Brain Regions and Structures
Brain Regions and Functions
- The brain's structures and functions influence behavior and mental processes.
Brainstem
- Controls basic functions like breathing and heart rate.
- Includes the medulla, which controls heartbeat and breathing.
Reticular Activating System
- Regulates arousal, sleep-wake transitions, attention, and filtering stimuli.
Cerebellum
- Coordinates muscle movement, balance, and procedural learning.
Cerebral Cortex
- Divided into two hemispheres.
- Includes the limbic system, corpus callosum, and lobes.
Limbic System
- Includes the thalamus, hypothalamus, pituitary gland, hippocampus, and amygdala; it's associated with emotions and drives.
Hippocampus
- Processes explicit (conscious) memories for storage.
Amygdala
Hypothalamus
- Directs maintenance activities (eating, drinking, body temperature), governs the endocrine system, and is linked to emotion and reward.
Thalamus
- Relays messages to sensory areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla.
Pituitary Gland
- Controls growth and development and the functioning of other endocrine glands.
Cerebral Lobes
Occipital Lobes
- Control visual information processing; located in the rear of the brain.
Temporal Lobes
- Control auditory and linguistic processing; located on the sides of the brain.
Parietal Lobes
- Control association areas (processes and organizes information) and the somatosensory cortex (processes touch sensitivity); located near the back crown of the brain.
Frontal Lobes
- Control linguistic processing, higher-order thinking, and executive functioning, especially in the prefrontal cortex; located just behind the forehead.
- The motor cortex, located at the rear of the frontal lobes, controls most types of skeletal movement.
Memory
- Long-term potentiation: synaptic connections between neurons become stronger with frequent activation; this is a biological process for memory.
- Explicit memory is processed in the hippocampus and frontal lobes.
- Implicit memory is processed in the cerebellum and basal ganglia.
Key Structures and Functions Review
- Spinal Cord: Pathway for neural fibers traveling to and from the brain; controls simple reflexes.
- Cerebral Cortex: The ultimate control and information-processing center.
- Corpus Callosum: Axon fibers connecting the two cerebral hemispheres.
- Cerebellum: Coordinates voluntary movement and balance and supports learning and memories of such.
- Amygdala: Linked to emotion.
- Hippocampus: Linked to memory.
- Hypothalamus: Controls maintenance functions such as eating; helps govern the endocrine system; it's linked to emotion and reward.
- Medulla: Controls heartbeat and breathing.
- Pituitary: The master endocrine gland.
- Pons: Helps coordinate movement.
- Reticular Formation: Helps control arousal.
- Thalamus: Relays messages between lower brain centers and the cerebral cortex.