The Brain

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The Brain
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(No Transcript)
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Ways we Study the Brain

• Accidents
• EEG
• CAT Scan
• PET Scan
• MRI
• Functional MRI

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Accidents

• Phineas Gage Story
• Personality changed after the accident.
• What this this tell us?
• That different part of the brain control
  different aspects of who we are.

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Lesions

• Removal or destruction of some part of the brain.
• Frontal Lobotomy

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Electroencephalogram

• EEG
• Detects brain waves through their electrical
  output.
• Used mainly in sleep research.

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Computerized Axial Tomography

• CAT Scan
• 3D X-Ray of the brain.
• Good for tumor locating, but tells us nothing
  about function.

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Magnetic Resonance Imaging

• MRI
• More detailed picture of brain using magnetic
  field to knock electrons off axis.
• Takes many still pictures and turns images into a
  movie like production.

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Positron Emission Tomography

• PET Scan (dogs, cats, etc)?
• Measures how much of a chemical the brain is
  using ( radioactive glucose consumption).

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Functional MRI

• Combination of PET and MRI

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Medulla Oblongata

• Located just above the spinal cord.
• Involved in control of
• blood pressure
• heart rate
• breathing.

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Pons

• Involved in sleep and dreaming.

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Cerebellum

• Bottom rear of the brain.
• Means little brain
• Coordinates fine muscle movements.

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Cerebellum(aka Sara Belle the Southern Belle)?
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Midbrain
If stimulated

• Coordinates simple movements with sensory
  information.
• Most important structure in Midbrain is the
  Reticular Formation controls arousal and ability
  to focus our attention.

If Destroyed
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Thalamus

• Switchboard of the brain.
• Receives sensory signals from the spinal cord and
  sends them to other parts of the forebrain.
• Every sense except smell.

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The Limbic System
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The Limbic System
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Hypothalamus

• Maybe most important structure in the brain.
• Controls and regulates
• Body temperature
• Sexual Arousal
• Hunger
• Thirst
• Endocrine System

The most powerful structure in the brain.
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Rat with an Implanted Electrode in pleasure
center of Hypothalamus
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Hippocampus

• Involved in the processing and storage of NEW
  memories.

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Amygdala

• Involved in how we process memory.
• More involved in volatile emotions like anger.

The emotion of anger has not changed much
throughout evolution.
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The Cerebral Cortex

• Made up of densely packed neurons we call gray
  matter
• Glial Cells nourishes brain cells .
• Wrinkles are called fissures.

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The Corpus Callosum
Divides the 2 hemispheres.
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HemispheresPsychSim

• Divided into to hemispheres.
• Contralateral control right controls left and
  vice versa.
• In general,
• Left Hemisphere logic and sequential tasks.
• Right Hemisphere spatial and creative tasks.

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Split Brain Patients
Those who dues to epilepsy, have their corpus
callosum removed.
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Split Brain Research
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Split Brain Research
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Split Brain Research
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Split Brain Research
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Split Brain Research
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Split Brain Research
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Hemispheric Differences

• Left-brained and right-brained debunked
• Brain is divided into two hemispheres but works
  as a single entity.
• Both sides continually communicate via the corpus
  callosum, except in those with split brains.

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Frontal Lobes

• Abstract thought and emotional control.
• Contains Motor Cortex sends signals to our body
  controlling muscle movements.
• Contains Brocas Area responsible for
  controlling muscles that produce speech.
• Damage to Brocas Area is called Brocas Aphasia
  unable to make movements to talk. Play The
  Frontal Lobes Cognition and Awareness (905)
  Segment 7 from The Mind Psychology Teaching
  Modules (2nd edition

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Parietal Lobes

• Contain Sensory Cortex receives incoming touch
  sensations from rest of the body.
• Most of the Parietal Lobes are made up of
  Association Areas.

Where would this girl feel the most pain from her
sunburn?
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Occipital Lobes

• Deals with vision.
• Contains Visual Cortex interprets messages from
  our eyes into images we can understand.

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Temporal Lobes

• Process sound sensed by our ears.
• Interpreted in Auditory Cortex.
• NOT LATERALIZED.
• Contains Wernike's Area interprets written and
  spoken speech.
• Wernike's Aphasia unable to understand language
  the syntax and grammar jumbled.

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Association Areas

• Higher mental functions such as learning,
  remembering, thinking and speaking (not motor or
  sensory activities)?

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Brain Plasticity

• The idea that the brain, when damaged, will
  attempt to find news ways to reroute messages.
• Childrens brains are more plastic than adults.