December 08, 2016

THE BRAIN

December 08, 2016

Myth or Fact?

You only use 10% of your brain

A persons' learning and personality depends on if you are left-brain or right-brain dominant

Brain damage is permanent

Crosswords or learning a new language help with making new connections in the brain

The bigger your brain, the smarter you are

MYTH

MYTHMYTH

MYTHFACT... kind of...

December 08, 2016

The Brain - Quick Facts

On average weighs roughly 3 pounds (1.35 kg)

86 billion neurons and over 1000 trillion synapses

Although it it only 2% of body weight, uses ~25% of available oxygen and ~20% of available glucose

Organ of behaviour and our mind

December 08, 2016

Specific parts of the brain carry out specific tasks (in a broad sense)

Function is said to be localized to specific parts of the brain• the process of all these different areas of the brain working

together toward a taks is called parallel processing

In modern research, more emphasis on neural connections then localization

How it Works

December 08, 2016

Brain StructureBrain divided into three sub-sections:• Forebrain

> Telencephalon> Diencephalon

• Midbrain• Hindbrain

Each hemisphere connected by corpus callosum

Bumps = gyri, cracks = sulci

grey matter = cell bodies and dendrites, white matter = axons

December 08, 2016

TelencephalonContains:• Cerebral cortex

> frontal lobe - primary motor cortex, reward, attention, short-term memory, tasks, planning, motivation

> temporal lobe - visual memory, language, comprehension> parietal lobe - primary somatosensory cortex, language processing > occipital lobe - visual processing

• Basal ganglia - interconnected with other parts of the brain (multi-functional)

• Limbic system - emotion, behaviour, long-term memory, olfaction> hippocampus - spatial memory, long-term memory> amygdala - emotions (ex. fear), memory

December 08, 2016

December 08, 2016

December 08, 2016

Diencephalon

Contains:• Thalmus

> input-output connections

• Hypothalmus> feeding, drinking,

sexual behaviour, thermoregulation

December 08, 2016

Midbrain

Manages:• sleep/wake• arousal (alertness)• associated with: vision,

hearing, motor control, thermoregulation

December 08, 2016

HindbrainContains:• medulla

> vomiting, sneezing, cardiac, respiratory

• pons> neural tracts

• cerebellum> coordination,

precision, accurate timing, learning

December 08, 2016

Pig Brain Dissection

Mid-sagittal cut of the brain (cut into left and right hemispheres)