BRAIN — LOBES & CORTEX

Cerebrum

Largest part of the brain; handles conscious thought, sensation, and voluntary movement

Cerebral cortex

Thin outer layer of gray matter where processing happens

Gyrus

A ridge (bump) on the surface of the brain

Sulcus

A groove between gyri

Why the brain is folded

Folding packs far more cortical surface area into a fixed skull size

Corpus callosum

Thick band of white matter connecting the left and right hemispheres

Contralateral control

Each hemisphere controls the OPPOSITE side of the body

Frontal lobe

Higher-level thinking: problem solving, reasoning, personality, planning, impulse control

Parietal lobe

Sensation: touch, temperature, pain, pressure; also taste

Occipital lobe

Vision processing

Temporal lobe

Hearing, smell, and emotion

Central sulcus

The groove separating the frontal lobe from the parietal lobe

Motor cortex

Strip in the posterior frontal lobe (precentral gyrus) that controls voluntary movement

Sensory cortex

Strip in the anterior parietal lobe (postcentral gyrus) that receives body sensations

Broca's area

Posterior left frontal lobe; SPEECH PRODUCTION

Wernicke's area

Posterior left temporal lobe; LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION

Broca's aphasia

Damage to Broca's area; understands speech but cannot produce fluent words

Wernicke's aphasia

Damage to Wernicke's area; speaks fluently but the words make no sense

Which hemisphere holds language

The LEFT, in about 95% of people