Telencephalon

• frontal lobe

  • cognition
  • problem-solving
  • language
  • expression of emotion
  • contributes to learning and memory
  • motor function
• superior frontal gyrus

  executive processing in working memory, laughter, executive processing for attention, motor control (supplementary motor area)
• middle frontal gyrus


  orienting attention, literacy and numeracy
• inferior frontal gyrus

  language processing and speech (broca's area)
• broca's area

  responsible for language production
• broca's aphasia

  • aka expressive aphasia
  • damage to broca's area
  • individuals lose their ability to produce language - spoke and written
  • can happen to varying degrees
  • some can make sentences, but leave words out
  • person knows what they are trying to say, but have difficulty getting the words out
  • comprehension is generally intact
• precentral gyrus

  • primary motor cortex
  • corticospinal tract, corticobulbar tract, cortico-rubrospinal tract all originate from the precentral gyrus
  • contains upper motor neurons
  • large motor neurons that send their axons out of the brain to places like the spinal cord
• temporal lobe

  1. superior temporal gyrus
  2. middle temporal gyrus
  3. inferior temporal gyrus
• superior temporal gyrus

  auditory association cortex; includes wernicke's area
• middle temporal gyrus


  participates in visual associations - word meanings and facial recognition
• inferior temporal gyrus


  object processing, visual speech processing, some roles in visual association/processing
• wernicke's area


  mostly language comprehension
• wernicke's aphasia

  • damage to this region leads to production of speech that lacks meaning
  • words and sentences are produced fluidly, but the words do not connect and no complete thought can be derived from this speech
• parietal lobe

  • postcentral gyrus
  • primary somatosensory cortex
• intraparietal sulcus


  planning of movements (eyes, reaching, etc) and some visual attention
• angular gyrus


  participates in many things... memory, language, numeracy
• supramarginal gyrus

  parts of the somatosensory association cortex; helps you figure out where your limbs are in space; important part of the mirror neuron system
• mirror neuron system

  • neurons fire not only when you perform an action but also when you see someone else perform an action (or even if you hear it)
  • believed to play a role in helping you learn behaviors, including speech
  • may also play a role in empathy
• occipital lobe

  • occipital pole
  • lateral occipital gyri
• occipital pole


  essentially the back of the brain; in humans, contains part of primary visual cortex (V1)
• lateral occipital gyri


  visual object processing
• insula

  • located deep in the lateral sulcus
  • believed to play a role in self-awareness and consciousness
  • also plays a role in things like taste preference, empathy, emotion
• basal ganglia

  • not ganglia
  • definitely basal
  • most known for role in movement
  • functions not limited to movement
• amygdala

  • primary role in processing and memory of emotional reactions, particularly fear
  • "thinking bypass", triggering automatic reactions
  • in a fearful situation, sensory stimuli -> basolateral amygdala -> form associations with memories of the stimuli -> fear responses (freezing, increased heart rate and the release of stress hormones)
  • damage: disrupts the ability of an emotionally charges stimulus to elicit and unconscious emotional response (fear/recognize anger)
  • electrical activation: feelings of fear and apprehension
  • involved in the process of forming long-term memories
• hippocampus

  • mostly gets credit for role in learning and memory
• white matter

  • association fibers
  • commissural fibers
  • projection fibers
• association fibers

  • cortical to cortical connections ipsilaterally

  1. uncinate fasciculus
  2. cingulum
  3. superior longitudinal bundle
  4. inferior longitudinal bundle
  5. fronto-occipital bundle
• uncinate fasciculus

  connects the motor speech area and the orbital cortex of frontal lobe with the cortex of temporal pole
• cingulum


  also called the limbic association bundle
• superior longitudinal bundle


  the longest association bundle which connects the frontal lobe to the occipital and temporal lobes
• inferior longitudinal bundle


  connects the visual association area of occipital lobe to the temporal lobe
• fronto-occipital bundle

  commences in the frontal pole, runs backwards to radiate into the occipital and temporal lobes
• commissural fibers

  • cortical to cortical (mostly) connections running contralaterally
  • corpus callosum
  • anterior commissure
  • posterior commissure
• projection fibers

  • cortical to subcortical connections
  • tons