Transcript Unit II: Body and Mind

Unit II Lesson 6
From the Bottom Up:
The Structures of the Brain
The Brain Stem
• Medulla
– First large swelling at top of
spinal column
– Responsible for life-sustaining
functions such as breathing,
swallowing, and heart rate
• Pons
– Larger swelling above the medulla
– Connects top of brain to bottom
– Involved in sleep, dreaming, left–right body
coordination, and arousal
The Brain Stem (2)
• Reticular formation (RF)
– Runs through the middle of the medulla and
pons
– Responsible for selective attention, ignoring
repetitive stimuli
• Cerebellum
– Controls and coordinates involuntary, rapid,
fine motor movement.
– Maintains posture, muscle co-ordination,
balance
Structures Under the
Cortex
• Limbic system
– Brain structures located under the cortex
– Involved in learning, emotion, memory, and
motivation
– Thalamus
• Relays sensory information from the lower part of
the brain to areas of cortex
• Processes some sensory information
– Hypothalamus
• Regulates body temperature, thirst, hunger,
sleeping and waking, sexual activity, emotions
• Controls pituitary gland
Structures Under the
Cortex (2)
– Hippocampus
• Curved structure located within each temporal lobe
• Responsible for the formation of long-term memories,
storage of memory for location of objects
– Amygdala
• Located near the hippocampus
• Responsible for fear responses
and memory of fear
– Cingulate Cortex
• Important role in emotional and
cognitive processing
• Implicated in several psychological disorders such as
ADHD, schizophrenia
Cortex
• Outermost covering of the brain
• Consists of densely packed
neurons
• Responsible for higher thought
processes and interpretation of
sensory input
– Corticalization
• Wrinkling of the cortex
• Allows the large area of cortical cells to exist in
the small space inside the skull
Cerebral Hemispheres
• Are the two sections of the cortex
on the left and right sides of the
brain.
– Corpus callosum
• Thick band of neurons connecting right
and left cerebral hemispheres.
Four Lobes of the Brain
Occipital lobes
• Visual center of brain
– Primary visual cortex
• Processes visual information from the
eyes
– Visual association cortex
• Identifies, interprets visual information
Parietal lobes
• Contains centers for touch, taste,
and temperature sensations
– Somatosensory cortex
• Processes information from skin and
internal body receptors for touch,
temperature, body position, and possibly
taste
Temporal lobes
• Hearing, meaningful speech
• Primary auditory cortex
– Processes auditory information from
the ears
• Auditory association cortex
– Identifies, makes sense of auditory
information
Frontal lobes
• Higher mental processes, decision
making, production of fluent
speech
• Motor cortex
– Sends motor
commands to
muscles
Association Areas of
Cortex
• Are areas within each lobe of the
cortex
• Responsible for:
– Coordination and interpretation of information
– Higher mental processing
• Broca’s Aphasia
– Results from damage to Broca’s area
– Usually in left frontal lobe
– Causes affected person to be unable to speak
fluently
• Mispronounces words, speaks haltingly
Association Areas of
Cortex (2)
• Wernicke’s Aphasia
– Left temporal lobe damage
– Speech is fluent but nonsensical
• Unilateral Spatial Neglect
– Result of damage to the parietal lobe
association areas on one side of the
cortex, usually the right side
– Person ignores information from
opposite side of body or visual field
Split Brain Research
• Robert Sperry (1968)
– Demonstrated left and right
hemispheres of the brain
specialize in different activities
and functions
– Corpus callosum severed in
patients to contain epileptic
seizures
– Messages are sent to only
one side of the brain
• Two hemispheres cannot
coordinate information
Split Brain Research (2)
Understanding ADHD
• Developmental disorder involving
behavioral and cognitive aspects
– Inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity
• Some aspects of attention may be
normal with ADHD (Nigg, 2010)
• Problem areas for individuals with
ADHD:
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Vigilance
Staying on task
Maintaining effort
Self-control