THE BRAIN: OUR CONTROL CENTER

Most left-brained people. The same hemisphere that contains most language functions also is usually more involved in logic, problem solving, and mathematical computation. Logical people said to be left-brained.

Most right-brained people The non-language hemisphere is relatively more concerned with the imagination, art, feelings, and spatial relations. Creative people said to be right- brained.

Association Areas

All The Lobes

Occipital Lobe Contains the primary visual area of the cerebral cortex. Damage to this area affects what we see and what we recognize.

Parietal Lobe Contains the sensory cortex, which is responsible for messages received from the skin senses. Warm, cold, touch and pain are felt because of different neurons firing.

Sensory Cortex

Frontal Lobe Contains the motor cortex, which causes certain neurons to fire when certain body parts are moved. Different movements stimulate different parts of the frontal lobe. Important function: Involved in making decisions and weighing consequences!

Motor Cortex

Temporal Lobe Contains the hearing or auditory area of the cerebral cortex. Sounds are relayed from the ears to the thalamus (the relay station for sensory input) to the auditory area.

Language Function For most people, language function is in the left hemisphere All righties and 2 out 3 lefties Two key language areas are Broca ’ s area and Wernicke ’ s area.

Broca ’ s Area and Wernicke ’ s Area

Wernicke ’ s Area Part of the temporal lobe that pieces together sounds and sights. People with damage to Wernicke’s area can understand non-language verbal cues such as alarm bells or sirens, but cannot comprehend spoken language.

Broca ’ s Area Frontal lobe: controls the areas of the face used for speaking. Damage to this area makes speaking a slow laborious activity so only key words are used.

Aphasia Damage to either Wernicke ’ s or Broca ’ s area can result in aphasia (difficulty with specific aspects of understanding or producing language).