BRAIN ANATOMY FUNCTION CHEAT SHEET



BRAIN ANATOMY FUNCTION CHEAT SHEET

|System or Part |Function | |

| | |Misc. |

|Brainstem |Responsible for automatic survival reflexes | |

|Spinal Cord |Controls simple reflexes |Pathway to neural fibers |

|Medulla |Controls/regulates heartbeat and breathing |To and from brain |

|Reticular Formation |Helps control arousal, responds to change in monotony | |

|Thalamus |Relays sensory information, switchboard between sensory neurons and|Deals with sight, hearing, touch, taste. Transmits replies from |

| |higher brain regions |higher brain to cerebellum and medullam |

|Cerebellum |Influences memory and learning coordinates voluntary movement and |Little brain-extends from rear of brainstem |

| |balance | |

|The Limbic System |Links emotion (fear/anger), basic motives (food and sex) | |

|Hippocampus |Memory (remembering and learning) | |

|Amygdala |Emotion (aggression) rage, fear |Kluecer& Bucy Lesion monkey brain |

|Hypothalamus |Regulates thirst, hunger, body temperature, sexual behavior |Helps govern endocrines. |

| |(hormone release). Controls/regulates maintenance reflexes |Monitors glands. |

| |(eating), Homeostasis linked to emotion. |Controls hunger. |

| | |Linked to emotion and reward- Oldst minor (pleasure center) |

|Pituitary Gland |Master Gland. Influences hormone release |Part of endocrine system (no brain) controlled by hypothalamus |

|Cerebral Cortex |Learning and thinking. Enabling adaptability. |Information processing center |

|Assoc. Areas |Integrates higher order thinking |Interprets and acts on information processes by sensory areas |

|Frontal Lobe |Speaking, muscle movement. Making plans, judgment, decision-making |Ultimate control information process center. Interprets and acts |

| |and attention. |on information processes by sensory areas |

|Prefrontal Cortex |Critical role with how brain processes brain. |Behind forehead and controls motor cortex |

|Motor Cortex |Moves body parts: sends messages out to body, controls body | |

| |movement | |

|Broca’s Area |Produces speech thru control of motor cortex: in left frontal lobe |Damage disrupts speaking. Can sing and comprehend speech. |

|Temporal Lobe |Auditory |Above ear |

|Auditory Cortex |Hears and processes sound |Left hemisphere |

|Wernicke’s Area |Processes speech, sound from outside large comp. Auditory code and|Damage disrupts language comprehension |

| |understanding | |

|Occipital Lobe |Visual area- receives visual cues from opposite visual field |Back of head- above cerebellum contains visual cortex |

|Visual Cortex |Visual area | |

|Angular Gyrus |Reads words-Reads allowed |Damage: can’t speak, can’t read |

|Parietal Lobe |Sensory cortex math and spatial reasoning. |Top and rear of cerebral cortex |

|Sensory Cortex |Incoming messages from skin, movement of body/tactile |Behind and parallel to motor cortex. Modulates speech and clarity |

|Corpus Callosum |Axon fibers connects 2 hemispheres |Sperry & Gazaniga split brain experiments |

|Right Hemisphere |Visual spatial processes emotion expression and intuitive: music |Spatial ability, perceptual tasks, patterns and multi tasks |

|Left Hemisphere |Verbal, language, processes information sequentially; interprets |Supports to make whole. |

| |actions logic |Processes verbal language. |

| | |Read/ write, math. |

There’s Nothin’ on Here insignificant!!!

|Big Picture |Function |

|CNS |Central Nervous System – brain and spinal cord |

|PNS |Peripheral Nervous System – any neurons that extend past CNS |

|Somatic NS |The muscles and functions you can control |

|Autonomic NS |Regulates glands, blood vessels and flow, internal organs |

|Sympathetic NS |Prepares the body for stress; builds energy/adrenaline |

|Parasympathetic NS |Helps to bring the body back to a normal state |

|Breaking it down |BRAIN FUNCTIONS |

|Medulla |Regulates breathing and heart rate – hanging a person works b/c (if done correctly) it breaks this in half |

|Pons |Involved in sleeping, waking and dreaming |

|Cerebellum |The “lesser brain” coordinates balance and coordination |

|Thalamus |Relays all sensory information to specific perception areas of the brain, with the exception of smell |

|Hypothalamus |Part of the “old brain” – it controls survival elements such as hunger, thirst, emotion, sex drive and reproduction. Works in conjunction |

| |with the pituitary gland. |

|Pituitary Gland |Secretes hormones as “directed” by the hypothalamus to regulate the body during a “primal” function |

|Amygdala |Instantaneously evaluates sensory information from the thalamus and determines its emotional importance – helps to decide if something needs |

| |to be addressed immediately; the “fight or flight” brain section (PART OF THE LIMBIC SYSTEM) |

|Hippocampus |The gateway to all memory functions; also works with the reticular activating system to relate sensory input to what the brain already |

| |“knows” about it (PART OF THE LIMBIC SYSTEM) |

|THE LOBES | |

|Occipital lobe |Lower back of the brain; contains the visual cortex |

|Parietal lobe |Top of the brain; contains the somatosensory cortex, which receives all info about pressure, pain, heat, etc., from the body. |

|Temporal lobe |Sides of the brain; involved in memory storage, perception and emotion; contains the auditory cortex as well as Wernicke’s area, which |

| |processes language comprehension. |

|Frontal lobe |Front of the brain (duh) and contains the motor cortex, which controls over 600 muscles all over the body. Also contains Broca’s area, which |

| |allows us to know how to speak. It also helps us think creatively and think rationally; dopamine that is supposed to reach this lobe is shut |

| |off during schizophrenia, making it impossible for the victim to tell what is real and what is hallucinatory. |

|Corpus Callosum |Serves as the network between the left/right sides of the brain. |

|Left side of brain |Rational and analytical thought |

|Right side of brain |Intuitive, creative, holistic thought |

|Roger Sperry |Most well known split-brain psychologist; worked with cats and severed their corpus callosum to see what would happen |

|NEURONS | |

|Dendrites |Information receptors |

|Cell body |Determines how/when a neuron is supposed to fire and emit a signal |

|Axon |The “tail” of the neuron; sends info away from the cell body |

|Mylein sheath |Made up of several glial cells, insulates the axon to make sure no random signals get in and no signals slip out |

|Synaptic cleft |The areas between the synaptic end bulbs and dendrites of another neuron where neurotransmitters are released and taken. |

|Plasticity |The brain’s ability to recover from brain/nerve damage by possibly creating new pathways for previous messages |

|Action potential |This allows messages to flow from neuron to neuron as an electrical charge is created when positively charged sodium ions flow into a neuron |

| |and flows out as positively charged potassium charges. |

|NEUROTRANSMITTERS | |

|Acetylcholine |Affects cognition, muscle movement, memory and emotion |

|Dopamine |Affects voluntary movement, learning, memory, emotion – the neurotransmitter that is overactive during SCHIZOPHRENIA; can be replicated by |

| |certain psychoactive drugs like THC (marijuana); also in low amounts for Parkinson’s victims |

|Serotonin |Affects appetite, perception, temperature regulation, pain suppression and mood – the neurotransmitter that is inhibited during DEPRESSION; |

| |increased by stimulants |

|GABA |An inhibitor; it is unable to reuptake into neurons when depressants such as alcohol are present in the blood system |

|Norepinephrine |Increases heart rate, involved in dreaming, sleeping and emtion |

|Epinephrine |Secreted by the endocrine system; basically, it is adrenaline |

|Dopamine |Affects voluntary movement, learning, memory, emotion – the neurotransmitter that is overactive during SCHIZOPHRENIA; can be replicated by |

| |certain psychoactive drugs like THC (marijuana); also in low amounts for Parkinson’s victims |

|GABA |An inhibitor; it is unable to reuptake into neurons when depressants such as alcohol are present in the blood system |

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