Psych - Unit 1: Neuroanatomy

Hindbrain

part of brain composed of cerebellum, medulla oblongata, RAS, and pons

cerebellum

controls muscle tone and balance, coordination, procedural learning

brain stem/medulla oblongata

controls basic life functions

RAS and reward system

controls arousal, voluntary movement and eye movement; learning, emotion, cognition

pons

way station in brain, “bridge“, passing neural info from one brain region to another

Forebrain

part of brain that contains limbic system and cerebral cortex

limbic system

emotional center of brain, composed of thalamus, hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus

thalamus

relays sensory info, receives and directs sensory info from visual and auditory systems

hippocampus

processes and integrates memories

anterograde amnesia

condition that prevents the formation of new memories

amygdala

implicated in anger, frustration, and fear

hypothalamus

controls temperature and water balance of body, controls hunger, activates the SNS and endocrine system

lateral and ventromedial

hypothalamus combination that regulates eating behaviors and body weight

lateral hypothalamus

“on switch“ for eating, damage = starvation

ventromedial hypothalamus

“off switch“ for eating, damage = obesity

cerebral cortex

wrinkled out layer of the brain, contained by forebrain, involved in higher cognitive functions

sensory and motor cortex

the cerebral cortex receives ___ input and sends out ____ info

left and right hemispheres

the cerebral cortex covers ___, two symmetrical-looking sides of brain

corpus callosum

band of connective nerve fibers that joins the hemispheres

left hemisphere

the hemisphere specialized for language processing

receptive aphasia

inability to comprehend speech

expressive aphasia

loss of the ability to speak

right hemisphere

processes visual and spatial info

contralateral processing

the ability to use both hemisphere of brain, split-brain patients lack this

cortex components

frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital

frontal lobe

lobe responsible for higher-level thought/reasoning, located at front of brain

parietal lobe

lobe responsible for somatosensory information, home of primary somatosensory cortex, receives info about temp, pressure, texture, pain, located at top of brain

temporal lobe

lobe that handles auditory input, critical for processing speech and listening to music, located at side of brain

occipital lobe

lobe that processes visual input, located at back of brain

optic chiasm

information processed by occipital lobe crosses ___

association areas

areas of the cerebral cortex responsible for associating info in the sensory and motor cortices

apraxia

inability to organize movement

agnosia

difficulty processing sensory input

alexia

inability to read

agraphia

inability to write

neuroplasticity

the brain’s ability to form or sever neural connections, allowing the brain to compensate for injury/disease