Chapter 12: Central Nervous System

List the major lobes

Frontal lobe Parietal lobe Occipital lobe: Temporal lobe Insula

Brain stem

Midbrain Pons Medulla oblongata

Define Cingulate gyrus

emotion formation and processing, learning, and memory. The combination of these three functions makes the cingulate gyrus highly influential in linking behavioral outcomes to motivation (e.g. a certain action induced a positive emotional response, which results in learning). This role makes the cingulate cortex highly important in disorders such as depression and schizophrenia.

Olfactory bulbs, olfactory tracts, & olfactory cortex

how odors can provoke certain emotions or be associated with certain memories

Define Hippocampus

important in learning, especially in the storage and retrieval of new long-term memory

Anterior Association Areas/ Prefontal Cortex

intellect, cognition, working memory

Postcentral gyrus/the primary somatosensory cortex

postcentral gyrus of parietal lobes; receive general somatic sensory information from proprioceptors (body position) as well as touch, pressure, pain and temperature receptors

Define Insula

this is a long-neglected part of the brain that only in the last few years has emerged as a center for social emotions, things like lust and disgust, pride and humiliation, guilt and atonement. The insula also reads body states like hunger and craving. The insula "lights up" in brain scans when people crave drugs, feel pain, anticipate pain, empathizes with others, etc.

Define Frontal lobe

voluntary motor functions, concentration, verbal communication, decision making, motivation, aggression, sense of smell, planning, personality & mood

Pons

"Pons" bridge to cerebellum a. Contains fiber tracts that complete conduction pathways between the brain and spinal cord. b. The pontine nuclei relay information from the cerebrum to the cerebellum. c. Also houses nuclei for cranial nerves V, VI, VII, VIII, and IX. d. Pontine sleep center, which initiates rapid eye movement sleep (dream) e. Pontine respiratory center, which works with the respiratory centers in the medulla to help control respiratory movements.

Midbrain (mesencephalon)/ Primitive Brain

"mesos" middle Process visual and auditory information and control relexes triggered by a stimuli "startle reflex" (loud noise= eye movement and head turning) b. Substantia nigra: a cluster of neurons that produce dopamine, which affects brain processed to control movement, emotional response, and ability to experience pleasure and pain; degeneration of this area of the brain underlies Parkinson's disease and its resting tremors

Define the Limbic System

("emotional brain") Its functions include: a. Process and experience emotions and establishes emotional states b. linking the conscious, intellectual functions of the cerebral cortex with the unconscious and autonomic functions of the brain stem; and 3) facilitating memory storage and retrieval. It is the limbic that makes you want to performance certain tasks (the motivational system).

Describe the anatomy and location of the ventricles of the brain

1. 2. Lateral Ventricles - separated by the septum pellucidum 3. Third ventricle-lies within the diencephalon, and communicates with the lateral ventricles via two interventricular foramina 4. Fourth ventricle- lies between the pons and cerebellum and communicates with the third ventricle via the cerebral aqueduct. At its inferior end, the fourth ventricle merges with the central canal in the spinal cord.

Functions of Cerebellum "Little Brain"

1. Coordinates and "fine-tunes" skeletal muscle movements that were initiated by the cerebrum 2. Plays a "comparator" function; cerebellum continuously receives convergent input from both the various sensory pathways and from the motor pathways in the brain and uses this information to unconsciously plan for movement and then follows the activity to see if it was carried out correctly, initiating "corrections" as needed 3. Stores memory of previously learned movement patterns 4. Plays a role in equilibrium, posture and muscle tone 5. Receives proprioceptive (sensory) information from muscles and joints, alerting the cerebrum about the position of each body joint and its muscle tone

Structure of Cerebellum "Little Brain"

1. Folia ("leaf"): the folds of the cerebellar cortex 2. Left and right cerebellar hemispheres 3. Vermis ("worm"): band of cortex along midline between the cerebellar hemispheres; receives sensory input reporting torso position and balance 4. Arbor vitae ("tree of life"): distribution pattern of white matter 5. Cerebellar (superior, middle & posterior) peduncles: nerve tracts that link the cerebellum with the brain stem; enables the cerebellum to "fine-tune" skeletal muscle movements and interpret all body proprioceptive movement

Differentiate among the five sensory areas.

1.Primary somatosensory cortex: postcentral gyrus of parietal lobes; receive general somatic sensory information from proprioceptors (body position) as well as touch, pressure, pain and temperature receptors a. Sensory homunculus 2. Somatosensory association area: integrates sensory information and interprets sensations to determine the texture, temperature, pressure and shape of objects. This area allows us to identify know objects without seeing them. 3. Primary visual cortex: occipital lobe; receives and processes incoming visual information; Visual association area: processes visual information by analyzing color, movement, and form; integrated visual information into a recognizable object 4. Primary auditory cortex: temporal lobe; receives and processes auditory information; Auditory association area: interprets the characteristics of sound and stores memories of sounds heard in the past 5. Vestibular (equilibrium) cortex: insula & adjacent parietal cortex 6. Primary olfactory cortex: temporal lobe; awareness of smell 7. Primary gustatory cortex: insula; processing taste information 8. Visceral sensory area: insula; conscious perception of visceral sensations

Define Basal (cerebral) nuclei

A major function of the basal nuclei is to help regulate initiation and termination of movements. In addition, the basal nuclei help regulate muscle tone required for specific body movements and control subconscious contractions of skeletal muscles (e.g., automatic arm swings while walking). They also inhibit unwanted movements. The basal nuclei also help initiate and terminate some cognitive processes such as attention, memory and planning. Disorders such as Parkinson's disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia and chronic anxiety are thought to involve dysfunction of circuits between the basal nuclei and the limbic system.

Epithalamus

A. pineal (PĪΝ-ē-al) gland- melatonin and helps regulates day-night cycles known as the body's circadian rhythm -body's biological clock by inducing sleep and helping the body to adjust to jet lag b. Habenular nuclei- which help relay signals from the limbic system to the midbrain and are involved in visceral and emotional responses to odors.

List the structures of the limbic system

Cingulate gyrus Amygdala Hippocampus Olfactory bulbs, olfactory tracts, & olfactory cortex

Reticular formation

Keeping the cortex alert and aroused Reticular activating system (RAS), which controls the overall degree of cortical alertness and is important in the ability to direct attention. The RAS also plays a role in dampening familiar, repetitive, or weak sensory inputs.

List the fissures, and functional areas of the cerebral cortex

Longitudinal Fissure- separates the cerebral hemisphere Transverse fissure- separates cerebral hemisphere from the cerebellum below Central sulcus- separates the frontal lobe and parietal lobe Precentral gyrus/primary motor cortex- Postcentral gyrus/the primary somatosensory cortex Lateral sulcus

List Association Areas

Multimodal Association Areas Anterior Association Areas/ Prefontal Cortex Posterior association area Limbic association area

Locate and list the functions of the three main motor areas

Primary Motor Cortex (somatic motor area) Premotor cortex (somatic motor association area Broca's (motor speech) area

Define Parietal Lobe

Processes sensory information that had to do with taste, temperature, and touch major center for receiving and evaluating most sensory information, except for smell, hearing and vision

Multimodal Association Areas

Receives inputs from multiple senses and send output to multiple areas

Premotor cortex (somatic motor association area

Responsible for coordinating learned, skilled motor activities (e.g., moving the eyes when reading a book or playing the piano). The premotor cortex coordinates the movement of several muscle groups either simultaneously or sequentially, mainly by sending activating signals to the primary motor cortex. Learned motor activities of a complex and sequential nature

Define Temporal lobe

Temporal lobe: receives and evaluates input for smell and hearing and plays a role in memory. Its anterior and inferior portions, called the "psychic cortex," are associated with such brain functions as abstract thought and judgment

Parts of the diencephalon "Mid brain"

Thalamus Hypothalamus Epithalamus A. pineal (PĪΝ-ē-al) gland B.Habenular nuclei

Cerebral lateralization

There is hemispheric lateralization of cortical functioning, in which each cerebral hemisphere has unique abilities not shared by the other half. These functional differences are a result of specialization. Part a. Left (categorical) hemisphere b. Right (representational) hemisphere

Medulla oblongata

a. Pyramids: houses motor projection tracts (corticospinal or pyramidal tracts) most of which cross to the opposite side (decussation) b. Cranial nerve nuclei c. Part of the reticular formation d. Cardiac center: regulates heart rate and force of contraction e. Vasomotor center: controls blood pressure f. Medullary respiratory center: regulates respiratory rate g. Nuclei that are involved in coughing, sneezing, salivation, swallowing, gagging and vomiting

Thalamus

a. The principal and final relay point station for most sensory impulses (except olfaction) that reach the primary sensory areas of the cerebral cortex from the spinal cord and brain stem. b. In addition, the thalamus contributes to motor functions by transmitting information from the cerebellum and basal nuclei to the primary motor cortex. c. The thalamus also relays nerve impulses between different areas of the cerebrum and plays a role in the maintenance of consciousness. d. The thalamus also acts as an information filter, screening out most of the sensory information that arrives at the thalamus and forwarding only a relatively smal portion of the sensory information to the cerebrum (e.g., the thalamus is responsible for filtering out the sounds and sights in a busy cafeteria when you are studying...

Define Amygdala

acts as an interface between the limbic system, the cerebrum, and various sensory systems, and is involved in several aspects of emotion, especially fear. It can also help store and code memories based on how a person emotionally perceives them (e.g., as related to fear, sadness, happiness, etc.)

Association fibers:

connect areas of the cortex within the same hemisphere * Arcuate ("bowed") fibers: short association fibers

Commissural fibers:

connect one hemisphere with the other; the largest bundle of commissural fibers connecting the two hemispheres is the corpus callosum, containing about 300 million fibers

Projection fibers

connect the cerebrum to other parts of the brain and spinal cord; the projection fibers form the internal capsule

Limbic association area

emotional impact of events and emotional memory

Hypothalamus

is the control center of the body regulating ANS activity such as: 1. emotional response 2. body temperature 3. food intake 4. circadian rhythms such as sleep-wake cycles, 5. Endocrine function [SWEET HAT]. 6. Relay station for reflexes related to the sense of smell and together with the limbic system, the regulation of emotional and behavioral patterns (e.g., expressions of rage, aggression, pain, pleasure, and the behavioral patterns related to sexual arousal.

Right (representational) hemisphere

memory for shapes (limited language comprehension), left hand motor control, musical and artistic ability, recognition of faces and spatial relationships, comparision of sights, sounds, smells, & tastes

Define Precentral gyrus/primary motor cortex

precentral gyrus of frontal lobe. Pyramidal neurons here allow us to consciously control precise or skilled voluntary movements of our skeletal muscles. The axons of these neurons project contralaterally (to the opposite side) either within the brain stem or spinal cord. Thus, the left primary motor cortex controls the right-side voluntary muscles and vice versa.

Define Occipital lobe

receiving and integrating visual input & storing visual memorie

Posterior association area

recognizing patterns and faces, localizing us and our surroundings a. Wernicke's area- comprehension language ex Wernicke's aphasia superficially fluent (grammatically) but not understanding the meaning

Broca's (motor speech) area

regulation of patterns of breathing and controlling the muscular movements necessary for vocalization Aphasia (a-FĀ-zē-a; a = without + phasia = speech).

Left (categorical) hemisphere

verbal memory, speech motor area, Wernicke's area, right hand motor control, language and mathematic comprehensive, sequential and analytical reasoning; functions in categorization and symbolization