The Brain

• Accidents: Phineas Gage Story-Personality changed after the accident.
• Lesions: removal or destruction of some part of the brain. Frontal Lobotomy
• Electroencephalogram (EEG): detects brain waves through their electrical output. Used mainly in sleep research.
• Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT Scan): 3D X-Ray of the brain. good for tumor locating but tells us nothing about function.
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI): more detailed picture of brain using magnetic field to knock electrons off axis.
• Positron Emission Tomography (PET Scan): measures how much of a chemical the brain is using (usually glucose consumption).

Brain Structure

• Hindbrain: structures on top of our spinal cord. Controls basic biological structures.
• Pons: located just above the medulla.
• Cerebellum: bottom rear of the brain. "Little brain." coordinates fine muscle movements.
• Midbrain: coordinates simple movement with sensory information. Most important structure in Midbrain is the Reticular Formation: controls arousal and ability to focus our attention.
• Forebrain: what makes us human. Largest part of the brain. Made up of the Thalamus, Limbic System, and Cerebral Cortex.
• Thalamus: receives sensory signals from the spinal cord and sends them to other parts of the forebrain. Every sense except smell.
• Limbic System
  
• Hypothalamus: maybe most important structure in the brain. Controls and regulates: body temperature, sexual arousal, hunger, thirst, and endocrine system.
• Hippocampus: involved in the processing and storage of memories.
• Amygdala: involved in how we process memory. More involved in volatile emotions like anger.
• Cerebral Cortex: made up of densely packed neurons we call "gray matter." Glial Cells: support brain cells. Wrinkles are called fissures.
  
• Hemispheres: divided into two hemisphere.
• Contralateral control: right controls left and vice versa.
• Left Hemisphere: logic and sequential tasks.
• Right Hemisphere: spatial and creative tasks.
• Frontal Lobes: abstract thought and emotional control.
• Motor Cortex: sends signals to our body controlling muscle movements.
• Broca's Area: responsible for controlling muscles that produce speech.
• Broca's Aphasia: damage to Broca's Area. Unable to make movements to talk.
• Parietal Lobes: contain Sensory Cortex:
• Sensory Cortex: receives incoming touch sensations from rest of the body. Most of the Parietal Lobes are made up of Association Areas.
  
• Association Areas: any areas not associated with reviving sensory information or coordinating muscle movements.
• Occipital Lobes: deals with vision. Contains Visual Cortex: interprets messages from our eyes into images we can understand.
• Temporal Lobes: process sound sensed by our ears. Contains Wernike's Area: interprets written and spoken speech. Wernike's Aphasia: unable to understand language: the syntax and grammar jumbled.
• Brain Plasticity: the idea that the brain, when damaged, will attempt to find new ways to reroute messages.
• The Corpus Callosum: bridge of nerve fibers that connects or divides the two hemisphere.
• Cerebrum: largest part of the brain. Divided into left and right hemisphere & divided into lobes. Also contains the cerebral cortex (the gray matter). Controls voluntary movement, coordinates mental activity, and it's the center for all conscious living.