Lecture 28: Brain Structures and Functions (Part 1)

Question 1

What are the functional areas of the cerebral cortex (gray matter)?

Answer 1

• sensory areas
• motor areas
• association areas

Question 2

Primary Motor Area

Answer 2

• location: precentral gyrus in the frontal lobe

- function: voluntary activation of skeletal muscles

Question 3

Motor Association Area (Premotor Area)

Answer 3

• location: anterior to the primary motor area in the frontal lobe
• function: communicates with the primary motor area and thalamus to coordinate complex learned movements

Question 4

Primary Somatosensory Area

Answer 4

• location: post central gyrus in the parietal lobe

- function: receives sensory impulses from sensory receptors responding to touch, temperature, proprioception

Question 5

Primary Visual Area

Answer 5

• location: medial portion of the occipital lobe
• function: nervous signals traveling along the optic nerve provide info about color, shape, and movement of visual stimuli

Question 6

Visual Association Area

Answer 6

• location: occipital lobe, anterior to the primary visual area
• function: receives sensory impulses from the primary visual area for recognition of visual stimuli (visual memory)

Question 7

Primary Auditory Area

Answer 7

• location: superior portion of temporal lobe
• function: receives impulses arising from the vestibulocochlear nerve which provides information on the basic characteristics of sound (pitch, rhythm, loudness)

Question 8

Auditory Association Area

Answer 8

• location: temporal lobe, inferior and posterior to the primary auditory area, typically found on the left temporal lobe
• function: interpretation and recognition of sound, determines if a sound is speech, music, or noise

Question 9

Auditory Association Area: Wernicke’s Area

Answer 9

• location: temporal lobe, posterior to the primary auditory area on the the left lobe
• function: interprets the meaning of speech (translates words into thought)

Question 10

Motor Speech Area: Broca’s Area

Answer 10

• location: frontal lobe, usually left side

- function: controls the activity of muscles of the voal cords to facilitate speech

Question 11

Basal (ganglia) nuclei

Answer 11

• location: deep in the cortex (gray matter)
• function: centers of cell bodies involved with
  1. initiation and termination of movements
  2. suppression of unwanted movements
  3. regulation of muscle tone
  4. control of subconscious contractions of skeletal muscle
• superior –> inferior: caudate nucleus, putamen, globus pallidus

Question 12

cerebral white matter

Answer 12

• location: subcortical
• function: communication between cerebral areas AND between cerebral areas and other parts of the brain
• association tract: nerve impulses between gyri in the same hemisphere
• commissural tract: gyri from one hemisphere to another (ex: anterior and posterior commissures)
• projection tract: impulses between cerebral areas and lower parts of the CNS (thalamus, brainstem, or spinal cord) AND vice versa
• corpus callosum: thick band of axons that connects 2 hemispheres, commissural tract

Question 13

hemispheric lateralization

Answer 13

• specialization of function based on hemisphere of the brain
• varies from person to person, less prominent in females