Ch. 3 birth to adolescence + oral response

Major Areas of the Brain

• cerebrum

• limbic system

• cerebellum

• brainstem

Cerebrum (big thinker)

• Located atop the brainstem/cerebrum 

• Divided into left/right hemispheres 

• Four main lobes 

  • Frontal lobe

  • Parietal lobe

  • Temporal lobe

  • Occipital lobe

Limbic system (emotion & memory hub)

• Hippocampus

• Amygdala

• Hypothalamus

Which areas are for linguistic processing

• Frontal lobe; processed and stored in the right hemisphere; these assist in linguistic processing…

  • Angular gyrus - for word recall

  • Supramarginal gyrus - for longer syntactic units (ex. sentences) 

Right hemisphere (big picture)

• Trouble with decoding written words

• Helps with emotions

• Helps to keep speech/ideas connected

• Damage here can make understanding jokes, emotions, and conversations hard

---

• Space, depth, faces, pictures

• Tone, emotion, jokes, metaphors

• Music & environmental sounds

Left Hemisphere (detail & language)

• Language (speech, reading, writing)

• Step-by-step processing

• Speech sounds (phonemes)

• Math, logic, order

• Dominant for language in most people

neuroscience

• The study of neuroanatomy (where structures are located)

• neurophysiology (how the brain functions)

Cranial nerves

• 12 cranial nerves that interact w/ CNS

• Important for speech, language, and hearing

• Courses between the brainstem, face, and neck 

• They connect directly to the brainstem

Spinal nerves

• 31 spinal nerves that interact w/ CNS

• Connects the spinal cord to the rest of the body

• Their main job is to carry messages:

  • To the brain from the senses and organs

  • From the brain to the muscles and organs

Cerebellum

• Aka the little brain, is found in the posterior base of the brain. 

• Consists of the right/left hemispheres and the vermis (central)

• It has an influence on language processing and higher-level cognitive and emotional functions

What's the largest portion of the brain

Cerebrum (40% of the brain’s total weight)

What's the corpus callosum 

The main transverse tract of neurons that run between the two hemispheres of the brain 

When does the brain reach mature weight?

By age 12

Working memory

Memory in which information is held while being processed 

Damage to Wernicke’s area can…

cause a disruption in expressive/receptive language abilities

Damage to the arcuate fasciculus may not affect speech much, but…

may result in repetitiveness or incoherent sentences

Damage to Broca’s area makes it hard to…

speak, but understanding language and writing may still be mostly okay

Discrimination through language decoding

• One's ability to identify stimuli differing along some dimension 

• Requires working memory 

Frontal lobe

planning, making decisions, personality, speech, voluntary movement

Parietal lobe

touch, pain, temperature, spatial awareness

Temporal lobe

hearing, understanding language, memory, emotion

Occipital lobe

vision

Hippocampus

forming new memories

Amygdala

emotions like fear and pleasure

Hypothalamus

hunger, thirst, temperature, hormones

What is the difference between near transfer and far transfer?

• Near transfer - applying what you learned to a similar situation

  • Ex. using math skills to solve another math problem 

• Far transfer - applying what you learned to a very different situation 

  • Ex. Using math skills for a real-world problem

What are the interactive mechanisms involved in working memory, and what are their functions?

• Central Executive - the “boss” that directs attention and coordinates information from the other components.

• Phonological Loop - handles verbal and auditory information (like repeating a phone number in your head).

• Visuospatial Sketchpad - handles visual and spatial information (like imagining a map or arranging furniture in a room).

• Episodic Buffer - integrates information from the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and long-term memory into a coherent sequence or episode.

Discuss the functions for which Broca’s area is important.

• Speech production - forming words and sentences

• grammar/syntax - organizing words correctly in a sentence

• Motor control for speaking - coordinating the muscles used in speech

• Language processing - helps turn thoughts into spoken language

Name at least four factors that influence the number/location of activated regions for language.

• Age - younger brains might use more areas because of ongoing development 

• Handedness - those who are left-handed/ambidextrous may have different language dominance 

• Type of task - speaking, reading, listening, or writing 

• Language proficiency - knowing multiple languages may change which areas are used

In which language functions does the right hemisphere play a large role?

• Understanding tone/emotions in speech

• Figurative language 

• Comprehending/following the context of conversations

What are the three basic brain functions, and what areas of the brain are involved in each?

• Sensory input - receiving information from the senses

  • Involved in: sensory cortex, thalamus

• Integration - processing and interpreting information

  • Involved in: association areas, cerebral cortex

• Motor output -  responding to information with action

  • Involved in: motor cortex, cerebellum, brainstem

What are the three types of fiber tracts in the brain, and what do they connect?

• Association fibers - connect areas within the same hemisphere of the brain

• Commissural fibers - connect the left and right hemispheres (ex. corpus callosum)

• Projection fibers - connect the cerebrum w/ lower parts of the brain and the spinal cord

Name the components of the cerebellum, discuss its functions, and describe the feedback loop with other parts of the brain.

• Cerebellar cortex - the outer layer that processes information

• Cerebellar hemispheres - coordinate voluntary movement

• Vermis - controls posture and balance

• Deep cerebellar nuclei -  relay signals to other parts of the brain

---

Feedback Loop

1. The cerebellum receives information from the cerebral cortex, spinal cord, and sensory systems about planned/ongoing movements. 

2. The cerebellum checks how the movement is happening 

3. The cerebellum then sends corrections back to the brain

What are the components of the brainstem, and what general function do they serve?

• Midbrain - controls reflexes for vision/hearing

• Pons - regulates breathing/sleep; connects different parts of the brain

• Medulla oblongata - controls vital functions (heart rate, breathing, blood pressure)

What are the three components of a neuron, and what are their basic functions?

• Dendrites - receive messages from other neurons 

• Cell body (soma) - controls the neuron and processes information 

• Axon - sends messages to other neurons/muscles 

What are the four steps of information processing?

• Input - receiving information 

• Storage - keeping the information in memory 

• Processing - thinking/organizing information 

• Output - using/responding with the information 

Describe three steps involved in the language production process

• Conceptualization - thinking about what you want to say (forming the idea or message).

• Formulation - choosing the words and grammar to express the idea (planning sentences).

• Articulation - physically producing speech using your mouth, tongue, and vocal cords.