1. Learning and the Brain
Emile Bruneau

2. Theme 1: Compartmentalization
• Cerebrum, cerebellum, brainstem
• Hemispheres
• Cerebral Gyri and sulci
• Cerebellar/cerebral ‘Lobes’

3. Theme 1: Compartmentalization
• Internal structures: striatum, hippocampus, basal ganglia, etc.

4. Theme 1: Compartmentalization
• Cytoarchitecture: population patterns of nerve cell types

5. Theme 1: Compartmentalization
Do these structural compartments relate to function? Is brain function compartmentalized like structure?
How to study this (old school):
• Accidental brain lesions (stroke, tumors, disease/insult, post-mortem correlations, etc.)
• Experimental brain lesions (animal research)
• Wilder Penfield: open brain stimulation prior to surgery
What this has taught us…

6. Theme 1: Compartmentalization

7. Theme 1: Compartmentalization

8. Theme 1: Compartmentalization
Processing of sensory information
• Somatosensory
• Visual
• Olfactory
• Auditory
Processing of speech
• Broca’s Aphasia:
• Wernicke’s Aphasia:

9. Theme 1: Compartmentalization
Do these structural compartments relate to function? Is brain function compartmentalized like structure?
How to study this (recent):
• Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
• Trans-cranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS):

10. Theme 2: Plasticity Brain ‘Plasticity’:
Neuronal Plasticity:
What this has to do with learning…

11. Theme 2: Plasticity

12. Theme 2: Plasticity

13. Learning and Memory
Prism goggle activity

14. Learning and Memory Implicit Memory: Things that you learn perform
‘muscle memory’
e.g. how to kick a soccer ball, how to make a falafel sandwich
Explicit Memory:
Facts and information
‘declarative memory’
e.g. how to say ‘hello’ in Arabic, the historically significant events in the Arab-Israeli conflict, the name of a new friend
Are these plastic?
Are these compartmentalized?

15. Learning and Memory

16. Learning and Memory

17. Learning and Memory

18. Prism goggle activity, again
Learning and Memory
Prism goggle activity, again