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grey matter
continuous cortical sheath, composed of cell bodies
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white matter
composed of axon bundles
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What are the 4 brain lobes?
frontal, parietal, occipital, temporal
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What is the function of the frontal lobe and what is included in it?
- essential for planning and movement
- prefrontal cortex (higher level cognitive functioning, personality)
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parietal lobes function and what does it include?
- touch
- includes somatosensory homunculus
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somatosensory homunculus
- a distorted representation of human body covering primary somatosensory cortex
- more cortical area devoted to more sensitive regions
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occipital lobes
- devoted to vision
- back of head
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temporal lobes function and what do they include?
- hearing
- amygdala & hippocampus
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equipotentiality
all parts of brain equally important to completing a task
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Broca's area
left frontal region of brain, controls language
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spinal cord functions
- controls reflexes
- carries sensory info to brain, motor signals from brain
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brain stem functions
- controls heart rate, breathing, swallowing
- affects general alertness
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cerebellum functions
- motor function & motor learning & memory
- empathy
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hypathalamus
- master regulatory structure
- involved in motivated behaviors
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thalamus
receives sensory info, organizes it and relays to cortex
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hippocampus
storage of new memories
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amygdala
- associated with emotional responses
- responds specifically to fear stimuli
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basal ganglia
- planning and producing movement
- damage -> Parkinson's disease
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wernicke's area
understanding language
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association cortex
brain's high mental processes
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Optic chiasm
Point in brain where all info from left field of both eyes goes into right hemisphere of brain and vice versa
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What happens when the corpus callosum is severed?
- If object is presented to right visual field, patient can speak name of object
- If object is presented to left visual field, patient can identify object but cannot speak the name
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plasticity
property of brain which allows it to change
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neurogenesis
- production of new neurons
- occurs particularly in hippocampus (memories)
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cerebral cortex
outer layer of cerebral hemispheres
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pituitary gland
- at base of hypothalamus
- master gland
- releases hormones
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Human Genome Project
- researchers set out to identify precise order of molecules that make up the genes on each of the 23 pairs of human chromosomes
- we have fewer than 30,000 genes
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genotype vs phenotype
- genotype: genetic makeup (doesn't change)
- phenotype: observable physical characteristics (always changing)
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Polygenic
a characteristic affected by many genes
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gonads
- main endoctrine gland influencing sexual behavior
- present in males and females
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estrus
period when female is fertile
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