Localisation of functions in the brain

• The cerebral cortex is responsible for higher-level brain functions like thought, perception, planning, problem solving, language, memory, and pattern recognition.
• The left hemisphere is dominant for language, while the right hemisphere has more holistic processing.
• Each hemisphere has its own motor area (precentral gyrus) and sensory area (postcentral gyrus).
• The corpus callosum connects the two hemispheres and allows communication between them.
• The left hemisphere controls the right side of the body and vice versa.
• The hypothalamus regulates homeostasis, including body temperature, hunger, thirst, sleep/wake cycle, and sexual behavior.
• Damage to one hemisphere can result in contralateral weakness or numbness on that side of the body.
• The thalamus acts as a relay station for information traveling to and from the cerebral cortex.
• Reading involves both hemispheres but is dominated by the left hemisphere.
• Frontal lobe: Motor, planning, and judgement.
• Temporal lobe: The part of the brain that is responsible for hearing and memory.

  Damage: Partial or total hearing loss
• Occipital lobe: Processes visual information from the eye and sends it to the brain.

  Damage: can cause blindness
• Motor area: A region of the cerebral cortex that is involved in voluntary movement.

  Damage: Left damaged - problems with movement on right side of body

  Right damaged - problems with movement on the left side of body
• Somatosensory area: A region of the cerebral cortex that is responsible for processing sensory information from the skin.

  Damage: Less likely to feel things like pain and changes to temperature
• Cerebellum: controls muscle coordination, balance, and posture.
• Localisation refers to the idea that particular areas of the brain do particular jobs.
• If a certain brain area becomes damaged through illness or injury, the function it controls can become damaged.
• Broca’s area, located in the left frontal lobe, is responsible for speech production.
• Damage to Broca’s area causes Broca’s aphasia, characterised by slow speech which lacks fluency.
• Wernicke’s area, located in the left temporal lobe, is responsible for language comprehension.
• Damage to Wernicke’s area can result in Wernicke’s aphasia, which produces language with no problems but impedes understanding.
• Speech in Wernicke’s aphasia is fluent but makes no sense.
• Brainstem: connects the spinal cord to the rest of the brain. It contains important structures such as the medulla oblongata (controls breathing), pons (relays messages between different parts of the brain) and midbrain (involved in vision). Damage: Can lead to paralysis, coma, or death.
• Hippocampus: plays an essential role in learning and memory formation. Damage: Amnesia