Brain structures

Brain refers to

Cerebrum, brainstem, cerebellum, and subcortical structures

Cerebrum

Left and right hemispheres

Brainstem

Midbrain, pons, medulla

Cerebellum

Caudal structure of brain

Subcortical structures

Diencephalon and basal ganglia

Diencephalon

Thalamus, hypothalamus, subthalamus, epithalamus

Basal ganglia

Left hemisphere

Language and cognition processes

Right hemisphere

Supporting role

Hills

Gyrus

Valleys

Sulcus, fissures

Lobes of brain

Frontal, parietal, occipital, temporal

Central sulcus

Divides frontal lobe from parietal lobe

Parts of frontal lobe

Broca's area, premotor cortex, motor cortex, prefrontal lobe

Frontal lobe

Higher executive functioning

Broca's area

Important for language production. Ex: finding the right words, organizing the syntax

Premotor cortex

Planning and programming motor sequences for speech production. building the code

Motor cortex

Sends neural signals from the frontal lobes towards the body to produce speech

Prefrontal lobe

Important for cognition, especially executive functions (planning, reasoning, organizing)

Parietal lobe

Mainly sensory, important for perception, body awareness, helps w/ lang. Comprehension

Primary sensory cortex

Receives nerve signals about sensation from the body (ex: pain)

Temporal lobe

Mainly hearing

Parts of the temporal lobe

Primary auditory cortex (Heschl's gyrus), wernicke's area, ventral stream, memory, emotion, social skill and empathy

Heschl's gyrus

Processes auditory signals

Wernicke's area

Language comprehension

Ventral stream

Neural pathway with visual images, helps to recognize faces and objects

Occipital lobe

Processes visual information from the eyes

Parts of occipital lobe

Dorsal and ventral stream

Dorsal stream

Visual signals sent from occipital lobe to parietal lobe to get info about the "where" (spatial info)

Insula

Sits deep in sylvian fissure, is a helper lobe