Our Newer Brain “What makes us distinctively human mostly arises from the complex function of the cerebral cortex.” - David G. Myers

Cerebrum The two hemispheres that we consider “the brain.” (85% of the brain’s mass.)

Cerebral Cortex Thin layer of neural cells that cover the cerebrum. It is the brain’s thinking crown.

Cerebral Cortex (continued) Glial (glia cells) support the neural cells in the cerebral cortex to help it operate more efficiently. Albert Einstein didn’t have a bigger brain than everybody, but he did have a higher buildup of glial cells, which allowed his brain to work more efficiently.

Each hemisphere of the brain is divided up into four lobes. Frontal lobes Parietal lobes Occipital lobes Temporal lobes Outline lobes on “Lobes of the Brain Diagram”

Frontal Lobe Association areas in the frontal lobe are responsible for: judgment planning attention personality problem solving verbal expression spontaneity emotions movement initiation

Frontal Lobe (Continued) When the frontal lobe is damaged, it can change a person’s personality, by disconnecting their moral compass (judgment) from their behavior, as in the case of Phineas Gage. On display at the Warren Anatomical Museum.

Parietal Lobe Associations areas in the parietal lobe enable: mathematical reasoning spatial awareness cognitive abilities directional understanding hand/eye coordination tactile processing

Temporal Lobe Associations in the temporal lobe is mainly responsible for such things as: sexuality inhibitions aggression identification categorizing facial recognition

Occipital Lobe visual processing locating objects identifying colors hallucinations

Watch Education Portal “Remembering the Parts of the Brain”

Cortices of the Brain Fill in the cortices within the correct brain lobe on the “Lobes of the Brain Diagram.”

Motor Cortex Located at the back of the frontal lobe; controls movement(muscular output) on the opposite side of the body. 1) Try moving your right hand clockwise and your left foot counter clockwise. Pretty easy because different sides of the brain are controlling them. 2) Now try moving your right hand clockwise, and your right foot counter clockwise. Not as easy because the same side of the brain is trying to control both. See “Motor Cortex Localization” Video

Sensory Cortex Located at the front of the parietal lobe just behind the motor cortex (frontal lobe). Controls sensory input from tactile senses. More room on the sensory cortex is dedicated to the more sensitive parts of our body.

Sensory Cortex Functions

Visual Cortex Located in the occipital lobes receives input from the eyes.

Auditory Cortex Located in your temporal lobes; the auditory cortex receives input from your ears.

If the 4 cortices (motor, sensory, auditory, and visual) only take up ¼ of the overall cerebral cortex, what is other ¾ used for?

Association Areas Found in all four lobes, association areas link information inputted to the brain. It is very hard to map this portion of the brain because magnetic stimulus doesn’t trigger observable responses. This disproves the theory that we only use 10% of our brain

Let’s play some Brain Games (see brain games document)

Aphasia the loss of the previously held ability to speak, or understand spoken or written language due to disease or injury in the brain.

Broca’s Area located in the left frontal lobe, the Broca’s area works closely with the motor cortex, allowing a person to speak. (Stroke victims have a hard time speaking if there has been damage to Broca’s area.)

Wernicke’s Area located in the left temporal lobe, this area controls the ability to derive meaning from words (sentence formation). “Mother is away her working her work to get her better, but when she’s looking the two boys looking the other part. She’s working another time.” - Quotation from a patient with damage to Wernicke’s area. The patient was looking at a picture of two boys sneaking cookies while their mother’s back is turned in the kitchen.

Agular Gyrus located in the back of the parietal lobe; affects the ability to visually decode words from a page and turn them into speech (reading aloud).

Steps to Language Processing 1) We see written words as visual stimulation (visual cortex). 2) We transform those words into an auditory code (angular gyrus). 3) We derive the meaning of those words from the auditory code (Wernicke’s area). 4) We speak those words (Broca’s area/motor cortex).

Warm up Question: Is the brain divided or united?

Answer: The brain is divided and united at the same time. In processing information, the brain operates by dividing it’s mental functions – speaking, perceiving, thinking, and remembering – into sub-functions. Each specialized neural network, having simultaneously done its own thing, then feeds its information to higher-level networks in association areas. The terms “specialization,” and “integration” both apply to the brain.