Biological Bases of Behavior Unit 3 Biological Bases of Behavior

Module 12: The New Brain Do First Be Aware Of: No Do First! Take seats quickly! Unit 3 Test – Friday, 9/22 Unit 3 Vocab Quizzes THIS THURSDAY Rough Draft of Research Proposal Due 9/22 Module 13 for HW

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Module 12 Objective SWBAT indicate the purpose of the cerebrum and the divisions of the “higher” brain SWBAT explain how the brain can effectively fix itself, and the impact of brain damage on the frontal lobe

Module 12 – It You! Cerebrum: The higher level of the brain – sits atop all the Module 11 structures like a snug hat Cerebral cortex: Fabric of highly dense neural material and interconnective tissue that lays “on top” of the cerebrum Very thin but very complex Ultimately conscious control center for the brain

Module 12 – It You! Four Dense Lobes make up the brain, each with different responsibilities Frontal Lobe: Located just behind the forehead, responsible for speaking, muscle movements, plans, and judgements Parietal Lobe: Top of the head and toward the rear; responsible for sensory input for touch and body position Temporal Lobe: Roughly on top of the ears; receives primarily auditory information Occipital Lobe: Back of the head – primarily receives visual information and processing

Module 12 – Sensation and Movement Sensory cortex: Takes in sensations, processes the physical touch REMEMBER – each half takes in information from the OPPOSITE side of the body (left = right, right = left) Motor cortex: Located in the frontal cortex Responsible for movement Mapped by tapping electrodes to see what motions are triggered

Module 12 – Brain-Computer Interfaces

Association Areas Association areas: parts of the cortex not involved in processing or movement Involved in higher mental functions Speaking Thinking Creativity Remembering Learning

Association Areas – Phineas Gage Phineas Gage was a railway worker who had a huge iron pole dynamite-d through his cheek, frontal lobe, and eye socket in the 1890s Miraculously he survived – but was a changed man Prefrontal lobe damage completely changed his personality from a kind, God-fearing, well-liked man to a bitter, angry, and violent one From this, we can deduce that all you are – all your memories, thoughts, feelings, and the entire scope of YOUR conscious self – is contained in that thin slice of brain the iron pole damaged in Phineas Gage

Neuroplasticity But why did he live? In some cases of extreme brain damage, the brain exhibits what’s known as neuroplasticity The brain is able to “bounce back” by regrowing new connections between the nerves Glial cells are non-neurons and “glue” cells – they help regrow the connections Neurogenesis The growth of new nerve cells