1. Rebekah Knittle B3

3. • The human brain contains 100 billion neurons, which
come in thousands of types and collectively form an
estimate of more than 100 trillion interconnections
• Nerve cells (neurons) have two main types of branches;
dendrites, which receive incoming messages, and axons
which carry outgoing signals

4. • These neurons communicate with other cells through
electrical impulses when the nerve cell is stimulated.
Within a neuron, the impulse moves to the tip of an axon
and causes the release of neurotransmitters, chemicals
that act as messengers. Neurotransmitters pass through
the synapse, the gap between two nerve cells, and attach
to receptors on the receiving cell. This allows you to
move, think, feel, and communicate

5. • The cerebellum coordinates movement by combining
sensory information from the eyes, ears and muscles.
“The brainstem links the brain to the spinal cord. It
controls heart rate, blood pressure and breathing, it is
also important for sleep

6. • The cerebrum is divided into two halves (hemispheres).
The hemispheres communicate with each other through
a thick tract of nerves, called the corpus callosum, at the
base of the fissure. Messages to and from one side of
the body are usually handled by the opposite side of the
brain

7. • The area that controls movement is the motor strip, which
is a very narrow strip that is located near the top of the
head and goes down along the ear line

8. • The frontal lobe controls
thinking, planning, organizing, problem solving, short-
term memory, movement, and speech
• An area on the left side of the frontal lobe is called
Broca’s area, and it processes language by controlling
the muscles that make sounds (mouth, lips and larynx).
Damage to this area results in motor aphasia, in which
patients can understand language but cannot produce
meaningful or appropriate sounds

9. • This lobe interprets sensory information, such as
taste, temperature, touch and pain.
• The rear of the parietal lobe (next to the temporal
lobe, which we will talk about soon) has a section called
Wernicke’s area, which is important for understanding the
sensory (auditory and visual) information associated with
language. Damage to this area of the brain produces
what is called sensory aphasia, in which patients cannot
understand language but can still produce sounds

10. • It processes images form your eyes and then links it with
stored images from the memory (parietal lobe) and motor
cortex (frontal lobe).
• One of the things this lobe must do is interpret the
upside-down images of the world that are projected onto
the retina by the lens of the eye

11. • Like the parietal lobe, the temporal lobe processes
information from your senses, and also deal with memory
storage
• There are four parts of the brain that are located in the
temporal lobe; the basal ganglia, limbic system,
hippocampus, and amygdala.

12. • First, the basal ganglia coordinates fingertip movements
and other fine motions.
• Second, the limbic system, which is located deep within
the temporal lobe, Is important in emotional behavior and
controlling movements of visceral muscles (muscles of
the digestive tract and body cavities). The limbic system
is comprised of the cingulate gyrus, corpus
callosum, mammillary body, olfactory tract, amygdala and
hippocampus

13. • Next, is the hippocampus, which is important for short-
term memory.
• Lastly, the amygdala controls sexual and social behavior

14. • The lower brain contains the spinal cord, brain stem and
diencephalon.
• The medulla, which is in the brain stem, has a nuclei for
controlling blood pressure and breathing, as well as a
nuclei for getting information from the sense organs in
from the cranial nerves.

15. • There is also a part in the brain stem called the pons.
The pons contains nuclei that relay movement and
position information from the cerebellum to the cortex. It
also contains nuclei that are involved in breathing, taste
and sleep, and physically connects medulla to the
midbrain.

16. • From there we can now talk about the spinal cord.
• The spinal cord is merely a downward extension of the
brain stem.
• It contains objects such as the midbrain, thalamus, and
hypothalamus.

17. • The thalamus also passes messages between the spinal
cord and the cerebral hemispheres.
• Next, is the hippocampus, this part sends memories to be
stored until they are needed to be recalled

18. • Finally, is the hypothalamus, “the hypothalamus contains
nuclei that control hormonal secretions from the pituitary
gland. These centers govern sexual
reproduction, eating, crucial
urges, temperature, drinking, growth, and maternal
behavior such as lactation. The hypothalamus is also
involved in almost all aspects of behavior, including your
biological “clock,” which is linked to the daily light-dark
cycle

20. • Morgue Files