ASSOCIATION AREAS
• Parts of cerebral cortex that
receive inputs from multiple
areas.
• Integrate incoming sensory
information & form
connections between
sensory & motor areas.
• Because they are involved in
organizing information that
comes from various other
areas of the brain,
association areas are often
linked to complex functions.
AUDITORY CORTEX
• Partially buried within
the lateral fissure in the
temporal lobes.
• Sensations of smell and
taste are processed
near front in temporal
lobes.
VISUAL CORTEX
• Located in the
occipital lobe of the
brain.
• Responsible for
interpreting and
processing visual
information received
from the eyes.
SENSORY
MOTOR
HOMUNCULUS
HOMUNCULUS
CORTICAL HOMUNCULUS
• Represents how brain senses and controls different parts of body – movements & sense of touch.
• Size of a body part in picture corresponds to amount of brain devoted to it.
• Lips — very sensitive to touch & have a lot of space set aside for them in brain — are drawn very large.
• Torso is not very sensitive, so it is drawn very small.
LIMBIC SYSTEM
Involved in emotion, motivation, memory, and
hormone regulation
• Key structures:
o Amygdala
o Hippocampus
o Thalamus
o Hypothalamus
o Basal ganglia
o Cingulate gyrus
• Location:
o In cerebrum, below temporal
lobes, buried under cerebral
cortex.
• Function:
o Processing & regulating emotions
o Forming & storing memories
o Sexual arousal, hunger & fear
o Learning
o Important role in body’s response
to stress – highly connected to
endocrine & ANS
THALAMUS (LIMBIC SYSTEM)
“switchboard operator”
• Located above brainstem.
• Processes & transmits
movement & sensory
information (all sensory input
except smell).
• Relay station = takes in sensory
information and then passes it
on to the cerebral cortex.
• Cerebral cortex also sends
information to the thalamus,
which then sends this
information to other systems.
HYPOTHALAMUS (LIMBIC SYSTEM) “control
center”
• Lie along base of brain near pituitary gland.
• Maintains homeostasis & reward systems.
• Controls:
o Hunger
o Thirst
o Satiety (not feeling hungry)
o Emotions
o Body temperature regulation
o Circadian rhythms (sleep cycles & body
temperature)
• Controls pituitary gland by secreting
hormones (mood & energy levels).
• Has great deal of control over many body
functions.
AMYGDALA (LIMBIC SYSTEM) “fear
center”
• Located close to the base of the
brain.
• Involved in:
o Memory
o Fear & aggression responses
o Learning from fearful situations
o Recognition of facial
expressions of emotion –
especially fear & anger
o Fight-or-flight response
• Processes external stimuli and
then relays that information to
hippocampus, which can then
prompt a response to deal with
outside threats.
AMYGDALA & FLASHBULB MEMORIES
• A highly vivid and detailed
‘snapshot’ of a moment in which a
consequential, surprising and
emotionally arousing piece of
news was learned.
• Strong emotional responses create
strong emotional memories.
HIPPOCAMPUS (LIMBIC SYSTEM)
• Important in long-term, explicit memory
(facts & events) and learning.
• Sometimes considered to be part of the
limbic system because plays important
part in control of emotional responses.
• During REM sleep, believed it distributes
memories throughout cerebral cortex.
• Plays role in:
o Fight-or-flight response
o Spatial memories.
o Memory consolidation during sleep.
o Long-term memory transfer to other
regions.
• Damage:
o Spatial disorientation
o Memory problems
o Mood dysfunction
BASAL GANGLIA (LIMBIC SYSTEM)
• Involved in:
o motor movement
o implicit memories
o Procedural memories (ride
bike/play piano)
o how we evaluate risks &
goals
o how we learn & feel in
response to things
happening around us.
• Damage:
o Parkinson’s disease
o Huntington’s disease
HEMISPHERIC SPECIALISATION
& LATERALISATION
BRAIN LATERALIZATION & HEMISPHERIC SPECIALIZATION
Different parts of the brain perform different functions
“Division of labour” between the two hemispheres
• The human brain does not favour one side over the other.
• The two sides work differently, but one side is not stronger than the other unless it’s
damaged.
• Certain areas of the brain simply have stronger neural connections than others,
which is what makes each of us better at certain skills – and those connections skills
can be strengthened with practice.
• We do not only use one side of our brain at a time, both sides work in together.
LEFT HEMISPHERE
RIGHT HEMISPHERE
Left motor cortex controls the
Right motor cortex controls the
movement of the right half of
movement of the left half of
the body.
the body
Left somatosensory cortex
Right somatosensory cortex
controls the perception of
controls the perception of
touch on right side of the
touch on the left side of the
body.
body.
Contains most language-
Contains areas specializing in
related functions (Broca's
recognizing faces
and Wernicke's areas)
NEUROPLASTICITY &
NEUROGENESIS
NEUROPLASTICITY
• Brain’s ability to reorganize itself after an accident
or tragedy OR modify itself in response to
experience/a change.
• Since the brain is constantly forming new
pathways, it can sometimes overcome a
stroke/damage and regain skills that had been
previously lost through this reorganization.
• Most pronounced during critical periods of
development but continues throughout life.
• E.g. learning new skills, recovering from stroke, &
adapting to sensory loss.
• If you experience major brain damage, our brain
cannot regenerate neurons.
• If an essential part of your brain is damaged, other
parts of the brain help & take over tasks of the
damaged neurons.
NEUROGENESIS
• Growth and formation of new neurons, which can grow and form new
connections.
• Vast majority of brain’s cells are formed during prenatal development.
• Research suggests - hippocampus creates new cells throughout lifespan.
CORTEX SPECIALISATION
TESTING
PHRENOLOGY
• Franz Josef Gall (1758-1828).
• A person's skull mirrors shape of brain &
contours/shape of head reveals
personality traits, intelligence levels, &
behavioural tendencies.
• Today, phrenology is regarded as racist &
sexist.
PAUL BROCA (1824-1880)
• French physician and one of the earlier advocators for
lateralization of brain function.
• In 1861, Broca met a patient - ‘Tan.’
• Broca described the patient ‘Tan,’ who was named this
due to this being the only word they could say.
• Often this patient would repeat the word twice, saying
‘Tan Tan.’
• When ‘Tan’ died, a post-mortem of his brain revealed
damage to a part of his left frontal cortex.
• Broca found that other patients with similar problems to
Tan had damage to the same region.
• It was concluded that the damage to this region, then
given the name ‘Broca’s area,’ was the reason for
Tan’s language problems.
• May also contain mirror neurons as this area appears to
be involved in observing people and imitating them.
MIRROR NEURONS
Activated both when performing an action and when observing another
individual perform that same action, a process thought to help an
individual recognize or understand the behaviour of another.
