M19: The Brain Part I - Cerebrum, Diencephalon, Cerebellum, and Brainstem Flashcards
What position is Rostral?
Towards the nose
What position is caudal?
towards the back of the head
What position is Ventral?
towards the front of the body
Anterior/Posterior ends
What position is dorsal?
the back of the body
Superior/Inferior ends of the body
Afferent
Incoming sensory information
Efferent
Outgoing motor information
Contralateral
opposite side
Ipsilateral
same side
What is the Telencephalon
aka cerebrum, the largest part of the brain
What is the Diencephalon?
Gray matter surrounded by the cerebral hemispheres
What makes up the diencephalon?
-All structures that end in -amus
-Composed of three paired structures:
—>Thalamus
—>Hypothalamus
—>Epithalamus
What is the Thalamus?
-a collection of nuclei that relay information between the cerebral cortex
and the spinal cord or brain stem
-does not just pass the information on, it also processes that information
—->For example, the portion of the thalamus that receives visual information
will influence what visual stimuli are important, or what receives attention
What is the Hypothalamus?
- the executive region in charge of the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system through its regulation of the pituitary gland
-master control center of the endocrine system
-
What structure is the master control center of the endocrine system?
Hypothalamus
What is the function of the hypothalamus?
-Controls the release of regulatory hormones from the anterior pituitary gland
-Secretes specific hormones from the posterior pituitary gland
-Controls the stimulation and secretion activities of the adrenal medulla
Mesencephalon
midbrain
Metencephalon
region of the brain that differentiates into the pons and cerebellum
Myelencephalon
region of the brain composed of the medulla oblongata
Gray matter
cell bodies, dendrites, unmyelinated axons
- middle of spinal cord
Cortex
-covers the surface of the brain
-forms discrete internal clusters called cerebral nuclei
White matter
Myelinated axons (lipid substance)
What is the Cerebral Cortex ?
-Thin layer of gray matter on the outside of the cerebrum
-Tightly folded to fit within the limited space inside the skull, creating the sulci and gyri
What are the functional areas of the cerebral cortex?
-Cognition
-Motor areas
-Sensory areas
-Multimodal association areas
Cognition of the cerebral cortex
Mental processes such as awareness, knowledge, memory, perception, information
Motor areas of the cerebral cortex
Control voluntary motor functions
Sensory areas of the cerebral cortex
-Provide conscious awareness of sensation
-process incoming sensory information
Multimodal association areas of the cerebral cortex
-Integration and interpretation of sensory and
motor information → mixture of both sensory and motor information
Brodmann’s Areas
-German anatomist Korbinain Brodmann, 1909
—>Created the map based on cytoarchitectural differences in different brain regions
—> Areas numbered 1-52
What makes up area’s 1,2,3 of the brain?
primary somatosensory cortex
What makes up area 4 of the brain?
primary motor cortex
What makes up area 17 of the brain?
primary visual cortex
What makes up area 22 of the brain?
primary auditory cortex
What makes up areas 39 and 40 of the brain?
Wernicke’s area
What makes up areas 41 and 42 of the brain?
-primary auditory cortices in the superior temporal lobe.
-This is the first cortical area involved in processing hearing.
What makes up areas 44 and 45 of the brain?
Broca’s area: production of speech
Cytoarchitecture
-an extensive study of the microscopic anatomy of the cerebral cortex
-Found that the structure of the neurons in a given region of the cerebral cortex governs the function of that area of the cortex
-Cortex: 6 layers to cortex
-Not the same across the whole brain
Are the left and right cerebral hemispheres of the brain identical?
Anatomically mirror images, but differ functionally (hemispheric lateralization)
Median longitudinal fissure
divides the two cerebral hemispheres
Function of the right hemisphere?
visuospatial processes, imagination, music, and artistic skills
Function of the left hemisphere?
Analytical thinking and math skills generally, language centers are only located in the left hemisphere (with rare exceptions)
How are the cerebral hemispheres connected?
-Only connected by a few white matter pathways
—>Corpus Callosum, Anterior commissure, and Posterior commissure
What is the corpus callusum?
-the longest portion that connects the cerebral hemispheres
-Contains the default mode network, salience network, and central executive network
What is the default mode network in the corpus collusum?
-activates when not performing a task
—>Daydreaming, mind-wandering, thinking about others