MCAT Brain

Spinal cord general function and specific function

General function : simple reflexes

Specific function :

• control stretch and tendon reflex

• Controls primitive process such as walking, urination, and sex organ function w

Medulla general function and specific functions

General function: Involuntary function

Specific function:

• Controls blood pressure, blood flow, heart rate, swallowing, vomitting

• Controls coughing or sneezing

• Relays sensory information to the cerebellum and the thalamus

Pons general and specific function

General function: relay station and balance

Specific function:

• Controls balance and posture

• Relays information from cerebellum and thalamus

Cerebellum general and specific functions

General movement : movement coordination

Specific movement : Integration center of complex and balance

Midbrain general and specific function

General: Eye movement

Specific : Integration of auditory and visual information , coordinates information on posture and muscle tone

Thalamus general and specific functions

General function: Integrating center an relay station

Specific function:

• Relay station for conscious sensation

• Relay information between the spinal cord and cerebral cortex

Hypothalamus general and specific function

General function: Homeostasis and behavior

Specific function: Controls homeostatic functions, primitive emotions, and pituitary gland

General and specific function of basal nuclei

General function: Movement

Specific function: Regulate body movement, muscle tone, coordination of movement, subconscious adjustments of conscious movement

General and specific functioning of limbic system

General: Emotion, memory, learning

Specific: Control of emotional state, links conscious to unconscious in brain, helps with memory storage and retrieval

General and specific function of cerebral cortex

General cortex: Perception, skeletal muscle movement, memory, attention , thought, language, consciousness

Specific:

• Divided into four lobes (frontal, temporal, parietal, Occipital )

• Conscious thought

• Perception and processing of senses

• Intellect

• Abstract thought and reasoning

• Memory storage and revival

• Complex motor

• Language

Corpus callosum general and specific function

General function: connection

Specific : Connections left and right hemisphere

What are the principle structures of the forebrain and each of their functions

Cerebral cortex : complex perceptual, cognitive , and behavioral process

Basal ganglia : : movement

Limbic system : Emotion/memory

Thalamus : relay station

Hypothalamus : hunger and thirst

Explain the structures in the midbrain and each of their functions

Inferior and superior collculi: sensorimotor reflex

What are the structures on the hindbrain and functions

Cerebellum: motor movements

Medulla oblongata: Vital functioning (breathing)

Reticular formation: Arousal

Broncas vs Wernickes

Brocas - Broduction (towards the front of the brain, frontal lobe)

Wernicke - Winterpretation (towards the back of the brain, temporal lobe)

List the brain lobes and function

Frontal : governs executive function, impulse control, problem solve, voluntary movement

Parietal lobe : Somatosensory information and spatial processing

Temporal lobe : Responsible for auditory processing, memory processing, and emotion

Occipital lobe : Visual processing

How does Parkinson’s disease happen

Degeneration of substantia Nigra - loss of dopamine producing neurons substantia nigra of the basal ganglia

Explain huntingtons disease

Degeneration of basal ganglia leading to a decrease in GABA and increase in dopamine activity , autosomal dominant ,

Explain Alzheimer’s disease

Severe shrinkage of hippocampus, to compensate for the lost brain mass, the fluid fulled brain ventricles enlarge