the brain

brainstem

connects brain and spinal cord, regulates vital functions

pons and medulla

pons

coordinates movement

influences sleep, dreaming, and arousal

medulla

located at the top of the spinal cord

controls life sustaining functions like heartbeat, breathing, and swallowing

damage = death

reticular formation

system of nerves controlling arousal and attention

notices changes in environment

cerebellum

balance and motor control

cerebral cortex

wrinkled outer covering of the brain

limbic system

involved in emotions, motivation, memory, and learning

thalamus, hypothalamus, pituitary gland, hippocampus, amygdala

thalamus

relay station for all sensory information except smell

hypothalamus

controls pituitary gland to maintain homeostasis: body temperature, thirst, hunger, sleeping, and waking

pituitary gland

master gland of the endocrine system

growth hormone

produces hormones to influence other glands

hippocampus

forms long term memories

you would remember if you saw a hippo on campus

amygdala

fear response (fight or flight)

corpus callosum

bridges the right and left hemispheres, allows them to communicate with each other

parietal lobe

bodily sensations

contains primary sensory cortex

frontal lobe

higher mental functions: planning, personality, complex decision making

contains primary motor cortex

temporal lobe

processes audio, hearing, learning, memory, and language

contains auditory cortex

occipital lobe

processes visual information from the eyes

contains visual cortex

motor cortex

controls voluntary movement

somatosensory cortex

processes sensory information from skin and internal body receptors

split brain research

studying patients who have had their corpus callosum removed

send messages to each side

Broca’s Area

speech production

Wernicke’s Area

language understanding

Broca’s Aphasia

speech is impaired, understands everything

Wernicke’s Aphasia

understanding is impaired, can speak fine, but it doesn’t make sense

brain plasticity

the brain’s ability to change in response to experience

frontal lobe

temporal lobe

parietal lobe

occipital lobe

pons

medulla

thalamus

reticular formation

cerebellum

hypothalamus

hippocampus

amygdala

pituitary gland

wernicke’s area

broca’s area

primary sensory cortex

motor cortex

auditory cortex

visual cortex