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Frontal Lobe
A region of the cerebral cortex that has specialized areas for movement, abstract thinking, planning, speaking, memory, and judgement.
Parietal Lobe
A region of the cerebral cortex whose functions include processing information about touch.
Occipital Lobe
A region of the cerebral cortex that processes visual information.
Motor Cortex
An area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements.
Temporal Lobe
An area on each hemisphere of the cerebral cortex near the temples that is the primary receiving area for auditory information.
Somatosensory Cortex
Area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch and movement sensations.
Association Areas
Areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions; rather, they are involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking.
Phineas Gage
Railroad worker who survived a severe brain injury that dramatically changed his personality and behavior; case played a role in the development of the understanding of the localization of brain function.
Brain Plasticity
The ability of other parts of the brain to take over functions of damaged regions. Declines as hemispheres of the cerebral cortex lateralize.
Neurogenesis
The development of new neurons.
Hemispherectomy
The radical removal of half of a child's brain in the treatment of extreme cases of brain seizures.
Split Brains
A condition resulting from surgery that isolates the brain's two hemispheres by cutting the fibers (mainly those of the corpus callosum) connecting them.
Consciousness
Our awareness of ourselves and our environment.
Cognitive Neuroscience
The interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language).
Dual Processing
The principle that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks.
Blindsight Phenomenon
A condition in which people are unable to consciously report on visual stimuli but nevertheless are able to accurately answer questions about what they are seeing.
Parallel Processing
The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision. Contrasts with the step-by-step (serial) processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving.
Sequential Processing
The processing of one aspect of a problem at a time; used when we focus attention on new or complex tasks.
Homonculus
A rendering of the body in which each part is shown in proportion to show how much of the somatosensory cortex is devoted to it.
Paul Broca
The part of the brain responsible for coordinating muscles involved in speech was named for him, because he first identified it.
Carl Wernicke
An area of the brain (in the left temporal lobe) involved in language comprehension and expression was named for him because he discovered it.
Biopsychosocial Approach
An integrated perspective that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis.
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