Personal Development/Pansariling Kaunlaran
BRAIN: Parts, Processes
and Functions
KURT KENNETH C. ASPACIO
Discuss that understanding the different parts
Most
of the brain, process, and functions may help in
Essential improving thoughts, behaviors, and feelings.
Learning (EsP-PD11/12PM-Ig-6.1)
Competency
Learning Objectives:
1.Understand the parts of the brain
and its function.
2.Discuss the left brain and right
brain functions.
The brain is a large,
exceedingly complex organ.
It contains about 1000 billion
neurons and synapses. The
brain consists of four major
components: the cerebrum,
cerebellum, diencephalon,
and brainstem.
Brain Structures and their Functions
• Cerebrum
• Cerebellum
• Limbic System
• Brain Stem
The nervous system is your body's decision
and communication center. The central
nervous system (CNS) is made of the brain
and the spinal cord and the peripheral
nervous system (PNS) is made of nerves.
Together they control every part of your
daily life, from breathing and blinking to
helping you memorize facts for a test.
Nerves reach from your brain to your face,
ears, eyes, nose, and spinal cord... and
from the spinal cord to the rest of your body.
Sensory nerves gather information from the
environment, send that info to the spinal cord,
which then speed the message to the brain. The
brain then makes sense of that messages and
fires off a response. Motor neurons deliver the
instructions from the brain to the rest of your
body. The spinal cord, made of a bundle of
nerves running up and down the spine, is similar
to a superhighway, speeding messages to and
from the brain at every second.
The brain is made of three main parts:
the forebrain, midbrain,
The forebrain consists of the cerebrum,
and hindbrain.
thalamus, and hypothalamus (part of the
limbic system).
The midbrain consists of the tectum and
tegmentum.
The hindbrain is made of the cerebellum,
pons and medulla.
Often the midbrain, pons, and medulla are
referred to together as the brainstem.
The Cerebrum:
The cerebrum or cortex is the
largest part of the human brain,
associated with higher brain
function such as thought and
action.
The cerebral cortex is
divided into four
sections, called "lobes":
• the frontal lobe,
• parietal lobe,
• occipital lobe, and
• temporal lobe.
What do each of these lobes do?
Frontal Lobe
associated with reasoning,
planning, parts of speech,
movement, emotions, and
problem solving
Note that the cerebral cortex is highly wrinkled. Essentially this makes the brain
more efficient, because it can increase the surface area of the brain and the
number of neurons within it.
What do each of these lobes do?
Parietal Lobe
associated with movement,
orientation, recognition,
perception of stimuli
Note that the cerebral cortex is highly wrinkled. Essentially this makes the brain
more efficient, because it can increase the surface area of the brain and the
number of neurons within it.
What do each of these lobes do?
Occipital Lobe
associated with
visual processing
Note that the cerebral cortex is highly wrinkled. Essentially this makes the brain
more efficient, because it can increase the surface area of the brain and the
number of neurons within it.
What do each of these lobes do?
Temporal Lobe
associated with perception
and recognition of auditory
stimuli, memory, and
speech
Note that the cerebral cortex is highly wrinkled. Essentially this makes the brain
more efficient, because it can increase the surface area of the brain and the
number of neurons within it.
A deep furrow divides the cerebrum into
two halves, known as the left and right
hemispheres. The two hemispheres look
mostly symmetrical, yet it has been shown
that each side functions slightly different
than the other. Sometimes the right
hemisphere is associated with creativity
and the left hemispheres is associated with
logic abilities.
The corpus callosum is a bundle of
axons which connects these two
hemispheres.
The Cerebellum:
The cerebellum, or "little brain", is
similar to the cerebrum in that it has
two hemispheres and has a highly
folded surface or cortex. This
structure is associated with
regulation and coordination of
movement, posture, and balance.
Brain Stem:
Underneath the limbic system is the
brain stem.
This structure is responsible for basic
vital life functions such as breathing,
heartbeat, and blood pressure.
Scientists say that this is the "simplest" part
of human brains because animals' entire
brains, such as reptiles (who appear early
on the evolutionary scale) resemble our
brain stem. Look at a good example of this.
Limbic System:
The limbic system, often referred to as
the "emotional brain", is found buried
within the cerebrum. Like the
cerebellum, evolutionarily the structure
is rather old.
This system contains the thalamus,
hypothalamus, amygdala, and
hippocampus.
THREE (3) MAJOR REGIONS OF THE BRAIN
HINDBRAIN
The Hindbrain is located at the
rear of the skull and is the lowest
portion of the brain. Hindbrain
parts include the medulla, the
cerebellum and the pons.
HINDBRAIN
The medulla is where the spinal cord enters the
skull. It is responsible for controlling breathing,
regulating reflexes, and maintaining an upright
posture of the body.
The cerebellum is two (2) rounded structures located
besides the medulla. It is responsible for
coordinating motor activity (movements of the
The pons serves as the bridge towards the midbrain. It body), so that extensive damage of the
is a cluster of neuronal fibers surrounding the cerebellum can cause failure to even stand up.
reticular formation and is responsible for monitoring
sleep and arousal by coordinating with the
autonomic nervous system.
MIDBRAIN
The Midbrain serves to relay information
between the hindbrain and the forebrain,
particularly information coming from the eyes
and the ears. It is composed of two (2) systems -
the reticular formation, and a cluster of neurons
having dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine
The reticular formation is involved with stereotypical receptors.
patterns of behavior such as walking, sleeping, and other
reflexes. Parkinson's disease, a degenerative disease of
the brain that causes involuntary tremors on affected body
parts, damages a section near the bottom of the midbrain.
FOREBRAIN
The Forebrain is considered as the highest
region of the brain because it essentially
differentiates us humans from the rest in the
animal kingdom. This region is also involved in
processing complex information. (The midbrain
and hindbrain are similar with other animals,
hence the term Brain Stem.) The forebrain is
composed of the limbic system, the thalamus,
the hypothalamus, the basal ganglia, and the
cerebral cortex.
FOREBRAIN
The limbic system is made up of the amygdala and
the hippocampus. From a Latin word meaning
"almond", owing to its shape,
The amygdala is responsible for processing
emotions - how humans become aware of them
and how we express them. It is also critical for
our survival because it helps us discriminate one
object from another. For instance, damage of the
The hippocampus, on the other hand, is presumably amygdala may cause us humans to eat our own
involved in memory storage because damage to the part feces, fight the wrong "enemy", or try to mate
actually results to inability to store new information. with a chair.
Patients with damaged hippocampus therefore live the
day without remembering yesterday.
FOREBRAIN
The thalamus sits on top of the
brain stem. It sorts and relays
incoming information to the different
parts of the forebrain. For example,
information coming from the
cerebellum is oftentimes relayed to
the motor cortex in the cerebral. The
The hypothalamus is located just below the thalamus, hence
the name. It monitors pleasurable activities such as eating, thalamus also works with the
drinking and sex. It influences the endocrine system,
reticular formation on regulating
particularly the pituitary gland, in secreting hormones in
states of sleep and wakefulness.
response to different emotions, stress and rewarding feelings.
FOREBRAIN
The basal ganglia is a cluster of neurons
sandwiched between the thalamus and the cerebral
cortex. It works with the cerebral cortex and the
cerebellum for coordinating voluntary movements,
particularly in forming habitual behaviors, such as
bicycle riding and typing. Just like the bottom section
of the midbrain, the basal ganglia gets damaged with
Parkinson's Disease. This is the reason why
Parkinson's patients oftentimes produce slow and
unwanted movements.
The cerebral cortex is the most recently developed (or evolved) part of the brain. Like a crumpled paper, it almost
completely caps the rest of the brain parts. It is also the largest part of the human brain, making up to 80% of the
brain's volume. High-level processing also takes place in this part of the brain. Because of the complexity and the
influence of the cerebral cortex in various behaviors and mental processes, this part of the brain deserves to be
treated more in-depth below.
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Sanggunian:
Personal Development, DepEd First Edition 2016, pg 36
Module in Personal Development 2nd Ed.2017, Doriden de Classica A. Fabre,
pg 52
Personal Development, Ricardo Rubio Santos, pg 88
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THANK YOU!
IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS
kurtkenneth.aspacio@deped.gov.ph
perdev.kurtkenneth@gmail.com
