The Brain & Its Functions

Opening Notes * Interest and research in the forefront is at an incomparable pace The cure for some common diseases much(prenominal) as Alzheimers, Parkinsons and Multiple Sclerosis has accelerated the efforts of many scientists * Many of the names for the federal agency of the consciousness have come from Latin and Greek words * The easiest charge to learn about the psyche is to look at it as one-third divisions the hindbrain, the midbrain and the forebrain * Modern imaging has eachowed us to study the brain and locate where important functions be occurring * Functions do not happen in just one world of the brainMany neural layers and areas are found in any one activity that happens. * Some areas do appear to be predominantly knotted in certain functions. The hindbrain * The hindbrain is fixed where the spinal cord goes into the cranium * The first area that we see if the medulla oblongata. It is the jut at the tip of the spinal cord. * It is concerned with all of our automatic functioning, such as breathing, heart rate and swallowing medulla controls all involuntary responses * latticed formation regulates sleep and wakefulness reticular formation regulates sleep and wakefulness inner(a) the medulla is the reticulum activation system It is concerned with arousal, attention and sleep * The sulphur dissipate of the hindbrain that we see is the cerebellum Is sometimes called the small brain cerebellum controls matching travel activity e. g when you first learn to ride a bike, you have to think about everything you do. After you learn to ride a bike, it becomes totally automatic, and that is because of the cerebellum * The side by side(p) depart that we see is the ponsPons means bridge in Greek and thats exactly what the pons is * It is a bridge taking in all of our sensory info and taking it to the cortex to be interpreted. pons the bridge from brainstem to cortex The midbrain * The midbrain takes all of the incoming neural information an d channels it to the correct part of the cortex to be interpreted. * It is overly involved in muscle tone and helps in sleep, wakefulness and attention. The forebrain * It is the intimately complicated part of the brain, and it is what separates us as human beings from other animals. When we first look in brass the skull, what we see is the cerebrum. * The cerebrum is dispassionate of deuce parts called cerebral hemispheres the remediate side and the left field side * The out covering of the cerebrum is called the cortex * It is made up of what is called convolutions the worm-like structures that you see when you look at the brain convolutions folds in the brain that store memories * We can look at the cortex in another way and divide the cortex into quadruple sections called lobes function of the lobe is to interpret information coming in from our senses cortex summon layer of brainLobes * Located in the hazard of the head is the occipital lobe. * The occipital lobe proces ses visual information, or what we see. occipital lobe interprets visual information * Coming to the spend of the head is the parietal lobe. * The parietal lobe processes information on pain, touch, temperature and pressure parietal lobe interprets temperature, pain, pressure and touch * Located on the sides of our head, proper above our ears, are the temporal lobes. * The temporal lobes process auditory information, perception, and have a part in memory temporal lobe interprets auditory information Located right-hand(a) above our forehead is our frontal lobe it is the largest part of the cortex and the part of our brain that makes us human. * It is involved in speech production, logical systemal and rational thought, and has the king to understand and plan the future. frontal lobe controls speaking, thought and future planning * at that place are two areas underside the frontal lobe. * The first one is the motor cortex and it interprets our muscular sensations. motor cortex controls voluntary movements Right behind it is the sensory cortex and it is the part of the cortex that tries to coordinate all of the information coming in from all of our senses. sensory cortex processes body sensations Inside of the cerebrum is the limbic system * The limbic system is a primitive part of the cerebral cortex. It is made up of several parts that have a function in the everyday working of the brain * The first part is the corpus callosum. corpus callosum connects the hemispheres of the brain * It is a band of nerve fibers that breastfeed the right and left hemisphere together. It allows the right side of our brain to notice what the left side is doing, and the left side to know what the right side is doing. * The second structure is the thalamus. The thalamus is sort of a relay center of the brain. * It takes in all of the sensory information and takes it to the cortex to be interpreted, and takes it from the cortex back to the spinal cord to get back to the bod y. thalamus relay station for visual, auditory and somatosensory information * The next part is the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus controls all of our drives and tries to maintain homeostasis homeostasis is an offset at which our body functions best. hypothalamus controls drives such as hunger, thirst and sex * The next structure is the genus Hippocampus. * The hippocampus is very important in the processing of our short memories into long- consideration memories. * This is the part of the brain that is first attacked by the disease Alzheimers. * The hippocampus also helps us in facial recognition. hippocampus stores short term memories and takes them to long term memories * The next part is the amygdala. The amygdala adds emotion to memory. * It also has a direct role in the formation of our memories. amygdala holds emotion and emotion laden memories Located inside our frontal lobe are two areas that help in our speech production * The first is Brocas area. For most people, all r ight-handed people, and most left-handed people, Brocas area is fit(p) in the left hemisphere. Brocas area controls our ability to speak * This allows us to speak. It coordinates what we want to say with our tongues and our muscles. The next area is located a runty bit behind Brocas area more toward the temporal lobe is Werniches area. * Werniches area allows us to understand what is spoken to us. Werniches area creates the understanding of written and spoken language Lateralization in Epilepsy long-suffering * Patients with severe epilepsy have allowed us to discover another important fantasy about our brains. * To help severe epileptics when drugs failed, a dramatic operation was performed and it involved cutting the corpus callosum. Separating the hemispheres allows the seizures to be localized and not spread from hemisphere to the other. Split-brain patients learn that the hemispheres will have distinct, different functions this is called lateralization. Hemispheres * The le ft hemisphere controls the right side of the body. * It also coordinates our language abilities because it has both(prenominal) Brocas area and Wernickes area in it. * The left side is also the logical, rational brain and excels in such areas as science and math. left hemisphere controls language, logic and sequential tasks * The right hemisphere controls the left side of the body. It excels in spatial abilities. * It is our artistic and musical part of our brain. It also has a function in detecting and emoting emotions. * In all but split-brain patients, we use all of our brains and both hemispheres since they communicate with each other. * The right hemisphere knows what is happening in the left hemisphere, and the left hemisphere knows whats going on in the right hemisphere. right hemisphere controls spatial-visual tasks, facial recognition and creativity Extra Keywords (NEED TO kip down THESE) * septum controls and create rageful behavior * cerebrum the largest part of the bra in divided into two hemispheres