Schema Activator Silently read the story of Phineas Gage. In your journals respond to the following question: What can neuroscientists learn about the brain from this incident?

Brainstem or “old brain”

The Brainstem Medulla: – Controls heartbeat and breathing Pons: – Coordinates movements Crossover point: – Nerves connect right brain to left body and left brain to right body

Parts of the Old Brain Thalamus: – Receives info from all senses except smell – Forwards messages to parts of the brain that deal with each sense Reticular Formation: – Filter for sensory messages traveling from spinal cord to thalamus – Enables arousal (cat example) Ex. Sleeping cat with reticular formation stimulated = awake. Cut off connection of reticular formation to rest of brain = coma.

Parts of the Old Brain Cerebellum – The “little brain” – Judges time, discriminates sounds, textures, and controls emotions – Coordinates voluntary movement – Process and stores memories we cannot consciously recall

Critical Thinking All of the functioning in the brainstem or “old brain” occurs without our awareness. Which of the 4 big ideas of psychology does this relate to? Why?

Limbic System

Amygdala – Aggression and fear Hypothalamus – Hunger, thirst, body temperature, sexual behavior – Provides pleasurable rewards Hippocampus – Processes conscious memories

Lobes of the Cerebral Cortex

Motor Cortex Located at back of frontal lobe Controls all physical movements Outputs information about movement Critical thinking: – What happens when an electrode stimulates the motor cortex? Future of robots? Future of robots

Sensory Cortex Runs parallel to motor cortex, in the front of the parietal lobe Processes sensory information More sensitive areas have higher brain mass Critical Thinking: – What happens when an electrode stimulates the sensory cortex?

Visual and Auditory Cortex Visual – In occipital cortex – Just gets information and sends to other places for processing Auditory – In temporal cortex Critical Thinking: – If a schizophrenic person is having a hallucination, what would the brain look like?

Association Areas What does the rest of the brain do? – Higher level mental functions: judgment, planning, processing Association areas are found in all four lobes Difficult to be mapped because does not have a specific function

Can we read minds with science? PIg PIg