brain structures, lobes, and language association areas and their functions

cerebellum

fine motor movement, maintains balance and posture, processes nonverbal learning and memory, malformation linked to autism

medulla oblongata

breathing, heart rate, vomiting, coughing, sneezing

pons

bridge, connects medulla and cerebellum w rest of brain, controls facial expressions and breathing

reticular formation

arousal (alertness), sleep/awake, catches incoming impulses from spinal cord and directs them to brain, controls consciousness, helps w pain perception

midbrain

eye movement, integrating sensory processes like combining hearing and vision tgt, coordinating simple movements w sensory info

basal ganglia

planning sequences of behavior, initiate and direct movement (smooth coordinated movement), putting brakes on unnecessary movement

substantia nigra (part of basal ganglia)

produces dopamine, involved in smooth initiation of movement

thalamus

relay station for incoming sensory info (directs info where it needs to go in cerebral cortex except smell)

hypothalamus

food, fun, flight/fight, sex, anger (4 F’s)

endocrine system: glands and hormones

pituitary gland

master gland of endocrine system, releases growth hormone

hippocampus

converts short term memory to long term (does not store memory)

olfactory bulbs

limbic system: structures involved in emotion and motivation

cingulate gyrus

associates memories to smell and pain, produces neg and pos feelings (increased activity related to tourettes and ocd)

occipital lobe

process visual info, where we actually see, “eyes in back of your head”

parietal lobe

where we perceive stimuli related to touch, pressure, temperature, and pain, process visual spatial info

somatosensory cortex

specifically where we process touch sensations

temporal lobe

where we process auditory info, process taste and smell, recognizes faces, (left is essential for understanding spoken language)

frontal lobe

responsible for reasoning, planning, movement, emotions, memory, personality, social control, attention; exec decision maker for brain

primary motor cortex

specifically where movement messages occur in brain, sends messages to move diff parts of body

wernicke’s area

located in temporal lobe, allows you to understand language

broca’s area

located in frontal lobe, allows for productions of speech (allows you to talk)

angular gyrus

located at intersection of occipital and temporal lobe, reason why whenever you read smth you hear it in your head

aphasia

severe language impairment

left hemisphere

language, logic, analysis, math and science, knowledge/facts

right hemisphere

recognizes face, emotion, intuition, spirituality, art and music, belief, “big picture”