How is the

Nervous System
Organized?

Chapter 3
Neuroscience 1
 Module Objectives
What is the Nervous System?

What are the 3 divisions of the brain?

‐ Hind-brain
‐ Mid-brain
‐ Forebrain

Discuss how these structures influence

behavior
2
 Have you heard the expression
“Information is power?” Nowhere
is this truer than in the human
body. Without information, we
could not survive.

Neurons within our nervous system must

take in sensory information from the outside
world and then decide what to do with the
information. 3
What is the Nervous System?

The Nervous System is the body’s

main processing system for
information.

This consists of structures and organs

that facilitate electrical and chemical
communication in the body.
4
 The Nervous System
Central Nervous System (CNS)
‐ The brain
‐ The spinal cord

Peripheral Nervous System

(PNS)
‐ The main function of the PNS is
to connect the CNS to the limbs
and organs

5
 CNS-Spinal Cord

The spinal cord transmits signals from

the sensory organs, muscles and glands
to the brain.

‐ Controls reflexive responses

‐ Conveys signals from the rest of the body

6
 The spinal cord is like a
communication
superhighway between the
brain and the rest of the
body.

7
 Spinal cord communication
Communicates with the body below the head
through sensory and motor neurons

Sensory neurons (afferent neurons)

‐ Carry information about touch, pain, and other
senses from the periphery of the body to the spinal
cord

Motor neurons (efferent neurons)

‐ Transmit impulses from the central nervous system
to the muscles and glands
8
 Did you know…?

There are about 3 million miles of axons

in the human brain

Information travels in the nerves at speeds

up to 268 miles per hour!

9
How much do you know about
YOUR brain??

Structures of the brain

10
What observations can you make
about the brain?

11
 Looking at the Brain
The exterior covering (cortex) of the
brain is wrinkled which increases the
surface area of the brain

The brain is divided into 2 hemispheres

‐ Right and left hemispheres

12
The hemispheres of the brain are
connected
The Corpus Callosum connects these
hemispheres and allows communication
from one side of the brain to the other.

13
Corpus Callosum

14
Damage to the Corpus Callosum results
in two independent brains in one skull

Split brain patients allowed researchers

to discover “hemispheric specialization”

15
16
What does a spilt-brain patient
look like?

Review the following video and make some

observations

17
18
 Split Brain Research

This research showed that each

hemisphere of the brain is specialized

‐ The right brain is associated with musical

ability, spatial and drawing tasks

‐ The left brain is associated with speech and

language.
19
Hemispheric Specialization
Left Brain
• Controls Right Side of
Body
• Right Side Visual Field
• Speaking
• Reading
• Logical Thinking
• Analytical Skills
• Sequential Processing
Right Brain
• Controls Left Side of
Body
• Left Side Visual Field
• Spatial Processing
• Facial Recognition
• Music
• Emotional Expression
• Holistic Thinking
20
 Want to play the Split Brain game?

http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/split-bra
in/about.html

21
Take the Wagner Preference
Inventory now!

This quiz will help determine which side

of your brain is most dominant. It can be
found in the Module 2 notes folder.

22
How are these brains different?

23
 Why are they different?
More recently evolved animals have a larger
proportion of the brain taken up by the cerebral
cortex.

The cerebral cortex, made up of four lobes, is involved

in many complex brain functions including:
‐memory
‐perceptual awareness
‐"thinking”
‐language and consciousness
24
Does bigger mean smarter?

NO…
larger brains have
nothing to do with
intelligence.

25
 Did you know…
The brain of Albert Einstein weighed 1,230 grams.
This is far below the average brain weight of 1,400
grams

The brain of an elephant weighs about 4.78 kg (10.5

lb). An adult human brain weighs about 1.4 kg (3 lb)

The heaviest human brain ever recorded weighed 5

lbs., 1.1 oz (The Guinness Book of World Records,
1997).

The total surface area of the cerebral cortex is about

2500 sq. cm (~2.5 sq. ft).

It is estimated that there are 60 trillion synapses in

the cerebral cortex. 26
 Three Divisions of the Brain

‐ Hindbrain
‐ Midbrain
‐ Forebrain

27
 The Hindbrain

This is the most primitive division of

the brain.

The structures in the lower brain tend

to be responsible for basic, reflexive
functions.

Includes the cerebellum, Pons, and

medulla

28
 The Hindbrain

The Medulla is the most primitive and

lowest portion of the hindbrain (Part of
the brain stem).

‐ It controls basic body functions- heart

beat, digestion and breathing.

29
 [sensation]

[sleep/wake]

[ “life support” ]
30
Pons- provides link (“bridge”)between
the medulla and the cerebellum and rest
of brain
‐ is involved in respiration, movement,
sleeping, waking, and dreaming.

Cerebellum- “Little brain” – attached to

back surface of brain stem.

Influences balance, coordination and

movement
‐ Allows you to walk a straight line 31
[coordination
and balance]

32
Where do complex thought and
behavior come from?

33
 True or False?
We Only Use 10% of Our
Brain

34
 True or False?
We Only Use 10% of Our Brain

False!
This is a Psychology Myth…we use all of
brain most of the time.

35
Have you ever seen a Kung-Fu
movie?

What is most obvious about a

movie that has been dubbed into
English? 36
37
The language doesn’t match, right?

Imagine if you had to go through

life inside a Kung-fu movie? If your
midbrain was damaged it would
effect your ability to process
auditory information.

38
 The Midbrain
• The midbrain helps us orient our eye and body
movements to visual and auditory stimuli

‐ Coordination of visual and auditory reflexes

• The reticular formation (RF) runs through the

hindbrain and midbrain.

• This finger-shaped structure filters incoming sensory

information and alerts the higher brain centers to
important events.

39
 The Forebrain
This the largest, most complicated and
most advanced brain division.

This area of the brain is associated with

complex thought and behaviors:

‐ The ability to concentrate, elaboration of

thought, judgment and inhibition.

40
Forebrain
The Thalamus is a large
structure of forebrain that
acts a routing station or
air-traffic controller.

Processes sensory
information from the
CNS before it reaches the
cerebral cortex

41
The Hypothalamus is a pea-sized
structure that controls many complex
behaviors such as eating, drinking
and sexual activity.

42
 This small structure regulates a
variety of complex behaviors. If you
have trouble remembering what this
structure does try this…

The FOUR F’s…

43
Food

44
Fight

45
Flight

46
And…Ummm….(Fornication?)

47
Where do my emotions come
from?
The limbic system is an interconnected group
of structures that are especially significant in
emotions, memory, and social behavior.

‐ This is referred to as the “pleasure center” of

the brain

The limbic system also includes the

hippocampus and amygdala

48
 The Limbic System

Amygdala

49
 Can pleasure take us over?
YES! Research has shown that rats who
received electrical stimulation will repeatedly
press a lever which activates this region-
producing pleasure (Olds & Milner, 1954).

‐ The rats will choose to press the bar in preference

over food and water, eventually dying from
exhaustion!

50
Recent research suggests that
there is a link between
addictive behaviors and the
stimulation of these areas
(Volvow et al., 2002).

Watch the following clip!

51
52
 Cerebral Cortex
The cerebral cortex is responsible for the most
complex mental activities including learning,
remembering, thinking, and consciousness

This area is made up of four lobes:

‐ Occipital Lobe
‐ Parietal Lobe
‐ Temporal Lobe
‐ Frontal Lobe

53
 Four Lobes of the Brain
Frontal Lobe Parietal Lobe

Occipital Lobe
Temporal Lobe
54
The Occipital Lobe

“Eyes in the
back of your
head”

Responsible for
vision and visual
perception

55
 Parietal Lobe
Parietal Lobe is the area that is
specialized for the body senses and body
image

The parietal lobe is involved with

processing information related to:
‐ Touch
‐ Pain
‐ Temperature
‐ Awareness of the location of body parts
56
 Includes the Primary
Somatosensory Cortex, a
band of tissue on the front of
the parietal lobe

Each area of the primary

somatosensory cortex receives
information about touch in different
57
body areas.
What areas if the body have the most
cortex devoted to them?

Sensory
Homunculus
58
 As you can see from the
previous page the amount of
cortex that is devoted to each
body part is not equally
distributed
Larger areas are devoted to touch in the most sensitive
parts of the body such as lips and hands.

Smaller areas are devoted to touch in less sensitive

parts of the body such as the back and abdomen.
59
Aren’t you glad your Somatosensory
cortex doesn’t match the outside?

60
Temporal Lobe

The main processing area for hearing

Is the main processing area for some of

the complex aspects of vision
‐ Such as face recognition and motion
detection

Involved in aspects of learning, memory,

and emotions 61
 Frontal Lobe
Includes the Primary Motor Cortex, which
controls fine movements such as hand and
finger movements

Each area of the primary motor cortex

controls a different part of the body

‐ Larger areas are devoted to precise

movements of the tongue and fingers

‐ Smaller areas are devoted to movements of

the shoulders and elbows 62
Once again, notice the
areas of the body that
have more motor
cortex devoted
Motor Homunculus
63
If you want to see this in action
try the following.

Wiggle your fingers as fast as you can.

Now wiggle your toes…see the
difference? This is because you have
more motor cortex devoted to your
fingers than you do in your toes!
64
Frontal Lobe Continued…

Includes the Prefrontal Cortex

‐ Critical for planning movements and

for certain aspects of memory,
problem solving, emotion, complex
thought

65
Let’s test this…you’ll
need a watch or timer

Read the following words on the next

slide out loud- how fast can you do it?
Ready? GO!
66
 Stroop Test
Red Yellow Green

Green Yellow Yellow

Blue Blue Red

Red Red Green

Blue Green Blue

Green Blue Blue 67

Pretty Easy, Right?

Now, read the word- NOT the

color
68
 Stroop Test
Red Yellow Green

Green Yellow Yellow

Blue Blue Red

Red Red Green

Blue Green Blue

Green Blue Blue 69

 A little bit harder, right?

Now, read the COLOR not the Word

70
 Stroop Test
Red Yellow Green

Green Yellow Yellow

Blue Blue Red

Red Red Green

Blue Green Blue

Green Blue Blue 71

 SO, why did it get harder at
the end?
Most people will take longer to do the color version than
the black/white version. This is due to concentration…
much harder to say the color of the word and not the
word.

Word processing is much faster than color processing.

The conflicting word information arrives as the decision
process stage earlier than the color information and
results in confusion.
72
 Congratulations! You have
finished learning about the
brain, which is no small feat.

Celebrate with a little humor in the

following video clip…also take note
of all the structures you should now
be familiar with!
73
A Musical Brain Medley

74