Brain

• Forebrain


  Largest and most prominent part of brain, above midbrain and extends across top of brain, numerous neural pathways connect with structures in the mid/hindbrain to coordinate brain activity
• Hypothalamus


  Size of a sultana, regulates internal environment (fight/flight/freeze, homeostasis), regulates hormones from various glands in the body (through control of pituitary gland - HPA axis [release of hormones])
• Damage to the hypothalamus

  Could result in inability to regulate bodily functioning, sleep problems, overwhelming urge to eat
• Limbic system


  Interconnected group of structures located along the base of the cerebral cortex, including the amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus and hypothalamus, controls emotional and motivated behaviour and certain types of memories
• Amygdala


  Production and regulation of emotions (especially fear), 'emotion centre of the brain' but does not have exclusive control of emotions
• Hippocampus


  Formation of new long-term memories
• Thalamus


  Structure: Centre of the brain in between your ears, ~3 cm in length, comprised of 2 parts that look like footballs

  Function: Filters sensory information from their receptor sites (except smell) & passes it to the relevant part of the brain for further processing, passes information from the cortex to lower brain structures, plays a role in attention and highlights important information, regulates arousal
• Damage to the thalamus


  Could result in lowered arousal (lethargy to coma), hearing or visual impairment or an inability to feel sensations when touched
• Cerebrum


  Largest part of brain, composed of 2 hemispheres (left and right), responsible for a wide range of functions
• Cerebral cortex


  Outer portion of the brain, convoluted (scrunched) to increase the surface area and allow for more neural activity, the more intelligent the species, the larger their cerebral cortex, divided into two cerebral hemispheres
• Cerebral cortex


  • Some areas are dedicated to specific functions 'localised', most areas don't have specific functions and are 'association' areas that perform multiple functions, integrating information from other areas in the brain in a holistic way
• Broad categories of the cerebral cortex

  • Primary sensory and motor areas
  • Association areas
  • Prefrontal cortex
• Cerebral hemispheres


  2 almost symmetrical brain areas running from front to back of brain, connected by the corpus callosum
• Hemisphere specialisation


  • Human language is primarily a function of the left hemisphere, the right side is primarily involved in many functions that don't depend on language, spatial and visual thinking and recognition of faces and tunes
• Similarities between hemispheres


  • Appear to be alike in overall size, shape and structure, have many of the same functions, each hemisphere has motor and sensory areas that perform the same functions for a different side of the body (contralateral function), left side receives information and takes it to be processed to the right side of the brain, right side receives information and takes it to be processed to the left side of the brain
• Left hemisphere


  Responsible for verbal and analytical functions, including recognition and use of words, reading, writing, speaking and understanding speech, logical reasoning, critical evaluation, meal prep, argument development and planning
• Damage to the left hemisphere

  Could result in difficulties with language-related activities
• Right hemisphere


  Responsible for non-verbal functions that don't depend on language skills, including spatial and visual thinking, face recognition, patterns and tunes, music and artworks, creative thinking, daydreaming, recognising emotions from facial cues
• Damage to the right hemisphere


  Could result in difficulties with visual and spatial abilities
• Cortical lobes


  • Frontal lobe
  • Parietal lobe
  • Occipital lobe
  • Temporal lobe
• Frontal lobe


  Largest, located in the upper forward half of hemisphere, prefrontal cortex is an association area located at the front involved with sophisticated mental abilities like reasoning, planning, problem-solving, decision-making, attention, emotions, reactions, self-awareness and aspects of personality, responsible for planning and initiating voluntary bodily movements
• Broca's area


  Responsible for the production of articulate speech (clear and fluent), coordinates movements of muscles required for speech
• Parietal lobe


  Located behind the frontal lobe, involved in attention, spatial reasoning, sensing position of our body in space, primary somatosensory cortex receives and processes information from the skin and body, enabling us to perceive bodily sensations
• Temporal lobe


  Located in the lower, central area of the brain, above and around the top of each ear, involved in memory, facial recognition, object identification, primary auditory cortex receives and processes sounds from each ear
• Wernicke's area


  Located in the left temporal lobe, responsible for the comprehension of speech, interpreting sounds of human speech
• Occipital lobe


  Located at the rear of the brain, integrates visual information in a meaningful way, primary visual cortex is where information from the eyes is received and processed
• Contralateral processing of visual information

  • Right visual field = left half of eye = left visual cortex, Left visual field = right half of eye = right visual cortex
• Neuroplasticity


  Brain's ability to change and adapt based on experience, occurs through processes of synaptogenesis (growth formation and development of new synapses) and synaptic pruning (eliminating unnecessary synapses)
• Experience-expectant neuroplasticity


  What is expected to learn, brain changes as a response to species-wide environmental inputs needed for normal development, like exposure to light, visual patterns, sound, touch and language
• Experience-dependent neuroplasticity


  Depends on unique life experiences, changes that modify neuronal structure that is already present, influenced by intensity and frequency of experience
• Experience-dependent neuroplasticity


  • Musicians who play string instruments show larger somatosensory cortex areas for the fingers of their left hand, individuals who practice a specific movement have more advanced somatosensory cortex in comparison to those who don't perform the activity
• Experience-dependent neuroplasticity and drug use

  Mind-altering drugs can alter synaptic connections in the brain, the extent of change depends on factors like the specific drug, dosage, and frequency of use, drug-related changes may contribute to and sustain maladaptive behaviours observed in individuals addicted to drugs
• Neuroplasticity and brain injury

  • Occurs in response to everyday experiences and brain injury, helps the brain recover from or compensate for lost functions after injury, the brain's response depends on factors like the location and extent of damage