basic introduction to brain structure and function with kevin o’doherty
TRANSCRIPT
Basic Introduction to Brain Structure and Function
with Kevin O’Doherty
“If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn’t”
-Emerson Pugh, The Biological Origin of Human Values (1977)
Evolution of the Brain
Look at how advanced our brains are!
The Brain• Brainstem
–responsible for automatic survival functions
• Medulla–controls heartbeat
and breathing
BRAINSTEM Heart rate and breathing
CEREBELLUM Coordination
and balance
Parts of the Brain
amygdala
pituitary
hippocampusTHALAMUS
Relays messages
The Cerebellum
–helps coordinate voluntary movement and balance
The Limbic System
• Hypothalamus, pituitary, amygdala, and hippocampus all deal with basic drives, emotions, and memory
• Hippocampus Memory processing
• Amygdala Aggression (fight) and fear (flight)
• Hypothalamus Hunger, thirst, body temperature, pleasure; regulates pituitary gland (hormones)
The Limbic System Hypothalamus
neural structure lying below (hypo) the thalamus; directs several maintenance activities eating drinking body temperature
helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland
linked to emotion (show video)
The Limbic System
• Amygdala –two almond-
shaped neural clusters that are components of the limbic system and are linked to emotion and fear
The Brain• Thalamus
– the brain’s sensory switchboard, located on top of the brainstem
– it directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla
The Cerebral Cortex
• Cerebral Cortex –the body’s
ultimate control and information processing center
The lobes of the cerebral hemispheres
Planning, decision making speech
Sensory
AuditoryVision
The Cerebral Cortex
• Frontal Lobes– involved in speaking and
muscle movements and in making plans and judgments
– the “executive”
• Parietal Lobes
– include the sensory cortex
The Cerebral Cortex
• Occipital Lobes
– include the visual areas, which receive visual information from the opposite visual field
• Temporal Lobes
– include the auditory areas, each of which receives auditory information primarily from the opposite ear
The Cerebral Cortex
• Frontal (Forehead to top) Motor Cortex
• Parietal (Top to rear) Sensory Cortex
• Occipital (Back) Visual Cortex
• Temporal (Above ears) Auditory Cortex
The Cerebral Cortex Aphasia
impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding) –see clips
Broca’s Area an area of the left frontal lobe that directs the
muscle movements involved in speech Wernicke’s Area
an area of the left temporal lobe involved in language comprehension and expression
Language Areas
• Broca Expression
• Wernicke Comprehensionand reception
• AphasiasLEFT HEMISPHERE
Paul Broca [1800s]
• Suggested localization
Techniques to examine functions of the brain
1. Remove part of the brain & see what effect it has on behavior
2. Examine humans who have suffered brain damage
3. Stimulate the brain
4. Record brain activity
Brain Lateralization
Our Divided Brains
• Corpus collosum – large bundle of neural fibers (myelinated axons, or white matter) connecting the two hemispheres
Hemispheric Specialization
LEFT
Symbolic thinking
(Language)
Detail
Literal meaning
RIGHT
Spatial perception
Overall picture
Context, metaphor
Contra-lateral division of labor
• Right hemisphere controls left side of body and visual field
• Left hemisphere controls right side of body and visual field
Split Brain Patients
• Epileptic patients had corpus callosum cut to reduce seizures in the brain
• Lives largely unaffected, seizures reduced
• Affected abilities related to naming objects in the left visual field
Brain Plasticity
Brain Plasticity
• The ability of the brain to reorganize neural pathways based on new experiences
• Persistent functional changes in the brain represent new knowledge
• Age dependent component
• Brain injuries
Environmental influences on neuroplasticity
Impoverished environment
Enriched environment
Sensation and Perception
Sensation
• The process by which the central nervous system receives input from the environment via sensory neurons
• Bottom up processing
Perception
• The process by which the brain interprets and organizes sensory information
• Top-down processing
The five major senses• Vision – electromagnetic
– Occipital lobe• Hearing – mechanical
– Temporal lobe• Touch – mechanical
– Sensory cortex• Taste – chemical
– Gustatory insular cortex • Smell – chemical
– Olfactory bulb– Orbitofrontal cortex– Vomeronasal organ?
The sixth sense
• Vestibular balance and motion– Inner ear
• Proprioceptive relative position of body parts– Parietal lobe
• Temperature heat– Thermoreceptors throughout the body, sensory cortex
• Nociception pain– Nociceptors throughout the body, sensory cortex
And the seventh…and eighth…and ninth…