AP Psychology Unit 1 Brain Structures

Flashcards for the brain structure and function from Mr. Sinn's Ultimate Review Packet

Brain Stem

Controls basic life functions such as breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure.

Medulla Oblongata

Controls autonomic functions such as breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, and digestion.

Pons

Regulates sleep and arousal; helps with breathing regulation; connects the cerebellum to the cerebral cortex.

Cerebellum

Coordinates muscle movement and balance; involved in procedural learning.

Reticular Activating System (RAS)

Controls arousal, wakefulness, and attention; plays a role in voluntary movement and some types of learning and emotion.

Limbic System

Responsible for emotion, motivation, and memory.

Amygdala

Plays a key role in processing emotions, particularly fear and aggression; helps form emotional memories.

Hippocampus

Essential for the formation of new memories and converting short-term memory into long-term memory; involved in spatial navigation.

Thalamus

Acts as the brain’s sensory relay station, directing incoming sensory information (except smell) to appropriate areas of the cerebral cortex.

Hypothalamus

Maintains homeostasis by regulating hunger, thirst, temperature, and circadian rhythms; controls the pituitary gland.

Pituitary Gland

Known as the 'master gland'; regulates growth, metabolism, and the stress response by releasing various hormones.

Corpus Callosum

Connects the left and right hemispheres, allowing them to communicate with each other.

Cerebral Cortex

Involved in higher-order thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making; responsible for processing complex sensory information.

Frontal Lobe

Controls decision-making, problem-solving, planning, language production (Broca's area), and voluntary movement (motor cortex).

Parietal Lobe

Processes touch, pain, temperature, and includes the somatosensory cortex.

Occipital Lobe

Responsible for visual processing.

Temporal Lobe

Handles auditory processing and language comprehension (Wernicke's area).

Somatosensory Cortex

Processes sensory input from the body, including touch, pressure, and temperature.

Broca’s Area

Responsible for speech production; damage can result in Broca’s aphasia, which impairs speaking ability.

Wernicke’s Area

Responsible for language comprehension; damage can lead to Wernicke’s aphasia, affecting the ability to understand language.