brain parts and functions

• Three Major Regions


  • Hindbrain
  • Midbrain
  • Forebrain
• Medulla


  • Regulates reflexes (breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, coughing, swallowing, sneezing, and vomiting)
• Pons


  • Responsible for sleep-wake cycle and breathing
• Cerebellum


  • Involved in movement, balance, coordination, and fine motor skills
• Hippocampus is Involved in learning and memory (hard drive of the nervous system)
• Amygdala is Important for processing emotional information, especially fear.
• Thalamus


  • Sensory relay station
• Hypothalamus


  • Regulator of almost all major drives and motives we have, such as hunger, thirst, temperature, and sexual behavior
• Brain stem is the collection of the midbrain, medulla, and pons.
• Reticular Formation is responsible for attention; waking up and falling asleep.
• Limbic System is a network of structures.
• Hippocampus is concerned with learning and memory. (hard drive of the nervous system)
• Amygdala is important for processing emotional information (esp. fear)
• People with anxiety have an overactive amygdala. People with psychopathy have an underactive amygdala, which causes a lack of fear.
• Thalamus is the sensory relay station.
• Hypothalamus is the regulator of almost all major drives and motives we have, such as hunger, thirst, temperature, and sexual behavior.
• Cerebral cortex is the thin outer layer of the cerebrum, in which much of human thought, planning, perception, and consciousness takes place.