PSY 1101 - Chapter 03: Biology & Neuroscience (Pt. 4) Flashcards
What is the Hypothalamus?
Its so powerful its called the brain within the brain
- it controls and regulates a variety of functions that are essential for survival and for living
What are the Drives to the Hypothalamus?
Drives: hunger, thirst, sex
What is Homeostasis?
the hypothalamus controls and regulates homeostasis (the internal balance of the body)
- keeps it within a narrow healthy range (for example, body temperature)
What are Social Bonds?
attachments, the hypothalamus plays an important role in the formation of social bonds
Hypothalamus is responsible for the production of oxytocin
What is Oxytocin?
The formation of emotional bonds
- the love hormone
What two systems does the Hypothalamus Control?
- Endocrine System
- Autonomic System
What is the Cerebral Cortex?
the youngest part of the brain = outer layer of the brain
- cortex is the most complex relative to body size
- 2 hemispheres
What is the Cerebral Cortex Responsible for?
Responsible for our most complex mental functions such as reading, learning
- cortex makes us adaptable
How much of the Cerebral Cortex is Visible?
only ⅓ of our cerebral cortex is visible, the rest is hidden in those grooves (its like scrunched up)
What is the Corpus Callusom?
a bundle of fibres that the two hemispheres use to communicate with one another
What is the Left Hemisohere?
Receives information from the right side of the body
- Controls the right side of the body
What is the Right Hemisphere?
Receives information from the left side of the body
- Controls the left side of the body
What are the Four Lobes of the Cerebral Cortex?
- Frontal
- Parietal
- Temporal
- Occipital
Each lobe consists of two areas: Primary and Association
What are the Primary Areas?
Primary areas are found in each lobe
- they are linked and associated with the processing of either motor or sensory information
What are the Different Primary Areas?
- Primary Visual Cortex
- Primary Auditory Cortex
- Primary Sensory Cortex
What is the Primary Visual Cortex?
Located in the occipital lobes
- Processes visual information
What is the Primary Auditory Cortex?
Located in the Temporal Lobes
- Processes auditory information
What is the Primary Sensory Cortex?
Also known as Primary Somatosensory Cortex
- located in the parietal lobes
- arches from one ear to the next
- receives information from the skin, muscles and joints
- Processes information pertaining to touch, pain, temperature etc.
What is the Parietal Cortex?
The right part of the parietal cortex receives info from the left side of the body and vice versa.
- each body part is represented in the parietal cortex
- adjacent body parts are serviced by adjacent areas in the brain
What is the Primary Motor Cortex?
Located in the frontal lobes
- arches from one ear to the next and it controls voluntary movements
- the left part services the right part of the body and vice versa
- adjacent body parts are serviced by adjacent areas in the brain
What are Association Areas?
Association areas are found in each lobe and they are linked and associated with higher and more complex mental functioning (e.g., reasoning)
- involved in the processing of complex motor or sensory information
What is the Association Area of the Frontal Lobes?
Executive Function
- Attention
- Planning
- Decision making
- Abstract thinking
- Some aspects of memory
- Some aspects of personality
- Some aspects of language (Broca’s area language production)
- Impulse control
- Emotions
- The last area of the brain to be myelinated and to mature
What is the Association Area of the Temporal Lobes?
- Some aspects of language (Wernicke’s area: understanding language)
- Recognizing faces
- Music
- Some aspects of memory
- God spot
What is the Association Area of the Parietal Lobes?
- Nonverbal thinking (e.g. math, spatial reasoning)
- Sense of space
