Psychology 100 Brain structures and function

divisions of the brain

-forebrain, top part

-hindbrain, cerebellum (balance), judging timing, coordination of movements

-midbrain, structures at the top of the spinal cord

Forebrain:

-contains the cerebral cortex

Cerebral cortex is:

-2 halves: hemispheres

-same structures in left and right hemisphere

-connected by corpus callosum (communication right to left)

Limbic system

-subcortical structures

The limbic system contains:

(from right to left)

-thalamus

-hypothalamus

-hippocampus

-amygdala

Thalamus:

-take in of sensory information (process), no smell

hypothalamus:

regulating, body temperature, hunger

hippocampus:

-new memories, spacial

amygdala

fear and anger, associates emotion and memory

Cerebral Cortex:

-4 lobes in each hemisphere

(frontal lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe)

Frontal lobe:

-motor movement

-complex thought process (prefrontal cortex) (judgement, reasoning, inhibit behavior)

-most dopamine-sensitive neurons, in a high

-motor cortex along the line in-between frontal and parietal lobes

Temporal lobe:

-primary auditory cortex

-language comprehension (understanding)

-processing visuals and object recognition (what it is)

-memory/emotion processing

Parietal lobe:

-somatosensory procession (touch)

-visuospatial processing (visual location)

-object manipulation

-numbers and their relationship

Occipital lobe:

primary visual cortex (where object is = parietal lobe, what an object is = temporal lobe)

Peripheral Nervous system:

-somatic nervous system

-autonomic nervous system

Somatic nervous system

-voluntary behaviors

autonomic nervous system

-involuntary (automatic) behaviors

sympathetic nervous system

-prepares body for fight or flight response

-shuts down non-survival functioning and activates survival functioning

parasympathetic nervous system

-what happens after

-returns body to equilibrium