Brain Areas -> BIOPSYCH

Retina

Technically part of the brain; contains rods (dim light/motion) and cones (detail/color) that transduce light into neural signals

Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN):

A thalamic relay station with six layers. The inner two are magnocellular (fast/motion) and the outer four are parvocellular (detail/color)

Primary Visual Cortex (V1/Striate Cortex):

Located in the occipital lobe; contains a retinotopic map where different modules process color (blobs) and orientation/motion (interblobs)

Area V4:

Specialized for processing color and detecting curvature and shape

Area MT (V5) & MST:

Located in the temporal lobe; MT is critical for motion perception

Inferior Temporal (IT) Cortex:

.The high-level end of the Ventral ("What") Stream; identifies complex objects and faces

Fusiform Gyrus:

A specific region in the IT cortex essential for face recognition

Parietal Lobe:

Houses the Dorsal ("Where/How") Stream

Superior Colliculus & Pulvinar Nucleus:

Subcortical structures that support visual orienting and unconscious perception

Brainstem & Midbrain Structures:

Includes the cochlear nuclei

Medial Geniculate Nucleus

The thalamic relay for auditory information

Primary Auditory Cortex:

Located in the Superior Temporal Gyrus; organized tonotopically

Broca’s Area:

Found in the left posterior inferior frontal lobe; responsible for speech production

Wernicke’s Area:

Found in the left posterior superior temporal lobe; critical for language comprehension

Angular Gyrus:

Facilitates audio-visual integration

Right Hemisphere:

While the left hemisphere handles literal language

Medial Temporal Lobe (MTL):

The broader region essential for declarative memory

Hippocampal Formation:

Comprises the dentate gyrus

Entorhinal Cortex:

Acts as the interface between the neocortex and the hippocampus; it is the site where Alzheimer's pathology typically first appears

Parahippocampal Place Area (PPA):

Selective for recognizing scenes and the global spatial layout of an environment

Retrosplenial Complex (RSC):

Located in the medial parietal cortex; codes for allocentric heading (direction-independent of viewpoint)

Amygdala:

Critical for memories of emotionally arousing experiences and fear conditioning

Frontal Lobes:

Involved in encoding and retrieval strategies and remembering contextual details like the source of information

Thalamus:

Various nuclei (Anterior

Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) & Substantia Nigra (SN):

Midbrain sources of dopamine. VTA drives reward and addiction

Nucleus Accumbens:

A primary target of the reward system where dopamine release reinforces behavior

Locus Coeruleus:

A small nucleus in the pons that releases noradrenaline

Raphe Nuclei:

Clusters of neurons in the brainstem that are the sole source of serotonin

Hypothalamus:

Controls fundamental bodily needs; contains the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN)

Prefrontal Cortex (PFC):

The center for "top-down" executive control