CGS Exam 1: L4 Overview of Brain Structure

Telencephelon: neocortex (new brain), higher-order thinking 

• Tied together by corpus callosum, includes occipital, temporal, parietal, and frontal lobe 

• White matter: axons of neurons, tracts (cabling of brain, connections), and gray matter (cell bodies)

• Parietal: somatosensory (map of brain + body), spatial orientation

• Occipital: vision

• Temporal: hearing, visual, object/face recognition, autobiographical memory

• Frontal + prefrontal cortex: (most recently evolved), working memory, planning, cognitive assessment of emotion and personality, judgement, decision making, motor + premotor 

Diencephelon: limbic system (mammalian brain), emotional center

• Hippocampus: memory

• Thalamus: sensory relay (think of an airport taking planes everywhere)

• Amygdala: emotional detection/response (ex: experiencing fear), looks like an almond (almond stuck at the end of the hippocampus)

Mesencephelon: midbrain 

• Oldest part of brain

• Subcortical sensory systems

• Superior colliculus

• Inferior colliculus

Metencephelon: brainstem (reptilian brain), survival instincts + cerebellum

• Cerebellum: motor + procedural memory, houses most of the neurons (“little brain”)

Myelencephelon

spinal cord