The Brain

Question 1

What does the CNS consist of?

Answer 1

• Brain
• Spinal Chord

Question 2

What are creatures with a CNS called?

Answer 2

Verebrates, i.e. humans, all mammals, reptiles, birds and fish (not insects or octopodes).

Question 3

What is the other nervous system which exists in the body?

Answer 3

Peripheral Nervous System ​- stretches out from the brain and spinal chord into every other parts of the body.

Question 4

What does the Peripheral Nervous System include?

Answer 4

• Sensory neurones
• Motor neurones

Question 5

What do Sensory neurones do?

Answer 5

Carry information back to brain as sensations (“5 senses”).

Question 6

What do Motor neurones do?

Answer 6

Carry messages from brain, telling muscles to move glands to release their hormones.

Question 7

What links the two hemispheres of the brain together?

Answer 7

“Bridge” of nerve fibres (corpus callosum) allow the left and right hemispheres to communicate with each other.

Question 8

What is brain lateralisation?

Answer 8

The way the left and right sides of the brain have different functions.

Question 9

What does the left hemisphere control?

Answer 9

• The right side of the body.
• Language centre (damage takes away power to speak or write).
• Tasks to do with logic, i.e. reasoning and numbers.
• Abstract thought.

Question 10

What does the right hemisphere control?

Answer 10

• Left side of the body.
• Spatial awareness, i.e. reading maps or judging distances.
• Performs tasks to do with creativity and the arts.

Question 11

What is the Cortex?

Answer 11

Complex out layer of the brain.

Question 12

What does the cortex do?

Answer 12

Handles a lot of “higher” brain functions, i.e. conscious thought and interacting with the world around us.

Question 13

What lobes are the cortex divided into?

Answer 13

• Frontal lobe
• Parietal lobe
• Temporal lobe
• Occipital lobe
• Brain stem
• Cerebellum

Question 14

What does the Frontal lobe do?

Answer 14

Handles most of our conscious planning.

Contains pre-frontal cortex.

Question 15

What does the Pre-fronal cortex do?

Answer 15

Handles self-control and decision making (important for aggression).

Question 16

What does the Parietal lobe do?

Answer 16

Controls language but specialises in touch and direct bodily movements.

Question 17

What happens if you damage the parietal lobe?

Answer 17

Failure to store new info and problems in understanding what others are saying to us.

Question 18

What does the Temporal lobe do?

Answer 18

Handles most memory functions.

Question 19

What does the Occipital lobe do?

Answer 19

Processes sight and our sense of our environment (makes sense of visual info so we’re able to understand it) - located at the back of the brain.

Question 20

What happens if you damage the occipital lobe?

Answer 20

Cross-eyeing and partial/entrie blindness.

Question 21

What is the Limbic System?

Answer 21

Sub-cortical structures beneath the cortex, which handle memory and raw appetites, i.e. sleep, hunger, agression and sex (thought to be the source of all our basic emotions).

Question 22

What are the Sub-cortical structures?

Answer 22

• Thalamus
• Amygdala
• Hypothalamus
• Hippocampus
• Olfactory bulb

Question 23

What does the Thalamus do?

Answer 23

Sorts and relays info to the different parts of the forebrain (“the brains switchboard”).

Question 24

What does the Amygdala do?

Answer 24

Brains “emotion centre” - handles instinctive emotional responses to things, especially anger and fear (If it’s working properly, we should only fear things that are dangerous).

Question 25

What happens if there is damage to the amygdala?

Answer 25

Damage, through stroke, tumour or developmental issues, may lead to over-reactive amygdala (overly fearful or agg in situations).

• Raine et al. (1997) noticed amygdala’s in murderers pleading NGRI functioned erratically; suggested they mat not have felt fear or agg at appropriate times.
• Animal studies show when amygdala is damaged, animla stops showing fear of threatening stimuli.

Question 26

What does the Hypothalamus do?

Answer 26

Regulates hunger, thirst, sexual arousal and sleep. Also part of endocrine system which regulates hormone production in the body.

Question 27

What happens if there is damage to the hypothalamus?

Answer 27

Animals have been known to lose all interest in food or start eating compulsively.

Question 28

How does the hypothalamus lead to aggression?

Answer 28

• Regulates testosterone which is implicated in aggression.
• Has been shown to cause agg behaviour when electrically stimulated.
• Has receptors that help determine aggression levels based on interactions with serotonin and vaspressin.

Question 29

What does the Hippocampus do?

Answer 29

Important for forming new memories.

Question 30

What happens if there is damage to the hippocampus?

Answer 30

Destroys the ability to form new memories, i.e. H.M. (Henry Molaison), whose hippocampus was removed during brain surgery. Clive Wearing had viral infection which damaged his hippocampus which had the same result.