the brainstem?
- -Responsible for unconscious behaviours (breathing, heart rate);
- -Structurally continuous with the spinal cord
- -Receives afferent nerves (sensory info) from all the body’s senses (gustatory, touch, pain, temperature)
- -Sends efferent nerves to the spinal cord.
Because of evolution, our brain stem and other primitive regions of the brain (which are important for keeping us alive since it controls hunger, heart rate, breathing, etc), became very well protected by adding more brain structures (cerebrum) that do functions that are less important (complex thinking, planning, impulse control, etc). So, now the regions of the brain that help keep you alive are cushioned better and this is all because of evolution.
What is the difference between gyri and sulci?
–Gyri: Bumps & ridges of the cerebral cortex;
–sulci: Cracks & valleys of the cerebral cortex;
Fissures are deep sulci.
–Together, gyri and sulci create a larger surface area for the human brain.
–Larger cortical surface area = greater cognitive function.
What is grey matter?
- -Largely composed of cell bodies and capillary blood vessels;
- -Process information and supports behavior
What is white matter?
- -Nerve fibers with fatty coverings;
- -Form connections between cells.
What are ventricles?
4 cavities filled with cerebral spinal fluid (CSF);
–Derived from blood plasma;
–NaCl- and other salts;
–Serves as a cushion and immunological support for the brain.
Cells that line the walls of the ventricles called ependymal cells produce CSF.
CSF moves anterior to posterior (lateral ventricles>third ventricles>fourth ventricles) and then it gets flushed out the cerebral aqua duct. You can use the flow of CSF strategically to inject a drug in a specific area of the brain. For example, if you want to drug to go all over the brain, you’d inject it at the forebrain so it can get into the CSF and run anterior (forebrain) to posterior
Hydrocephaly: when the cerebral aqua duct gets plugged and old CSF can’t get flushed out and the ependymal cells are still producing more CSF causing swelling of the brain
What is the corpus callosum?
- -Bundle of connections/white matter between the two hemispheres of the brain which allows both hemispheres communicate.
- -Over 200 million nerve fibers that connect the 2 hemispheres;
- -Divides brain into cortical & subcortical regions
- -Split brain personality
What is the brainstem divided into?
Hindbrain
Midbrain
Diencephalon
What is the hindbrain?
Cerebellum
Reticular Formation
- -Located at the core of the brainstem;
- -Netlike mixture of grey & white matter.
Pons
–Connects the cerebellum to the rest of the brain.
Medulla
- -Controls breathing & cardiovascular system.
- -Connects brain to spinal cord
What is the midbrain?
Tectum
- -Dorsal side of midbrain;
- -Receives sensory information from the eyes and ears;
- -Allows production auditory and visual reflexes
Tegmentum
- -Red nuclei –> motor coordination of the limbs;
- -Substantia Nigra –> initiates (voluntary) movements;
- -Periaqueductal grey matter –> sexual behaviour & pain.
