Myers PSYCHOLOGY 8th Edition in Modules

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Myers PSYCHOLOGY (8th Edition in Modules)

• Module 5
• The Brain

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The Brain

• Brainstem
• the oldest part and central core of the brain,
  beginning where the spinal cord swells as it
  enters the skull
• responsible for automatic survival functions
• Medulla muh-DUL-uh
• base of the brainstem
• controls heartbeat and breathing

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The Brain

• Reticular Formation
• a nerve network in the brainstem that plays an
  important role in controlling arousal
• 1949 Moruzzi and Magoun found that stimulating
  a sleeping cats reticular formation instantly
  woke it up, and that severing the reticular
  formation from higher regions of the brain caused
  a permanent coma.
• Thalamus THAL-uh-muss
• the brains sensory switchboard, located on top
  of the brainstem
• it directs messages to the sensory receiving
  areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the
  cerebellum and medulla

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The Brain
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The Brain

• Cerebellum sehr-uh-BELL-um
• the little brain attached to the rear of the
  brainstem
• it helps coordinate voluntary movement and balance

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Studying the Brain

• Lesion
• tissue destruction
• a brain lesion is a naturally or experimentally
  caused destruction of brain tissue

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Studying the Brain Electroencephalogram (EEG)

• an amplified recording of the waves of electrical
  activity that sweep across the brains surface
• these waves are measured by electrodes placed on
  the scalp

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Studying the Brain

• CT (computed tomography) Scan
• a series of x-ray photographs taken from
  different angles and combined by computer into a
  composite representation of a slice through the
  body. Also called CAT scan
• PET (positron emission tomography) Scan
• a visual display of brain activity that detects
  where a radioactive form of glucose goes while
  the brain performs a given task
• MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)
• a technique that uses magnetic fields and radio
  waves to produce computer-generated images that
  distinguish among different types of soft tissue
  allows us to see structures within the brain

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Studying the Brain PET Scan
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MRI Scan
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The Brain

• Limbic System
• a doughnut-shaped system of neural structures at
  the border of the brainstem and cerebral
  hemispheres
• associated with emotions such as fear and
  aggression and drives such as those for food and
  sex
• includes the hippocampus, amygdala, and
  hypothalamus.
• Amygdala ah-MIG-dah-la
• two almond-shaped neural clusters that are
  components of the limbic system and are linked to
  emotion

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The Brain

• Hypothalamus
• neural structure lying below (hypo) the thalamus
  directs several maintenance activities
• eating
• drinking
• body temperature
• helps govern the endocrine system via the
  pituitary gland
• is linked to emotion

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The Limbic SystemOlds and Milner (1954)

• Electrode implanted in reward center

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The Cerebral Cortex

• Cerebral Cortex
• the intricate fabric of interconnected neural
  cells that covers the cerebral hemispheres
• The left and right hemispheres contain 80 of the
  brains weight.
• The cortex contains 20 to 23 billion neurons and
  300 trillion synapses.
• If the cortex was not wrinkled, it would require
  the area of a large pizza.
• the bodys ultimate control and information
  processing center

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The Cerebral Cortex

• Frontal Lobes
• involved in speaking and muscle movements and in
  making plans and judgments
• Parietal Lobes
• include the sensory cortex
• Occipital Lobes
• include the visual areas, which receive visual
  information from the opposite visual field
• Temporal Lobes
• include the auditory areas

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The Cerebral Cortex
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The Cerebral Cortex

• Motor Cortex
• area at the rear of the frontal lobes that
  controls voluntary movements
• Areas of the body requiring the most precise
  control occupy the greatest amount of space in
  the brain.
• Sensory Cortex
• area at the front of the parietal lobes that
  registers and processes body sensations
• More sensitive body regions occupy greater
  amounts of space in the brain.

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The Cerebral Cortex
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The Cerebral Cortex

• Functional MRI scan shows the visual cortex
  activated as the subject looks at faces

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Visual and Auditory Cortex
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Association Areas

• More intellegent animals have increased
  uncommitted or association areas of the cortext

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The Cerebral Cortex

• Aphasia
• impairment of language, usually caused by left
  hemisphere damage either to Brocas area
  (impairing speaking) or to Wernickes area
  (impairing understanding)
• Brocas Area
• an area of the left frontal lobe that directs the
  muscle movements involved in speech
• Wernickes Area
• an area of the left temporal lobe involved in
  language comprehension and expression

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Specialization and Integration
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Specialization and Integration

• Brain activity when hearing, seeing, and speaking
  words

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Brain Structures and their Functions
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Brain Reorganization

• Plasticity
• the brains capacity for modification, as evident
  in brain reorganization following damage
  (especially in children) and in experiments on
  the effects of experience on brain development
• When part of the brain is damaged, nearby areas
  no longer receiving signals from that area, look
  for other signals to process.
• Lose a finger and the sensory cortex that
  received its input will begin to receive input
  from the adjacent fingers (63).

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Our Divided Brain

• Corpus Callosum
• large band of neural fibers
• connects the two brain hemispheres
• carries messages between the hemispheres

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The Divided Brain Lateralization

• The left hemisphere specialized for speech for
  most people receives information from and
  controls movements on the right side of the body.
• More active during speaking and calculating
• Better at making quick, literal interpretations
  of language.
• The right hemisphere receives information from
  and controls movements on the left side of the
  body. specialized for the control of certain
  motor movements (putting isolated elements
  together) and in the comprehension of
  communication.
• Shows more activity during perceptual tasks
• More specialized for subtle inferences of
  communication

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Our Divided Brain

• The information highway from the eye to the brain

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Split Brain

• a condition in which the two hemispheres of the
  brain are isolated by cutting the connecting
  fibers (mainly those of the corpus callosum)
  between them
• With a split brain, both hemispheres can
  comprehend and follow and instruction to copy
  simultaneously- different figures with the left
  and right hands (Franz and others, 2000, in
  Myers, 2005).

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Split Brain
What word did you see?
or
Point with your left hand to the word you saw.
Two words separated by a dot are momentarily
projected.
Look at the dot.