AP Psychology Parts of the Bran

Brain Stem

Automatic survival functions

Medulla

controls heartbeat & breathing

Pons

coordinates movement & sleep

Reticular Formation

arousal, alertness, and attention

Cerebellum

balance, coordination, nonverbal learning

Thalamus

sensory “switchboard”, directs info into cortex. No smell

Amygdala

processes emotion, fear, and aggression

Hypothalamus

Maintains homeostasis (food, flight/fight, feelings, and mating)

Lateral

Hunger

Ventromedial

Fullness

Pituitary Gland

“Master gland”, releases hormones. Puberty gland

Olds and Milner Study

reward center in hypothalamus

Corpus Callosum

Connects left & right hemispheres; split-brain studies

Frontal Lobe

Planning, judgement, personality, speaking

Motor Cortex

controls voluntary muscle movements

Parietal Lobe

receives sensory input for touch, body positions, and sometimes pain.

Somato-Sensory Cortex

processes touch & body sensations

Occipital Lobe

vision. In the back of head/brain

Visual Cortex

processes visual information

Temporal Lobe

hearing, language comprehension,

Prefrontal Cortex

judgement, planning, decision-making, and personality

Broca’s Area

controls muscle movements necessary to make sounds. If broken your speech will be broken.

Wernicke’s Area

language comprehension; damage = meaningless speech