Structures of the Central Nervous System

Increased surface area

more neurons

Gyri

bumps, “gyrate”

Sulci

grooves

Fissures

very deep in sulci

Brain stem functions

• Vital functions (cardiovascular systems) • Reflexes • Movement • Balance • Connects spinal cord to the rest of the brain

cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)

filled caverns and canals inside brain

Choroid plexus

specialized tissue in ventricles that secretes CSF

Frontal lobe

• Thinking • Planning • Memory • Decision-making • Personality • Motivation • Problem solving • Movement

Parietal lobe

• Sense of “feeling” • Touch / Pressure / Temperature • Pain (nocioception) • Propioception • Sensory integration • Learned movements • Math

Motor cortex

• Controls movement • Frontal lobe

Somatic sensory cortex

• Input area for somatic senses • Parietal lobe

Occipital lobe

• Visual system • Receives input from optic nerves • Sends output to temporal lobe • Reading

Temporal lobe

• Auditory processing • Language • understanding & production • Memory • Visual interpretation

Hemispheres

• Develop from telencephalon • Refer to opposite side of body • Different functions

What are the right and left hemispheres of the brain connected by?

Corpus callosum

What is the corpus callosum?

Axon bridge allowing communication across the hemispheres

Thalamus

• “Gateway” • Relays sensory (except smell) info from primary input areas to cerebral cortex for interpretation • Also involved in sleep vs alertness, consciousness

Hypothalamus

• Autonomic systems • Homeostasis • Hormones • Circadian rhythms • Emotion

Pineal gland

• “Seat of the soul” • Circadian rhythms • Light-dark signals (melatonin)

Tegmentum

• Cardiovascular control • Sleep-wake • Movement • Reflexes

Tectum

• Visual & auditory reflexes and processing

Pons

• Autonomic nervous system • Head and neck movement

Medulla oblongata

• Autonomic nervous system • Cardiovascular • Respiration • Movement • Connects spinal cord and brain

Cerebellum

• Coordinates movement

Cingulate gyrus

Emotions and pain

Fornix

• Supports hippocampus • Emotion • Episodic memory

Olfactory bulb

• Smell processing

Optic chiasm

• Transmit visual information across hemispheres

Hippocampus

• Memory • Spatial processing • Navigation

Amygdala

• Emotion (fear, anger) • Reward/punish-based learning • Memory • Social cues

Dorsal

Superior

Ventral

inferior

Caudal

posterior

Rostral

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