MODULE 11

• The brain is an organ that is made up of a large mass of nerve tissue protected within the skull

  
• Brain


  • Plays a role in just about every major body system
  • Processes sensory information
  • Regulates blood pressure and breathing
  • Releases hormones
• Cerebrum


  The largest brain structure

  
• Cerebral cortex


  • Consists mainly of neuron cell bodies
  • Has a left and a right hemisphere
  • Each hemisphere can be divided into four lobes: frontal, temporal, occipital, and parietal

  
• Functions of the cerebrum

  • Initiation of movement
  • Coordination of movement
  • Temperature
  • Touch
  • Vision
  • Hearing
  • Judgment
  • Reasoning
  • Problem solving
  • Reading
  • Thinking
  • Learning
  • Speech
  • Emotions
  • Planned muscle movements like walking
• Cerebellum


  • The second largest part of the brain
  • Maintains posture and balance
• Brainstem


  • Connects the spinal cord to the higher-thinking centers of the brain
  • Consists of the medulla oblongata, the pons, and the midbrain
  • Handles respiration, digestion, circulation, and reflexes

  
• Spinal cord


  • A large bundle of nerve fibers located in the back that extends from the base of the brain to the lower back
  • Carries messages to and from the brain and the rest of the body
• Frontal lobe


  • The largest section of the brain located in the front of the head
  • Involved in personality characteristics, problem solving, judgment, and motor function

  
• Parietal lobe


  Manages sensation, handwriting, and body position
• Temporal lobe


  Involved with memory and hearing

  
• Occipital lobe


  Contains the brain's visual processing system

  
• There are very complex relationships between the lobes of the brain and between the right and left hemispheres

  
• Brain stem


  Directs involuntary functions
• Spinal cord


  Large bundle of nerve fibers that extends from the base of the brain to the lower back, carries messages to and from the brain and the rest of the body
• Cerebral hemispheres

  • Divided into frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes
  • Each lobe has specific functions
  • Lobes do not function alone, complex relationships between lobes and hemispheres

  
• Frontal lobe


  • Involved in personality, behavior, emotions
  • Judgment, planning, problem solving
  • Speech: speaking and writing (Broca's area)
  • Body movement (motor strip)
  • Intelligence, concentration, self-awareness

  
• Parietal lobe


  • Interprets language, words
  • Sense of touch, pain, temperature (sensory strip)
  • Interprets signals from vision, hearing, motor, sensory and memory
  • Spatial and visual perception

  
• Occipital lobe


  • Interprets vision (color, light, movement)
• Temporal lobe


  • Understanding language (Wernicke's area)
  • Memory
  • Hearing
  • Sequencing and organization

  
• Brain lateralization


  Theory that each side of the brain has different specific functions

  
• Brain dominance


  Individual has a natural preference for processing information on one side of the brain
• Left-brained individuals

  • Organized
  • Logical
  • Detail-oriented
• Left-brained preferences

  • Sequencing
  • Linear thinking
  • Mathematics
  • Thinking in words
  • Setting goals
  • Interpreting information well
  • Keeping a tidy room
  • Answering questions spontaneously
  • Following directions and reading directions
• Right-brained individuals


  • Intuitive
  • Risk-takers
  • Creative
• Right-brained preferences

  • Imagination
  • Holistic thinking
  • Rhythm
  • Feelings
  • Visualization
  • Daydreaming
  • Adventure
  • Writing
  • Fantasies
  • Expression
• There is a need to exercise or do activities to your brain
• It is important to know these different activities
• Brain dominance includes everything related to intuitive, holistic, and imaginary thinking
• The frontal lobe determines personality and emotions

  
• Kyla likes to collect data, listen to informative lectures, judging facts, criteria, and logical reasoning, so her dominant brain is the left brain
• Risk-takers and creative individuals have right brain dominance
• Answering questions spontaneously is a characteristic of left brain dominance
• Setting goals is a characteristic of left brain dominance
• Adventurous and imaginative individuals have right brain dominance
• Loving science and mathematics is a characteristic of left brain dominance