The Brain Hindbrain

• Facts about brain

• It is one of the largest organs in the

body and coordinates most body
sactivities.

• A human brain weighs 3 pounds.

• It is the center for all thought, memory,

judgment, and emotion.

• Each part of the brain is responsible

for controlling different body functions,
such as temperature regulation and
breathing.

• Has three structures:

– Medulla

• An oblong area of
hindbrain involved in
regulation of
heartbeat, blood
pressure, movement,
and respiration

– Pons

• Involved in
respiration, attention,
and sleep and
arousal

– Cerebellum

• A structure of
hindbrain involved in
muscle coordination
and balance

• Reticular formation
 – Diffuse collection of neurons
involved in arousal and
stereotyped patterns such as
walking, sleep and attention
– Stimulation of this causes it to
send messages to the
cerebral cortex
Midbrain
Cerebrum
• Responsible for thinking and
language
• Surface called cerebral
cortex that is apparently
connected with cognitive
ability.
• Corpus Callosum – thick
fiber bundle that connects the
hemispheres of the cortex

• Basal Ganglia

• are a collection of nuclei

found on both sides of the
thalamus, outside and above
the limbic system

• the inhibitory neurotransmitter

GABA plays the most
important role in the basal
• Also known as mesencephalon ganglia
• Helps regulate the body movement, • Involved in coordination of
vision and hearing movements

Forebrain Limbic system

• Key areas:

– Basal Ganglia • A group of structures involved

in memory, motivation, and
– Cerebrum
emotion that forms a fringe
– Limbic system along the inner edge of the
cerebrum
• Amygdala
• Amygdala
• Hippocampus
• Apparently facilitates
• Thalamus stereotypical fear and
aggressive responses
• Hypothalamus
(Partly) • Hippocampus

• Involved in memory
 • Thalamus Lobes of Cerebral Cortex
• Near the center of the
brain involved in the
relay of sensory
information to the
cortex and in the
functions of sleep and
attention

• Hypothalamus

• A bundle of nuclei
below the thalamus
involve in body
temperature,
motivation, and • Frontal lobe
emotion
– Lies in front of the central
• “Pleasure center” fissure

• Parietal lobe

BRAIN STEM – Behind frontal lobe

• Occipital lobe

– Behind temporal lobe ; behind

and below parietal lobe

• Temporal lobe

– Below the side or lateral,

fissure- across the frontal and
parietal lobes

 Connects the brain to spinal cord

 Parts of the brain stem:

 Midbrain
Broca’s Area
 Pons

 Medulla oblongata
 – Located in frontal lobe near and creative mathematical
the section of motor cortex reasoning

– Processes the information • Right hemisphere

and relays it to the motor
cortex – Usually superior in visual-
spatial functions, recognition
– Broca’s Aphasia –a of faces, discrimination of
language disorder colors, aesthetics and
characterized by slow emotional responses,
laborious speech understanding metaphors,
and creative mathematical
reasoning
• Wernicke’s Area

– In temporal lobe near the

auditory cortex

– Responds mainly to auditory

information

– Wernicke’s Aphasia – a
language disorder
characterized by difficulty
comprehending the meaning
of spoken language

Left brain - Left Hemisphere

• left brain relatively more involved in

right-handedness

– Intellectual undertakings that

require logical analysis and
problem solving, language
and mathematical compuation

Right Brain - Right hemisphere

– Usually superior in visual-

spatial functions, recognition
of faces, discrimination of
colors, aesthetics and
emotional responses,
understanding metaphors,