Central Nervous System

Central Nervous System

Brain and Spinal Cord

integration and control center

Cerebrum

Frontal Lobe

Temporal Lobe

Parietal Lob

Occipital Lobe

Insula

Gyri

“Bumps”

Ridges

Sulci

“Dips”

shallow grooves/folds

Left hemisphere

controls language math and logic

Right Hemisphere

visual-spatial skills, intuition, emotion, and artistic and musical skills

Corpus Callosum

connects hemispheres

Cerebral Cortex

outer layer of gray matter

“executive suite”

Inner White Matter

Diencephalon

Three gray matter structure

Third Ventricle

in diencephalon

connects to 4th ventricle via cerebral aqueduct

Choroid plexus

Thalamus

Relay Station - sorts sensory information coming into cortex and relays it to correct area of sensory cortex

Hypothalamus

Maintains homeostasis through autonomic nervous system

“fight or flight” or “rest and digest”

can control heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, digestion, pupil size, etc.

Controls pituitary gland, a major endocrine gland

Pituitary gland

Major endocrine gland

Epithalamus

contains pineal gland that secretes melatonin to promote sleep

Cerebellum

coordinates motor output for smooth precise movements of skeletal muscle

Fourth Ventricle

near brain stem, opens into subarchnoid space that surrounds brain via lateral and median apertures

Brain stem

Midbrain

Gray matter nuclei play a role in fight or flight response, pain suppression, and part of reticular formation

Pons

has longitudinal tracts to connect higher brain with spinal cord and transverse tracts to communicate between cerebral cortex and cerebellum

Medulla oblongata

contains pyramids/ridges from tracts from motor cortex

Cardiovascular center

controls heart rate and contraction force

controls blood pressure via vessel diameter

Respiratory center

control breathing rhythm, breathing rate and depth

Meninges

Dura Mater

Outer

fused to skull

Arachnoid mater

Middle

connected to pia mater by weblike structure filled with CSF (subarachnoid space)

Pia Mater

Inner

Fused to surface of brain