BRAIN TOUR – LESSON TWO

LIMBIC SYSTEM

• A group of brain areas involved in emotional reaction and motivated behaviors. • Includes the amygdala, hippocampus, and hypothalamus.

HIPPOCAMPUS (SEAHORSE)

• MEMORY

• Forms long term memories for facts and events.

• Helps us make connections between the past and the present.

• Involved in spatial navigation and spatial memories.

AMYGDALA (ALMOND)

• EMOTION• FEAR AND AGGRESSION

• Involved in the arousal and regulation of emotion and our initial emotional response to sensory information.

• Memory of emotional events

HYPOTHALAMUS

• Involved in drives associated with survival (hunger, thirst, emotion, sex, and reproduction)

• Brain’s blood-analysis laboratory (monitors to determine your body’s condition)

• Regulates body temp by sweating or shivering

THE CEREBRUM AND THE FOUR LOBES OF THE BRAIN

The Cerebrum

Largest structure of the brain

Uppermost part of the brain In charge of most sensory,

motor, and cognitive processes

Two Halves of the Cerebrum

Divided into two halves called cerebral hemispheres which control actions on the opposite side of the body

Corpus Callosum- the large band of fibers that connects the two halves of the cerebrum.

Allows the two sides to communicate

Cerebral Cortex

A collection of several thin layers of cells covering the cerebrum

Responsible for higher thought processes

Wrinkling allows more cells to exist in a small space

22 week old fetus brain

Adult Brain

The Four Lobes – Occipital Lobes

Located at the bottom-back of the cerebrum Contains the Visual Cortex

Parietal Lobes

Located at the top back of the cerebrum

Spatial abilities, receives sensory information from joints, organs, taste buds.

Contains the Somatosensory Cortex Processes information

form skin Pressure, pain, touch,

temperature

Somatosensory Cortex

Temporal Lobes

Located at the sides of head, just above the ears

Processes memory, perception, emotion

Contains: Auditory Cortex -

processes sound Wernicke’s Area –

language comprehension

Frontal Lobes Located in the front Involved in judging,

planning, short-term memory, thinking creatively, and personality

Frontal Lobes (continued)

Contains the Motor Cortex – band of nerves that issues orders to muscles to produce voluntary movement

Also Contains: Broca’s Area – involved in speech

production Allows us to speak fluently and

smoothly

Motor Cortex

FTOP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6kRP41ygrI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPLZ_WUsK88 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP9IEoCw5W4