The brain

• Human brain


  The brain of a human being
• Temporal lobe


  • Side portion of each hemisphere, near the temples
  • Primary target for auditory information, essential for understanding spoken language
  • Involved in advanced visual processing and plays a part in emotional and motivational behaviours
• Occipital lobe


  • Located at the back of the brain, main target for visual information
• Frontal lobe


  • Located at the front of the brain, contains the primary motor cortex and the pre-frontal cortex
  • Mainly involved in planning of movements, recent memory, and some aspects of emotion such as aggression
  • Crucial for planning and controlling thoughts and behaviour
• Parietal lobe


  • Located at the top of the brain between the frontal lobe and occipital lobe
  • Responsible for bodily sensations and monitors all the information about eye, head and body positions before passing it on to the brain areas that control movement
• Cerebellum


  • Large hindbrain structure located below the occipital lobe
  • Contributes to the control of movement and is important for balance and coordination
• Lateralisation


  The asymmetrical function of the two hemispheres of the brain
• Each hemisphere controls different functions, or plays a larger or smaller role in a particular behaviour – they are not equal in what they do
• Each hemisphere controls the opposite side of the body
• The two hemispheres are joined by a layer of fibres called the Corpus Callosum, allowing them to communicate while still working independently
• Gender differences in lateralisation


  • Females have a thicker corpus callosum than males
  • Females tend to use both sides of their brains for tasks
  • Males tend to show dominance for one hemisphere rather than an equal spread
  • Males are more affected by brain damage to one side of their brain, whereas women are less affected by the same brain damage
• Central Nervous System (CNS)


  The brain and spinal cord
• Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)


  The nerves that connect the CNS to the rest of the body
• Neuron


  The basic unit of the nervous system
• Synapse


  The junction between two neurons where information is transmitted
• Synaptic transmission


  1. Electrical impulse triggered in cell body

  2. Impulse passed along axon towards terminal buttons

  3. Vesicles release neurotransmitters into synaptic gap

  4. Neurotransmitters grabbed by receptors on next nerve cell
• Neurotransmitters


  Chemicals released at the synapse to transmit information between neurons
• Neurological damage


  • Damage to the body's central and peripheral nervous system
  • Messages can be interrupted
  • Neurons might not be working
  • Normal functions of the brain not possible
  • Behaviour can be affected
• Phineas Gage was a railway line worker in 1848 who had an explosion force an iron rod through his head
• Before the accident, Gage was calm and well liked, but after he became irresponsible and rude, and died 12 years later of epilepsy
• Aim of Damasio et al (1994) study


  To investigate the brain damage to Phineas Gage using his skull, in order to determine functions of the frontal lobe
• Damasio et al procedure


  Used Gage's skull to create a computer model of the damage
• Some epilepsy patients had their corpus callosum cut to reduce seizures, with few obvious effects
• Sperry's procedure


  1. Projected words/pictures for 1/10th second to left or right visual field of 11 split-brain patients

  2. Patients had to identify what they saw or feel for a matching object