5.3 - Brain

• Cerebral Cortex:

  • Senses
  • Consciousness
  • Intelligence
  • Memory
  • Language
• How many hemispheres is the cerebral cortex split into and what do they do?

  2 hemispheres

  Left hemisphere controls left side of body

  Right hemisphere controls right side of body
• Cerebellum:

  • Balance
  • Muscle Coordination
• Hypothalamus:

  • Regulates body temperature
  • Sends signals to the Pituitary Gland
• Medulla:

  • Unconscious Activity (breathing, heart beating)
• How do scientists study the brain?

  1. Study people with brain damage
  2. Electrically stimulate different parts of the brain
  3. Scanning the brain (CT, MRI, PET scans)
• Why is treating the brain so difficult?

  • Things can go wrong - tumors, infection, trauma, mental health problems
  • Difficult to actually fix anything due to skull and fragile tissue
  • Complex - don’t fully understand how to treat the brain with drugs and chemicals.
• Where in the brain is the medulla found?

  In the brain stem