homework 2.0 label the brain

Human Brain

Human Brain teaches students about the six major parts that make up the brain: cerebrum, cerebellum, brain stem, hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and amygdala. Students will discover which functions of the body each part controls or is responsible for. The worksheets at the end will reinforce their grasp of the lesson content.

The “Options for Lesson” section provides some ideas for alternative ways to play the charades game for the lesson activity. Because it’s a tournament, there are several ways you can adjust the game to fit your needs with your class. One option actually suggests changing the game to Pictionary instead.

Description

Additional information, what our human brain  lesson plan includes.

Lesson Objectives and Overview: Human Brain teaches students about the major components of the brain and their functions. Students will be able to identify and describe these major parts and functions and learn how they all work together. This lesson is for students in 5th grade and 6th grade.

Classroom Procedure

Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the yellow box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand. You won’t need any extra supplies for this lesson, but you will need to prepare a few things ahead of time. Create a large set of tournament brackets for the Brain Charades activity to display. Divide your students into teams of three or four each. Cut apart the charade cards, and make several sets if you plan to play several games at the same time.

Options for Lesson

The “Options for Lesson” section lists several suggestions for additional activities and tasks or alternate ways to go about certain parts of the lesson. For this lesson, all of the suggestions are related to the brain charades activity worksheet. You could choose two students for each team to increase the number of teams playing in the tournament, or you could split the class into just two teams rather than making it tournament. (In this case, you wouldn’t need make the brackets.) You may even want to adjust the rules a little bit so that you either add or subtract the amount of time students have for each game. Another idea suggests saving the game for after the practice and homework assignments as an incentive for students to study and prepare for the tournament. Another option is to adjust the bracket as necessary for the number of teams or if you want to use double elimination rules. The last idea is to change the game into a drawing game such as Pictionary instead.

Teacher Notes

The paragraph on the teacher notes page provides a little extra information or guidance for the lesson overall. It reminds you to focus your efforts on helping students become familiar with the parts of the brain and how different areas control different parts of the body. It suggests that you use additional resources, like videos, to further journey into the workings of the human brain. You may find and want to use additional content that discusses parts of the brain that this lesson doesn’t cover. You can use the blank lines to write any other thoughts or ideas you have as you prepare.

HUMAN BRAIN LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES

The basics of the brain.

The Human Brain lesson plan contains three pages of content. The first page explains what the brain is and what it does for the body. The brain is the main part of the body’s nervous system and constantly sends signals throughout the body. It has several different parts that work together to ensure we can live, learn, work, and play. The six main parts are the cerebrum, cerebellum, brain stem, pituitary gland, hypothalamus, and amygdala.

There are other parts as well, but these six major parts are the ones that control everything that we do. Scientists are able to create maps of the brain. They have been able to locate areas within this organ that control specific parts or functions of the body. For instance, a doctor can stimulate a certain area of the human brain, and it will feel like someone is touching your arm or leg.

The lesson outlines and explains the functions of each of the six major brain components. It provides a few diagrams that label the different parts. You may want to review these with the class a few times since they will need to memorize where each part is located for one of the worksheets. The instructions dictate that they use their memory and not refer to the content pages for help.

The biggest part of the brain is the cerebrum. It makes up roughly 85% of the brain’s weight. The cerebrum allows people to control voluntary muscles, which are the muscles that they can control. In other words, the cerebrum is what allows people to kick a ball, walk down the street, or jump in the air. It also allows us to think. Taking a test, making decisions, or playing video games are all things that activate the cerebrum.

In addition, we depend on this important component when it comes to short-term (recalling recent events) and long-term (recalling much older memories) memory. The cerebellum has two halves, one on each side of the head. The right half helps us with abstract things like art, music, and other parts of the imagination. The left half is more analytical and helps us speak, make decisions, and reason things out. Scientists remain unsure about which half of the brain controls each half of the body.

There are four lobes that make up the cerebrum. The frontal lobe is at the front of the brain (hence its name). Behind the frontal lobe is the parietal lobe. The temporal lobe is on the side of the head. Finally, the occipital lobe is at the back of the head. Both halves of the cerebrum have these four lobes.

Brain Stem and Cerebellum

Students will then learn about the brain stem and cerebellum parts of the human brain. The brain stem is responsible for all the functions of the body that are vital to survival. These functions include breathing, digesting food, and circulating blood throughout the body. It is below the cerebrum and in front of the cerebellum. It connects the rest of the brain to the spinal cord.

The brain stem also controls involuntary muscles, which are those that work on their own without our having to think about it. It tells the heart to pump blood to the body and the stomach muscles to break food down. In addition, it sends and receives millions of messages back and forth between the brain and body.

Located in the back of the brain, under the cerebrum, the cerebellum controls balance, movement, and coordination. To put it simply, this part helps us stand, move, and balance. It is only about one-eighth the size of the cerebrum, but it is still a vital part of the brain. Without it, a person would have great difficulty moving around.

The Other Three Parts of the Human Brain

The lesson next describes the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland controls the growth of the body by producing and releasing hormones. Even though it is only about the size of a pea, our bodies would never change as we aged if it didn’t function properly. It also controls sugars and water in the body and keeps our metabolism going. Metabolism relates to how the body uses energy.

Students will then learn about the hypothalamus, which controls the body’s temperature. Because humans are warm-blooded animals, we can control our body temperature. The hypothalamus is the part of the brain that actually makes this happen. When it’s too hot, this part of the brain tells the body to sweat. When it’s too cold, it tells the body to shiver.

Finally, students will learn about the control center for feelings—the amygdala. The amygdala is a group of cells that is responsible for emotions. There are actually two amygdala in the human brain. One is on the left side of the brain, and the other is on the right, but they work together to function correctly.

These six parts connect with the body’s nervous system, which is comprised of thousands of nerves that communicate information to and from the brain. Memories and thoughts move through cells as tiny electrical charges. They connect to one another via synapses, the junctions between two cells. This is how habits develop and how we learn new skills. The more we practice, the stronger those connections become.

HUMAN BRAIN LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS

The Human Brain lesson plan includes three worksheets: an activity worksheet, a practice worksheet, and a homework assignment. Each one will help students solidify their comprehension of the material in different ways. The guidelines on the classroom procedure page outline when to hand out each worksheet to the class.

BRAIN CHARADES ACTIVITY WORKSHEET

This activity requires some preparation on your part (see the classroom procedure section). Each team of students will first pick a creative name for their team that relates to the brain in some way. Teams will compete against each other in a single-elimination tournament. To play, one player from each team will randomly choose charade cards and act out what it says to do. The remaining members will guess the action and which part of the brain controls that action. All other students must remain silent. If the actor speaks, the team loses a point. Any time the team guesses both the action and the correct brain part, you will give them a point. The game continues for up to five minutes (or more if you choose). Once they time runs out, they will reshuffle the cards for the opposing team.

LABEL THE DIAGRAMS PRACTICE WORKSHEET

The practice worksheet has two diagrams of a human brain. Students must label each diagram using the terms in the word bank. The word bank is different for each diagram.

HUMAN BRAIN HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

For the homework assignment, students must circle the correct answer for 18 questions. Several of these questions provide short scenarios that demonstrate how certain parts of the brain can work well or work improperly. You may or may not allow them to use the content pages for reference.

Worksheet Answer Keys

The last few pages of the document are answer keys for the worksheets. The activity answer key lists which charade cards correspond to the various parts of the brain to make it easy for you to ensure students are correct when they guess. For the practice worksheet answer key, the correct answers are in red for both diagrams. Similarly, the answer key for the homework assignment shows red circles around the correct responses.

Thank you for submitting a review!

Your input is very much appreciated. Share it with your friends so they can enjoy it too!

Human brain is a great resource

Although this resource is designed for use in the classroom it was easily adapted to a homeschool setting and for use with a mix of ages. It was informative without being overwhelming and had some fun activities to help learning. I will certainly be using other units from Learn Bright

Excellent information provided. The problem that I had was the pictures did not exactly match those in the pamphlet, so the students found that a little confusing. Overall it was great!

Brain Charades Rock!

The Brain Charades were the highlight of our review about the human brain. Engaging and fun, it was a way for all students to get involved and review the content together.

I have all of the Human Body lessons. They are very concise and great for 4-6 grade. The pictures are real and that helps to teach the material.

Home teaching my granddaughter and she thoroughly enjoyed the unit. Just perfect for 4th going to 5th grade. Engaging and factual!!!

Related products

Sports: Ice Hockey

Make Your Life Easier With Our Lesson Plans

Stay up-to-date with new lessons.

• Lesson Plans
• For Teachers

© 2024 Learn Bright. All rights reserved. Terms and Conditions. Privacy Policy.

• Sign Up for Free

Featured Topics

Featured series.

A series of random questions answered by Harvard experts.

Explore the Gazette

Read the latest.

Beginning of end of HIV epidemic?

Can good sleep help prevent diabetes?

Between bright light and a good mood, plenty of sleep

‘brainbow,’ version 2.0.

Peter Reuell

Harvard Staff Writer

Researchers refine breakthrough system for producing images of brain, nervous system

The breakthrough technique that allowed scientists to obtain one-of-a-kind, colorful images of the myriad connections in the brain and nervous system is about to get a significant upgrade.

A group of Harvard researchers, led by Joshua Sanes , the Jeff C. Tarr Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Paul J. Finnegan Family Director, Center for Brain Science, and Jeff Lichtman , the Jeremy R. Knowles Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Santíago Ramón y Cajal Professor of Arts and Sciences, has made a host of technical improvements in the “ Brainbow ” imaging technique. Their work is described in a May 5 paper in Nature Methods .

First described in 2007, the system combines three fluorescent proteins — one red, one blue, and one green — to label different cells with as many as 90 colors. By studying the resulting images, researchers were able to begin to understand how the millions of neurons in the brain are connected.

“‘Brainbow’ generated beautiful images of a kind we had never been able to obtain before, but it was difficult in some ways,” said Sanes, who also serves as director of the Center for Brain Science.

“These modifications aim to overcome some of the more problematic features of the original genetic constructs,” Lichtman said. “Lead author Dawen Cai, a research associate in our labs, worked hard and creatively to find ways to make the ‘Brainbow’ colors brighter, more variable, and useable in situations where the original gene constructs were hard to implement. Our first look at these animals suggests that these improvements are fantastic.”

Among the challenges faced by researchers using the original method, Sanes said, was the chance that certain colored proteins would bleach out faster than others.

“If one color bleaches faster than the others, you start with a ‘Brainbow,’ but by the time you’re done imaging, you might just have a ‘blue-bow,’ because the red and yellow bleach too fast,” he said.

Sanes said that some colors also were too dim, causing problems in the imaging process, while in other cases the protein didn’t fill the whole neuron evenly enough, or there was an overabundance of a certain color in an image.

“What we decided to do was to make the next generation of ‘Brainbow,’” Sanes said. “We systematically set out to look at these problems. We looked at a whole range of fluorescent proteins to find the ones that were brightest and wouldn’t bleach as much, and we developed new transgenic methods to avoid the predominance of a particular color.”

The researchers also explored new ways to create “Brainbow” images, including using viruses to introduce fluorescent proteins into cells.

The advantage of the new technique, Sanes said, is it offers researchers the chance to target certain parts of the brain and better understand how neurons radiate out to connect with other brain regions. Ultimately, he said, he hopes that other researchers are able to apply the techniques outlined in the paper in the same way that they expanded on the first “Brainbow” method.

“People adapted the method to study a number of interesting questions in other tissues to examine cellular relationships and cell lineages in kidney and skin cells,” he said. “It was also used to examine the nervous system in animals like zebrafish and C. elegans. With these new tools, I think we’ve taken the next step.”

Share this article

You might like.

Scientists cautiously optimistic about trial results of new preventative treatment, prospects for new phase in battle with deadly virus

Study links irregular sleep patterns with higher disease risk

Researchers outline path to lower risk of depression

What the judge was thinking and what’s next in Trump documents case

Obama-era White House counsel says key point in Nixon decision should have ended inquiry

The way forward for Democrats — and the country

Danielle Allen is more worried about identity politics and gaps in civic education than the power of delegates

Finding right mix on campus speech policies

Legal, political scholars discuss balancing personal safety, constitutional rights, academic freedom amid roiling protests, cultural shifts

• Professional
• International

Select a product below:

• Connect Math Hosted by ALEKS
• My Bookshelf (eBook Access)

Sign in to Shop:

My Account Details

• My Information
• Security & Login
• Order History
• My Digital Products

Log In to My PreK-12 Platform

• AP/Honors & Electives
• my.mheducation.com
• Open Learning Platform

Log In to My Higher Ed Platform

• Connect Math Hosted by Aleks

Business and Economics

Accounting Business Communication Business Law Business Mathematics Business Statistics & Analytics Computer & Information Technology Decision Sciences & Operations Management Economics Finance Keyboarding Introduction to Business Insurance & Real Estate Management Information Systems Management Marketing

Humanities, Social Science and Language

American Government Anthropology Art Career Development Communication Criminal Justice Developmental English Education Film Composition Health and Human Performance

History Humanities Music Philosophy and Religion Psychology Sociology Student Success Theater World Languages

Science, Engineering and Math

Agriculture & Forestry Anatomy & Physiology Astronomy & Physical Science Biology - Majors Biology - Non-Majors Chemistry Cell/Molecular Biology & Genetics Earth & Environmental Science Ecology Engineering/Computer Science Engineering Technologies - Trade & Tech Health Professions Mathematics Microbiology Nutrition Physics Plants & Animals

Digital Products

Connect® Course management ,  reporting , and  student learning  tools backed by  great support .

McGraw Hill GO Greenlight learning with the new eBook+

ALEKS® Personalize learning and assessment

ALEKS® Placement, Preparation, and Learning Achieve accurate math placement

SIMnet Ignite mastery of MS Office and IT skills

McGraw Hill eBook & ReadAnywhere App Get learning that fits anytime, anywhere

Sharpen: Study App A reliable study app for students

Virtual Labs Flexible, realistic science simulations

Inclusive Access Reduce costs and increase success

LMS Integration Log in and sync up

Math Placement Achieve accurate math placement

Content Collections powered by Create® Curate and deliver your ideal content

Custom Courseware Solutions Teach your course your way

Professional Services Collaborate to optimize outcomes

Remote Proctoring Validate online exams even offsite

Institutional Solutions Increase engagement, lower costs, and improve access for your students

General Help & Support Info Customer Service & Tech Support contact information

Online Technical Support Center FAQs, articles, chat, email or phone support

Support At Every Step Instructor tools, training and resources for ALEKS , Connect & SIMnet

Instructor Sample Requests Get step by step instructions for requesting an evaluation, exam, or desk copy

Platform System Check System status in real time

McGraw Hill's Anatomy & Physiology Revealed® (APR)

APR is an interactive, customizable dissection tool to enhance lecture and lab. APR contains all the systems covered in Anatomy & Physiology and Human Anatomy courses, including Body Orientation, Cells and Chemistry, and Tissues.

Get Started

Fields marked by * are required.

Your information will be used to provide you with the requested information and other information about McGraw Hill’s products and services. You may opt out at any time by contacting  McGraw Hill’s local privacy officer  or selecting “unsubscribe” at the bottom of any email you receive from us.

See how APR can work for your course.

See APR in Action

Inspiration and implementation.

Our Resource Center is full of videos and articles showcasing all that APR has to offer. Explore 3D models, dissections, animations, histology, and more. Discover how-to articles on how to use and implement APR, and listen to our A&P podcast, which covers relevant topics.

Visit Resource Center

APR + McGraw Hill Connect®

Easy to use and mobile friendly.

We’ve included APR as a part of McGraw Hill Connect so students can easily access it anytime, anywhere. Build customized assignments and create quizzes tailored for your course. Students can also continue to access APR as a study tool. With a mobile/user-friendly interface and interactive 3D models, APR keeps your students’ attention and immerses them in the content.

See APR in Connect.

More than 90% of students polled said the APR Assignments are an engaging resource for learning and studying the assigned Anatomy topics.

820 students using the APR Assignments were polled.

Find Out Why Students and Instructors Choose Anatomy and Physiology Revealed

These APR assignments are AMAZING. I’ve been waiting so long for something like this. My teacher brain is about to explode with all the ways I can use them!

Richard Pirkle, A&P Instructor, Tennessee Tech University

This made me feel more controlled in studying. There was no confusion on what I needed to pay attention to. I enjoyed how interactive it was; I actually felt excited to learn.

Kaylee Bruch, A&P Student, Cape Fear Community College

McGraw Hill Partnership with University of Toledo

In partnership with the  University of Toledo’s Center for Creative Instruction , McGraw Hill launched the first-of-its-kind virtual dissection tool in 1997: Anatomy & Physiology Revealed® (APR). APR utilizes cadaver photography to provide students with a realistic experience and the ability to practice and understand dissection 24/7—without the physical resources of a cadaver. Throughout the years, APR has undergone updates to meet today’s students and offer a full educational experience, including animations, histology, radiology, and anatomical models. Most recently, in partnership with  ISO-FORM LLC , 3D rotatable models have been incorporated into APR, giving students a glimpse at the spatial relationship between structures that may not be understood with a flat image.

Company Info

• Contact & Locations
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
• Social Responsibility
• Investor Relations
• Social Media Directory
• Place an Order
• Get Support
• Contact Customer Service
• Contact Sales Rep
• Check System Status

Additional Resources

• Permissions
• Accessibility
• Author Support
• International Rights
• Purchase Order

Follow McGraw Hill:

©2024 McGraw Hill. All Rights Reserved.

14.3 The Brain and Spinal Cord

Learning objectives.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Name the major regions of the adult brain
• Describe the connections between the cerebrum and brain stem through the diencephalon, and from those regions into the spinal cord
• Recognize the complex connections within the subcortical structures of the basal nuclei
• Explain the arrangement of gray and white matter in the spinal cord

The brain and the spinal cord are the central nervous system, and they represent the main organs of the nervous system. The spinal cord is a single structure, whereas the adult brain is described in terms of four major regions: the cerebrum, the diencephalon, the brain stem, and the cerebellum. A person’s conscious experiences are based on neural activity in the brain. The regulation of homeostasis is governed by a specialized region in the brain. The coordination of reflexes depends on the integration of sensory and motor pathways in the spinal cord.

The Cerebrum

The iconic gray mantle of the human brain, which appears to make up most of the mass of the brain, is the cerebrum ( Figure 14.3.1 ). The wrinkled portion is the cerebral cortex , and the rest of the structure is beneath that outer covering. There is a large separation between the two sides of the cerebrum called the longitudinal fissure . It separates the cerebrum into two distinct halves, a right and left cerebral hemisphere . Deep within the cerebrum, the white matter of the corpus callosum provides the major pathway for communication between the two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex.

Many of the higher neurological functions, such as memory, emotion, and consciousness, are the result of cerebral function. The complexity of the cerebrum is different across vertebrate species. The cerebrum of the most primitive vertebrates is not much more than the connection for the sense of smell. In mammals, the cerebrum comprises the outer gray matter that is the cortex (from the Latin word meaning “bark of a tree”) and several deep nuclei that belong to three important functional groups. The basal nuclei are responsible for cognitive processing, the most important function being that associated with planning movements. The basal forebrain contains nuclei that are important in learning and memory. The limbic cortex is the region of the cerebral cortex that is part of the limbic system , a collection of structures involved in emotion, memory, and behavior.

Cerebral Cortex

The cerebrum is covered by a continuous layer of gray matter that wraps around either side of the forebrain—the cerebral cortex. This thin, extensive region of wrinkled gray matter is responsible for the higher functions of the nervous system. A gyrus (plural = gyri) is the ridge of one of those wrinkles, and a sulcus (plural = sulci) is the groove between two gyri. The pattern of these folds of tissue indicates specific regions of the cerebral cortex.

The head is limited by the size of the birth canal, and the brain must fit inside the cranial cavity of the skull. Extensive folding in the cerebral cortex enables more gray matter to fit into this limited space. If the gray matter of the cortex were peeled off of the cerebrum and laid out flat, its surface area would be roughly equal to one square meter.

The folding of the cortex maximizes the amount of gray matter in the cranial cavity. During embryonic development, as the telencephalon expands within the skull, the brain goes through a regular course of growth that results in everyone’s brain having a similar pattern of folds. The surface of the brain can be mapped on the basis of the locations of large gyri and sulci. Using these landmarks, the cortex can be separated into four major regions, or lobes ( Figure 14.3.2 ). The lateral sulcus that separates the temporal lobe from the other regions is one such landmark. Superior to the lateral sulcus are the parietal lobe and frontal lobe , which are separated from each other by the central sulcus . The posterior region of the cortex is the occipital lobe , which has no obvious anatomical border between it and the parietal or temporal lobes on the lateral surface of the brain. From the medial surface, an obvious landmark separating the parietal and occipital lobes is called the parieto-occipital sulcus . The fact that there is no obvious anatomical border between these lobes is consistent with the functions of these regions being interrelated.

Different regions of the cerebral cortex can be associated with particular functions, a concept known as localization of function. In the early 1900s, a German neuroscientist named Korbinian Brodmann performed an extensive study of the microscopic anatomy—the cytoarchitecture—of the cerebral cortex and divided the cortex into 52 separate regions on the basis of the histology of the cortex. His work resulted in a system of classification known as Brodmann’s areas , which is still used today to describe the anatomical distinctions within the cortex ( Figure 14.3.3 ). The results from Brodmann’s work on the anatomy align very well with the functional differences within the cortex. Areas 17 and 18 in the occipital lobe are responsible for primary visual perception. That visual information is complex, so it is processed in the temporal and parietal lobes as well.

The temporal lobe is associated with primary auditory sensation, known as Brodmann’s areas 41 and 42 in the superior temporal lobe. Because regions of the temporal lobe are part of the limbic system, memory is an important function associated with that lobe. Memory is essentially a sensory function; memories are recalled sensations such as the smell of Mom’s baking or the sound of a barking dog. Even memories of movement are really the memory of sensory feedback from those movements, such as stretching muscles or the movement of the skin around a joint. Structures in the temporal lobe are responsible for establishing long-term memory, but the ultimate location of those memories is usually in the region in which the sensory perception was processed.

The main sensation associated with the parietal lobe is somatosensation , meaning the general sensations associated with the body. Posterior to the central sulcus is the postcentral gyrus , the primary somatosensory cortex, which is identified as Brodmann’s areas 1, 2, and 3. All of the tactile senses are processed in this area, including touch, pressure, tickle, pain, itch, and vibration, as well as more general senses of the body such as proprioception and kinesthesia , which are the senses of body position and movement, respectively.

Anterior to the central sulcus is the frontal lobe, which is primarily associated with motor functions. The precentral gyrus is the primary motor cortex. Cells from this region of the cerebral cortex are the upper motor neurons that instruct cells in the spinal cord and brain stem (lower motor neurons) to move skeletal muscles. Anterior to this region are a few areas that are associated with planned movements. The premotor area is responsible for storing learned movement algorithms which are instructions for complex movements. Different algorithms activate the upper motor neurons in the correct sequence when a complex motor activity is performed. The frontal eye fields are important in eliciting scanning eye movements and in attending to visual stimuli. Broca’s area is responsible for the production of language, or controlling movements responsible for speech; in the vast majority of people, it is located only on the left side. Anterior to these regions is the prefrontal lobe , which serves cognitive functions that can be the basis of personality, short-term memory, and consciousness. The prefrontal lobotomy is an outdated mode of treatment for personality disorders (psychiatric conditions) that profoundly affected the personality of the patient.

Area 17, as Brodmann described it, is also known as the primary visual cortex. Adjacent to that are areas 18 and 19, which constitute subsequent regions of visual processing. Area 22 is the primary auditory cortex, and it is followed by area 23, which further processes auditory information. Area 4 is the primary motor cortex in the precentral gyrus, whereas area 6 is the premotor cortex. These areas suggest some specialization within the cortex for functional processing, both in sensory and motor regions. The fact that Brodmann’s areas correlate so closely to functional localization in the cerebral cortex demonstrates the strong link between structure and function in these regions.

Areas 1, 2, 3, 4, 17, and 22 are each described as primary cortical areas. The adjoining regions are each referred to as association areas. Primary areas are where sensory information is initially received from the thalamus for conscious perception, or—in the case of the primary motor cortex—where descending commands are sent down to the brain stem or spinal cord to execute movements ( Figure 14.3.4 ).

Functions of the Cerebral Cortex

The cerebrum is the seat of many of the higher mental functions, such as memory and learning, language, and conscious perception, which are the subjects of subtests of the mental status exam. The cerebral cortex is the thin layer of gray matter on the outside of the cerebrum. It is approximately a millimeter thick in most regions and highly folded to fit within the limited space of the cranial vault. These higher functions are distributed across various regions of the cortex, and specific locations can be said to be responsible for particular functions. There is a limited set of regions, for example, that are involved in language function, and they can be subdivided on the basis of the particular part of language function that each governs.

A number of other regions, which extend beyond these primary or association areas of the cortex, are referred to as integrative areas. These areas are found in the spaces between the domains for particular sensory or motor functions, and they integrate multisensory information, or process sensory or motor information in more complex ways. Consider, for example, the posterior parietal cortex that lies between the somatosensory cortex and visual cortex regions. This has been ascribed to the coordination of visual and motor functions, such as reaching to pick up a glass. The somatosensory function that would be part of this is the proprioceptive feedback from moving the arm and hand. The weight of the glass, based on what it contains, will influence how those movements are executed.

Cognitive Abilities

Assessment of cerebral functions is directed at cognitive abilities. The abilities assessed through the mental status exam can be separated into four groups: orientation and memory, language and speech, sensorium, and judgment and abstract reasoning.

Orientation and Memory

Orientation is the patient’s awareness of his or her immediate circumstances. It is awareness of time, not in terms of the clock, but of the date and what is occurring around the patient. It is awareness of place, such that a patient should know where he or she is and why. It is also awareness of who the patient is—recognizing personal identity and being able to relate that to the examiner. The initial tests of orientation are based on the questions, “Do you know what the date is?” or “Do you know where you are?” or “What is your name?” Further understanding of a patient’s awareness of orientation can come from questions that address remote memory, such as “Who is the President of the United States?”, or asking what happened on a specific date.

There are also specific tasks to address memory. One is the three-word recall test. The patient is given three words to recall, such as book, clock, and shovel. After a short interval, during which other parts of the interview continue, the patient is asked to recall the three words. Other tasks that assess memory—aside from those related to orientation—have the patient recite the months of the year in reverse order to avoid the overlearned sequence and focus on the memory of the months in an order, or to spell common words backwards, or to recite a list of numbers back.

Memory is largely a function of the temporal lobe, along with structures beneath the cerebral cortex such as the hippocampus and the amygdala. The storage of memory requires these structures of the medial temporal lobe. A famous case of a man who had both medial temporal lobes removed to treat intractable epilepsy provided insight into the relationship between the structures of the brain and the function of memory.

Henry Molaison, who was referred to as patient HM when he was alive, had epilepsy localized to both of his medial temporal lobes. In 1953, a bilateral lobectomy was performed that alleviated the epilepsy but resulted in the inability for HM to form new memories—a condition called anterograde amnesia . HM was able to recall most events from before his surgery, although there was a partial loss of earlier memories, which is referred to as retrograde amnesia . HM became the subject of extensive studies into how memory works. What he was unable to do was form new memories of what happened to him, what are now called episodic memory . Episodic memory is autobiographical in nature, such as remembering riding a bicycle as a child around the neighborhood, as opposed to the procedural memory of how to ride a bike. HM also retained his short-term memory , such as what is tested by the three-word task described above. After a brief period, those memories would dissipate or decay and not be stored in the long-term because the medial temporal lobe structures were removed.

The difference in short-term, procedural, and episodic memory, as evidenced by patient HM, suggests that there are different parts of the brain responsible for those functions. The long-term storage of episodic memory requires the hippocampus and related medial temporal structures, and the location of those memories is in the multimodal integration areas of the cerebral cortex. However, short-term memory—also called working or active memory—is localized to the prefrontal lobe. Because patient HM had only lost his medial temporal lobe—and lost very little of his previous memories, and did not lose the ability to form new short-term memories—it was concluded that the function of the hippocampus, and adjacent structures in the medial temporal lobe, is to move (or consolidate) short-term memories (in the pre-frontal lobe) to long-term memory (in the temporal lobe).

The prefrontal cortex can also be tested for the ability to organize information. In one subtest of the mental status exam called set generation, the patient is asked to generate a list of words that all start with the same letter, but not to include proper nouns or names. The expectation is that a person can generate such a list of at least 10 words within 1 minute. Many people can likely do this much more quickly, but the standard separates the accepted normal from those with compromised prefrontal cortices.

External Website

Read this article to learn about a young man who texts his fiancée in a panic as he finds that he is having trouble remembering things. At the hospital, a neurologist administers the mental status exam, which is mostly normal except for the three-word recall test. The young man could not recall them even 30 seconds after hearing them and repeating them back to the doctor. An undiscovered mass in the mediastinum region was found to be Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects the immune system and likely caused antibodies to attack the nervous system. The patient eventually regained his ability to remember, though the events in the hospital were always elusive. Considering that the effects on memory were temporary, but resulted in the loss of the specific events of the hospital stay, what regions of the brain were likely to have been affected by the antibodies and what type of memory does that represent?

Language and Speech

Language is, arguably, a very human aspect of neurological function. There are certainly strides being made in understanding communication in other species, but much of what makes the human experience seemingly unique is its basis in language. Any understanding of our species is necessarily reflective, as suggested by the question “What am I?” And the fundamental answer to this question is suggested by the famous quote by René Descartes: “Cogito Ergo Sum” (translated from Latin as “I think, therefore I am”). Formulating an understanding of yourself is largely describing who you are to yourself. It is a confusing topic to delve into, but language is certainly at the core of what it means to be self-aware.

The neurological exam has two specific subtests that address language. One measures the ability of the patient to understand language by asking them to follow a set of instructions to perform an action, such as “touch your right finger to your left elbow and then to your right knee.” Another subtest assesses the fluency and coherency of language by having the patient generate descriptions of objects or scenes depicted in drawings, and by reciting sentences or explaining a written passage. Language, however, is important in so many ways in the neurological exam. The patient needs to know what to do, whether it is as simple as explaining how the knee-jerk reflex is going to be performed, or asking a question such as “What is your name?” Often, language deficits can be determined without specific subtests; if a person cannot reply to a question properly, there may be a problem with the reception of language.

An important example of multimodal integrative areas is associated with language function ( Figure 14.3.5 ). Adjacent to the auditory association cortex, at the end of the lateral sulcus just anterior to the visual cortex, is Wernicke’s area . In the lateral aspect of the frontal lobe, just anterior to the region of the motor cortex associated with the head and neck, is Broca’s area. Both regions were originally described on the basis of losses of speech and language, which is called aphasia . The aphasia associated with Broca’s area is known as an expressive aphasia , which means that speech production is compromised. This type of aphasia is often described as non-fluency because the ability to say some words leads to broken or halting speech. Grammar can also appear to be lost. The aphasia associated with Wernicke’s area is known as a receptive aphasia , which is not a loss of speech production, but a loss of understanding of content. Patients, after recovering from acute forms of this aphasia, report not being able to understand what is said to them or what they are saying themselves, but they often cannot keep from talking.

The two regions are connected by white matter tracts that run between the posterior temporal lobe and the lateral aspect of the frontal lobe. Conduction aphasia associated with damage to this connection refers to the problem of connecting the understanding of language to the production of speech. This is a very rare condition, but is likely to present as an inability to faithfully repeat spoken language.

Those parts of the brain involved in the reception and interpretation of sensory stimuli are referred to collectively as the sensorium. The cerebral cortex has several regions that are necessary for sensory perception. From the primary cortical areas of the somatosensory, visual, auditory, and gustatory senses to the association areas that process information in these modalities, the cerebral cortex is the seat of conscious sensory perception. In contrast, sensory information can also be processed by deeper brain regions, which we may vaguely describe as subconscious—for instance, we are not constantly aware of the proprioceptive information that the cerebellum uses to maintain balance. Several of the subtests can reveal activity associated with these sensory modalities, such as being able to hear a question or see a picture. Two subtests assess specific functions of these cortical areas.

The first is praxis , a practical exercise in which the patient performs a task completely on the basis of verbal description without any demonstration from the examiner. For example, the patient can be told to take their left hand and place it palm down on their left thigh, then flip it over so the palm is facing up, and then repeat this four times. The examiner describes the activity without any movements on their part to suggest how the movements are to be performed. The patient needs to understand the instructions, transform them into movements, and use sensory feedback, both visual and proprioceptive, to perform the movements correctly.

The second subtest for sensory perception is gnosis , which involves two tasks. The first task, known as stereognosis , involves the naming of objects strictly on the basis of the somatosensory information that comes from manipulating them. The patient keeps their eyes closed and is given a common object, such as a coin, that they have to identify. The patient should be able to indicate the particular type of coin, such as a dime versus a penny, or a nickel versus a quarter, on the basis of the sensory cues involved. For example, the size, thickness, or weight of the coin may be an indication, or to differentiate the pairs of coins suggested here, the smooth or corrugated edge of the coin will correspond to the particular denomination. The second task, graphesthesia , is to recognize numbers or letters written on the palm of the hand with a dull pointer, such as a pen cap.

Praxis and gnosis are related to the conscious perception and cortical processing of sensory information. Being able to transform verbal commands into a sequence of motor responses, or to manipulate and recognize a common object and associate it with a name for that object. Both subtests have language components because language function is integral to these functions. The relationship between the words that describe actions, or the nouns that represent objects, and the cerebral location of these concepts is suggested to be localized to particular cortical areas. Certain aphasias can be characterized by a deficit of verbs or nouns, known as V impairment or N impairment, or may be classified as V–N dissociation. Patients have difficulty using one type of word over the other. To describe what is happening in a photograph as part of the expressive language subtest, a patient will use active- or image-based language. The lack of one or the other of these components of language can relate to the ability to use verbs or nouns. Damage to the region at which the frontal and temporal lobes meet, including the region known as the insula, is associated with V impairment; damage to the middle and inferior temporal lobe is associated with N impairment.

Judgment and Abstract Reasoning

Planning and producing responses requires an ability to make sense of the world around us. Making judgments and reasoning in the abstract are necessary to produce movements as part of larger responses. For example, when your alarm goes off, do you hit the snooze button or jump out of bed? Is 10 extra minutes in bed worth the extra rush to get ready for your day? Will hitting the snooze button multiple times lead to feeling more rested or result in a panic as you run late? How you mentally process these questions can affect your whole day.

The prefrontal cortex is responsible for the functions responsible for planning and making decisions. In the mental status exam, the subtest that assesses judgment and reasoning is directed at three aspects of frontal lobe function. First, the examiner asks questions about problem solving, such as “If you see a house on fire, what would you do?” The patient is also asked to interpret common proverbs, such as “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” Additionally, pairs of words are compared for similarities, such as apple and orange, or lamp and cabinet.

The prefrontal cortex is composed of the regions of the frontal lobe that are not directly related to specific motor functions. The most posterior region of the frontal lobe, the precentral gyrus, is the primary motor cortex. Anterior to that are the premotor cortex, Broca’s area, and the frontal eye fields, which are all related to planning certain types of movements. Anterior to what could be described as motor association areas are the regions of the prefrontal cortex. They are the regions in which judgment, abstract reasoning, and working memory are localized. The antecedents to planning certain movements are judging whether those movements should be made, as in the example of deciding whether to hit the snooze button.

To an extent, the prefrontal cortex may be related to personality. The neurological exam does not necessarily assess personality, but it can be within the realm of neurology or psychiatry. A clinical situation that suggests this link between the prefrontal cortex and personality comes from the story of Phineas Gage, the railroad worker from the mid-1800s who had a metal spike impale his prefrontal cortex. There are suggestions that the steel rod led to changes in his personality. A man who was a quiet, dependable railroad worker became a raucous, irritable drunkard. Later anecdotal evidence from his life suggests that he was able to support himself, although he had to relocate and take on a different career as a stagecoach driver.

A psychiatric practice to deal with various disorders was the prefrontal lobotomy. This procedure was common in the 1940s and early 1950s, until antipsychotic drugs became available. The connections between the prefrontal cortex and other regions of the brain were severed. The disorders associated with this procedure included some aspects of what are now referred to as personality disorders, but also included mood disorders and psychoses. Depictions of lobotomies in popular media suggest a link between cutting the white matter of the prefrontal cortex and changes in a patient’s mood and personality, though this correlation is not well understood.

Everyday Connections –  Left Brain, Right Brain

Popular media often refer to right-brained and left-brained people, as if the brain were two independent halves that work differently for different people. This is a popular misinterpretation of an important neurological phenomenon. As an extreme measure to deal with a debilitating condition, the corpus callosum may be sectioned to overcome intractable epilepsy. When the connections between the two cerebral hemispheres are cut, interesting effects can be observed.

If a person with an intact corpus callosum is asked to put their hands in their pockets and describe what is there on the basis of what their hands feel, they might say that they have keys in their right pocket and loose change in the left. They may even be able to count the coins in their pocket and say if they can afford to buy a candy bar from the vending machine. If a person with a sectioned corpus callosum is given the same instructions, they will do something quite peculiar. They will only put their right hand in their pocket and say they have keys there. They will not even move their left hand, much less report that there is loose change in the left pocket.

The reason for this is that the language functions of the cerebral cortex are localized to the left hemisphere in 95 percent of the population. Additionally, the left hemisphere is connected to the right side of the body through the corticospinal tract and the ascending tracts of the spinal cord. Motor commands from the precentral gyrus control the opposite side of the body, whereas sensory information processed by the postcentral gyrus is received from the opposite side of the body. For a verbal command to initiate movement of the right arm and hand, the left side of the brain needs to be connected by the corpus callosum. Language is processed in the left side of the brain and directly influences the left brain and right arm motor functions, but is sent to influence the right brain and left arm motor functions through the corpus callosum. Likewise, the left-handed sensory perception of what is in the left pocket travels across the corpus callosum from the right brain, so no verbal report on those contents would be possible if the hand happened to be in the pocket.

Watch the video titled “The Man With Two Brains” to see the neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga introduce a patient he has worked with for years who has had his corpus callosum cut, separating his two cerebral hemispheres. A few tests are run to demonstrate how this manifests in tests of cerebral function. Unlike normal people, this patient can perform two independent tasks at the same time because the lines of communication between the right and left sides of his brain have been removed. Whereas a person with an intact corpus callosum cannot overcome the dominance of one hemisphere over the other, this patient can. If the left cerebral hemisphere is dominant in the majority of people, why would right-handedness be most common?

The Mental Status Exam

The cerebrum, particularly the cerebral cortex, is the location of important cognitive functions that are the focus of the mental status exam. The regionalization of the cortex, initially described on the basis of anatomical evidence of cytoarchitecture, reveals the distribution of functionally distinct areas. Cortical regions can be described as primary sensory or motor areas, association areas, or multimodal integration areas. The functions attributed to these regions include attention, memory, language, speech, sensation, judgment, and abstract reasoning.

The mental status exam addresses these cognitive abilities through a series of subtests designed to elicit particular behaviors ascribed to these functions. The loss of neurological function can illustrate the location of damage to the cerebrum. Memory functions are attributed to the temporal lobe, particularly the medial temporal lobe structures known as the hippocampus and amygdala, along with the adjacent cortex. Evidence of the importance of these structures comes from the side effects of a bilateral temporal lobectomy that were studied in detail in patient HM.

Losses of language and speech functions, known as aphasias, are associated with damage to the important integration areas in the left hemisphere known as Broca’s or Wernicke’s areas, as well as the connections in the white matter between them. Different types of aphasia are named for the particular structures that are damaged. Assessment of the functions of the sensorium includes praxis and gnosis. The subtests related to these functions depend on multimodal integration, as well as language-dependent processing.

The prefrontal cortex contains structures important for planning, judgment, reasoning, and working memory. Damage to these areas can result in changes to personality, mood, and behavior. The famous case of Phineas Gage suggests a role for this cortex in personality, as does the outdated practice of prefrontal lobectomy.

Subcortical structures

Beneath the cerebral cortex are sets of nuclei known as subcortical nuclei that augment cortical processes. The nuclei of the basal forebrain serve as the primary location for acetylcholine production, which modulates the overall activity of the cortex, possibly leading to greater attention to sensory stimuli. Alzheimer’s disease is associated with a loss of neurons in the basal forebrain. The hippocampus and amygdala are medial-lobe structures that, along with the adjacent cortex, are involved in long-term memory formation and emotional responses. The basal nuclei are a set of nuclei in the cerebrum responsible for comparing cortical processing with the general state of activity in the nervous system to influence the likelihood of movement taking place. For example, while a student is sitting in a classroom listening to a lecture, the basal nuclei will keep the urge to jump up and scream from actually happening. (The basal nuclei are also referred to as the basal ganglia, although that is potentially confusing because the term ganglia is typically used for peripheral structures.)

The major structures of the basal nuclei that control movement are the caudate , putamen , and globus pallidus , which are located deep in the cerebrum. The caudate is a long nucleus that follows the basic C-shape of the cerebrum from the frontal lobe, through the parietal and occipital lobes, into the temporal lobe. The putamen is mostly deep in the anterior regions of the frontal and parietal lobes. Together, the caudate and putamen are called the striatum . The globus pallidus is a layered nucleus that lies just medial to the putamen; they are called the lenticular nuclei because they look like curved pieces fitting together like lenses. The globus pallidus has two subdivisions, the external and internal segments, which are lateral and medial, respectively. These nuclei are depicted in a frontal section of the brain in Figure 14.3.6 .

The basal nuclei in the cerebrum are connected with a few more nuclei in the brain stem that together act as a functional group that forms a motor pathway. Two streams of information processing take place in the basal nuclei. All input to the basal nuclei is from the cortex into the striatum ( Figure 14.3.7 ). The direct pathway is the projection of axons from the striatum to the globus pallidus internal segment (GPi) and the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr). The GPi/SNr then projects to the thalamus, which projects back to the cortex. The indirect pathway is the projection of axons from the striatum to the globus pallidus external segment (GPe), then to the subthalamic nucleus (STN), and finally to GPi/SNr. The two streams both target the GPi/SNr, but one has a direct projection and the other goes through a few intervening nuclei. The direct pathway causes the disinhibition of the thalamus (inhibition of one cell on a target cell that then inhibits the first cell), whereas the indirect pathway causes, or reinforces, the normal inhibition of the thalamus. The thalamus then can either excite the cortex (as a result of the direct pathway) or fail to excite the cortex (as a result of the indirect pathway).

The switch between the two pathways is the substantia nigra pars compacta , which projects to the striatum and releases the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine receptors are either excitatory (D1-type receptors) or inhibitory (D2-type receptors). The direct pathway is activated by dopamine, and the indirect pathway is inhibited by dopamine. When the substantia nigra pars compacta is firing, it signals to the basal nuclei that the body is in an active state, and movement will be more likely. When the substantia nigra pars compacta is silent, the body is in a passive state, and movement is inhibited. To illustrate this situation, while a student is sitting listening to a lecture, the substantia nigra pars compacta would be silent and the student less likely to get up and walk around. Likewise, while the professor is lecturing, and walking around at the front of the classroom, the professor’s substantia nigra pars compacta would be active, in keeping with his or her activity level.

Watch this video to learn about the basal nuclei (also known as the basal ganglia), which have two pathways that process information within the cerebrum. As shown in this video, the direct pathway is the shorter pathway through the system that results in increased activity in the cerebral cortex and increased motor activity. The direct pathway is described as resulting in “disinhibition” of the thalamus. What does disinhibition mean? What are the two neurons doing individually to cause this?

Watch this video to learn about the basal nuclei (also known as the basal ganglia), which have two pathways that process information within the cerebrum. As shown in this video, the indirect pathway is the longer pathway through the system that results in decreased activity in the cerebral cortex, and therefore less motor activity. The indirect pathway has an extra couple of connections in it, including disinhibition of the subthalamic nucleus. What is the end result on the thalamus, and therefore on movement initiated by the cerebral cortex?

Everyday Connections –  The Myth of Left Brain/Right Brain

There is a persistent myth that people are “right-brained” or “left-brained,” which is an oversimplification of an important concept about the cerebral hemispheres. There is some lateralization of function, in which the left side of the brain is devoted to language function and the right side is devoted to spatial and nonverbal reasoning. Whereas these functions are predominantly associated with those sides of the brain, there is no monopoly by either side on these functions. Many pervasive functions, such as language, are distributed globally around the cerebrum.

Some of the support for this misconception has come from studies of split brains. A drastic way to deal with a rare and devastating neurological condition (intractable epilepsy) is to separate the two hemispheres of the brain. After sectioning the corpus callosum, a split-brained patient will have trouble producing verbal responses on the basis of sensory information processed on the right side of the cerebrum, leading to the idea that the left side is responsible for language function.

However, there are well-documented cases of language functions lost from damage to the right side of the brain. The deficits seen in damage to the left side of the brain are classified as aphasia, a loss of speech function; damage on the right side can affect the use of language. Right-side damage can result in a loss of ability to understand figurative aspects of speech, such as jokes, irony, or metaphors. Nonverbal aspects of speech can be affected by damage to the right side, such as facial expression or body language, and right-side damage can lead to a “flat affect” in speech, or a loss of emotional expression in speech—sounding like a robot when talking. Damage to language areas on the right side causes a condition called aprosodia where the patient has difficulty understanding or expressing the figurative part of speech.

The Diencephalon

The diencephalon is the one region of the adult brain that retains its name from embryologic development. The etymology of the word diencephalon translates to “through brain.” It is the connection between the cerebrum and the rest of the nervous system, with one exception. The rest of the brain, the spinal cord, and the PNS all send information to the cerebrum through the diencephalon. Output from the cerebrum passes through the diencephalon. The single exception is the system associated with olfaction , or the sense of smell, which connects directly with the cerebrum. In the earliest vertebrate species, the cerebrum was not much more than olfactory bulbs that received peripheral information about the chemical environment (to call it smell in these organisms is imprecise because they lived in the ocean).

The diencephalon is deep beneath the cerebrum and constitutes the walls of the third ventricle. The diencephalon can be described as any region of the brain with “thalamus” in its name. The two major regions of the diencephalon are the thalamus itself and the hypothalamus ( Figure 14.3.8 ). There are other structures, such as the epithalamus , which contains the pineal gland, or the subthalamus , which includes the subthalamic nucleus that is part of the basal nuclei.

The thalamus is a collection of nuclei that relay information between the cerebral cortex and the periphery, spinal cord, or brain stem. All sensory information, except for the sense of smell, passes through the thalamus before processing by the cortex. Axons from the peripheral sensory organs, or intermediate nuclei, synapse in the thalamus, and thalamic neurons project directly to the cerebrum. It is a requisite synapse in any sensory pathway, except for olfaction. The thalamus does not just pass the information on, it also processes that information. For example, the portion of the thalamus that receives visual information will influence what visual stimuli are important, or what receives attention.

The cerebrum also sends information down to the thalamus, which usually communicates motor commands. This involves interactions with the cerebellum and other nuclei in the brain stem. The cerebrum interacts with the basal nuclei, which involves connections with the thalamus. The primary output of the basal nuclei is to the thalamus, which relays that output to the cerebral cortex. The cortex also sends information to the thalamus that will then influence the effects of the basal nuclei.

Hypothalamus

Inferior and slightly anterior to the thalamus is the hypothalamus , the other major region of the diencephalon. The hypothalamus is a collection of nuclei that are largely involved in regulating homeostasis. The hypothalamus is the executive region in charge of the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system through its regulation of the anterior pituitary gland. Other parts of the hypothalamus are involved in memory and emotion as part of the limbic system.

The midbrain and the pons and medulla of the hindbrain are collectively referred to as the “brain stem” ( Figure 14.3.9 ). The structure emerges from the ventral surface of the forebrain as a tapering cone that connects the brain to the spinal cord. Attached to the brain stem, but considered a separate region of the adult brain, is the cerebellum. The midbrain coordinates sensory representations of the visual, auditory, and somatosensory perceptual spaces. The pons is the main connection with the cerebellum. The pons and the medulla regulate several crucial functions, including the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.

The cranial nerves connect through the brain stem and provide the brain with the sensory input and motor output associated with the head and neck, including most of the special senses. The major ascending and descending pathways between the spinal cord and brain, specifically the cerebrum, pass through the brain stem.

One of the original regions of the embryonic brain, the midbrain is a small region between the thalamus and pons. It is separated into the tectum and tegmentum , from the Latin words for roof and floor, respectively. The cerebral aqueduct passes through the center of the midbrain, such that these regions are the roof and floor of that canal.

The tectum is composed of four bumps known as the colliculi (singular = colliculus), which means “little hill” in Latin. The inferior colliculus is the inferior pair of these enlargements and is part of the auditory brain stem pathway. Neurons of the inferior colliculus project to the thalamus, which then sends auditory information to the cerebrum for the conscious perception of sound. The superior colliculus is the superior pair and combines sensory information about visual space, auditory space, and somatosensory space. Activity in the superior colliculus is related to orienting the eyes to a sound or touch stimulus. If you are walking along the sidewalk on campus and you hear chirping, the superior colliculus coordinates that information with your awareness of the visual location of the tree right above you. That is the correlation of auditory and visual maps. If you suddenly feel something wet fall on your head, your superior colliculus integrates that with the auditory and visual maps and you know that the chirping bird just relieved itself on you. You want to look up to see the culprit, but do not.

The tegmentum is continuous with the gray matter of the rest of the brain stem. Throughout the midbrain, pons, and medulla, the tegmentum contains the nuclei that receive and send information through the cranial nerves, as well as regions that regulate important functions such as those of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.

The word pons comes from the Latin word for bridge. It is visible on the anterior surface of the brain stem as the thick bundle of white matter attached to the cerebellum. The pons is the main connection between the cerebellum and the brain stem. The bridge-like white matter is only the anterior surface of the pons; the gray matter beneath that is a continuation of the tegmentum from the midbrain. Gray matter in the tegmentum region of the pons contains neurons receiving descending input from the forebrain that is sent to the cerebellum.

The medulla is the region known as the myelencephalon in the embryonic brain. The initial portion of the name, “myel,” refers to the significant white matter found in this region—especially on its exterior, which is continuous with the white matter of the spinal cord. The tegmentum of the midbrain and pons continues into the medulla because this gray matter is responsible for processing cranial nerve information. A diffuse region of gray matter throughout the brain stem, known as the reticular formation , is related to sleep and wakefulness, such as general brain activity and attention.

The Cerebellum

The cerebellum , as the name suggests, is the “little brain.” It is covered in gyri and sulci like the cerebrum, and looks like a miniature version of that part of the brain ( Figure 14.3.10 ). The cerebellum is largely responsible for comparing information from the cerebrum with sensory feedback from the periphery through the spinal cord. It accounts for approximately 10 percent of the mass of the brain.

Descending fibers from the cerebrum have branches that connect to neurons in the pons. Those neurons project into the cerebellum, providing a copy of motor commands sent to the spinal cord. Sensory information from the periphery, which enters through spinal or cranial nerves, is copied to a nucleus in the medulla known as the inferior olive . Fibers from this nucleus enter the cerebellum and are compared with the descending commands from the cerebrum. If the primary motor cortex of the frontal lobe sends a command down to the spinal cord to initiate walking, a copy of that instruction is sent to the cerebellum. Sensory feedback from the muscles and joints, proprioceptive information about the movements of walking, and sensations of balance are sent to the cerebellum through the inferior olive and the cerebellum compares them. If walking is not coordinated, perhaps because the ground is uneven or a strong wind is blowing, then the cerebellum sends out a corrective command to compensate for the difference between the original cortical command and the sensory feedback. The output of the cerebellum is into the midbrain, which then sends a descending input to the spinal cord to correct the messages going to skeletal muscles.

The Spinal Cord

The description of the CNS is concentrated on the structures of the brain, but the spinal cord is another major organ of the system. Whereas the brain develops out of expansions of the neural tube into primary and then secondary vesicles, the spinal cord maintains the tube structure and is only specialized into certain regions. As the spinal cord continues to develop in the newborn, anatomical features mark its surface. The anterior midline is marked by the anterior median fissure , and the posterior midline is marked by the posterior median sulcus . Axons enter the posterior side through the dorsal (posterior) nerve root , which marks the posterolateral sulcus on either side. The axons emerging from the anterior side do so through the ventral (anterior) nerve root . Note that it is common to see the terms dorsal (dorsal = “back”) and ventral (ventral = “belly”) used interchangeably with posterior and anterior, particularly in reference to nerves and the structures of the spinal cord. You should learn to be comfortable with both.

On the whole, the posterior regions are responsible for sensory functions and the anterior regions are associated with motor functions. This comes from the initial development of the spinal cord, which is divided into the basal plate and the alar plate . The basal plate is closest to the ventral midline of the neural tube, which will become the anterior face of the spinal cord and gives rise to motor neurons. The alar plate is on the dorsal side of the neural tube and gives rise to neurons that will receive sensory input from the periphery.

The length of the spinal cord is divided into regions that correspond to the regions of the vertebral column. The name of a spinal cord region corresponds to the level at which spinal nerves pass through the intervertebral foramina. Immediately adjacent to the brain stem is the cervical region, followed by the thoracic, then the lumbar, and finally the sacral region. The spinal cord is not the full length of the vertebral column because the spinal cord does not grow significantly longer after the first or second year, but the skeleton continues to grow. The nerves that emerge from the spinal cord pass through the intervertebral formina at the respective levels. As the vertebral column grows, these nerves grow with it and result in a long bundle of nerves that resembles a horse’s tail and is named the cauda equina . The sacral spinal cord is at the level of the upper lumbar vertebral bones. The spinal nerves extend from their various levels to the proper level of the vertebral column.

In cross-section, the gray matter of the spinal cord has the appearance of an ink-blot test, with the spread of the gray matter on one side replicated on the other—a shape reminiscent of a bulbous capital “H.” As shown in Figure 14.3.11 , the gray matter is subdivided into regions that are referred to as horns. The posterior horn is responsible for sensory processing. The anterior horn sends out motor signals to the skeletal muscles. The lateral horn , which is only found in the thoracic, upper lumbar, and sacral regions, is the central component of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system.

Some of the largest neurons of the spinal cord are the multipolar motor neurons in the anterior horn. The fibers that cause contraction of skeletal muscles are the axons of these neurons. The motor neuron that causes contraction of the big toe, for example, is located in the sacral spinal cord. The axon that has to reach all the way to the belly of that muscle may be a meter in length. The neuronal cell body that maintains that long fiber must be quite large, possibly several hundred micrometers in diameter, making it one of the largest cells in the body.

White Column

Just as the gray matter is separated into horns, the white matter of the spinal cord is separated into columns. Ascending tracts of nervous system fibers in these columns carry sensory information up to the brain, whereas descending tracts carry motor commands from the brain. Looking at the spinal cord longitudinally, the columns extend along its length as continuous bands of white matter. Between the two posterior horns of gray matter are the posterior columns . Between the two anterior horns, and bounded by the axons of motor neurons emerging from that gray matter area, are the anterior columns . The white matter on either side of the spinal cord, between the posterior horn and the axons of the anterior horn neurons, are the lateral columns . The posterior columns are composed of axons of ascending tracts. The anterior and lateral columns are composed of many different groups of axons of both ascending and descending tracts—the latter carrying motor commands down from the brain to the spinal cord to control output to the periphery.

Watch this video to learn about the gray matter of the spinal cord that receives input from fibers of the dorsal (posterior) root and sends information out through the fibers of the ventral (anterior) root. As discussed in this video, these connections represent the interactions of the CNS with peripheral structures for both sensory and motor functions. The cervical and lumbar spinal cords have enlargements as a result of larger populations of neurons. What are these enlargements responsible fo r?

Disorders of the…Basal Nuclei

Parkinson’s disease is a disorder of the basal nuclei, specifically of the substantia nigra, that demonstrates the effects of the direct and indirect pathways. Parkinson’s disease is the result of neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta dying. These neurons release dopamine into the striatum. Without that modulatory influence, the basal nuclei are stuck in the indirect pathway, without the direct pathway being activated. The direct pathway is responsible for increasing cortical movement commands. The increased activity of the indirect pathway results in the hypokinetic disorder of Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson’s disease is neurodegenerative, meaning that neurons die that cannot be replaced, so there is no cure for the disorder. Treatments for Parkinson’s disease are aimed at increasing dopamine levels in the striatum. Currently, the most common way of doing that is by providing the amino acid L-DOPA, which is a precursor to the neurotransmitter dopamine and can cross the blood-brain barrier. With levels of the precursor elevated, the remaining cells of the substantia nigra pars compacta can make more neurotransmitter and have a greater effect. Unfortunately, the patient will become less responsive to L-DOPA treatment as time progresses, and it can cause increased dopamine levels elsewhere in the brain, which are associated with psychosis or schizophrenia.

Visit this site for a thorough explanation of Parkinson’s disease.

Compared with the nearest evolutionary relative, the chimpanzee, the human has a brain that is huge. At a point in the past, a common ancestor gave rise to the two species of humans and chimpanzees. That evolutionary history is long and is still an area of intense study. But something happened to increase the size of the human brain relative to the chimpanzee. Read this article in which the author explores the current understanding of why this happened.

According to one hypothesis about the expansion of brain size, what tissue might have been sacrificed so energy was available to grow our larger brain? Based on what you know about that tissue and nervous tissue, why would there be a trade-off between them in terms of energy use?

Everyday Connection –  How Much of Your Brain Do You Use?

Have you ever heard the claim that humans only use 10 percent of their brains? Maybe you have seen an advertisement on a website saying that there is a secret to unlocking the full potential of your mind—as if there were 90 percent of your brain sitting idle, just waiting for you to use it. If you see an ad like that, don’t click. It isn’t true.

An easy way to see how much of the brain a person uses is to take measurements of brain activity while performing a task. An example of this kind of measurement is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which generates a map of the most active areas and can be generated and presented in three dimensions ( Figure 14.3.12 ). This procedure is different from the standard MRI technique because it is measuring changes in the tissue in time with an experimental condition or event.

The underlying assumption is that active nervous tissue will have greater blood flow. By having the subject perform a visual task, activity all over the brain can be measured. Consider this possible experiment: the subject is told to look at a screen with a black dot in the middle (a fixation point). A photograph of a face is projected on the screen away from the center. The subject has to look at the photograph and decipher what it is. The subject has been instructed to push a button if the photograph is of someone they recognize. The photograph might be of a celebrity, so the subject would press the button, or it might be of a random person unknown to the subject, so the subject would not press the button.

In this task, visual sensory areas would be active, integrating areas would be active, motor areas responsible for moving the eyes would be active, and motor areas for pressing the button with a finger would be active. Those areas are distributed all around the brain and the fMRI images would show activity in more than just 10 percent of the brain (some evidence suggests that about 80 percent of the brain is using energy—based on blood flow to the tissue—during well-defined tasks similar to the one suggested above). This task does not even include all of the functions the brain performs. There is no language response, the body is mostly lying still in the MRI machine, and it does not consider the autonomic functions that would be ongoing in the background.

Chapter Review

Considering the anatomical regions of the nervous system, there are specific names for the structures within each division. A localized collection of neuron cell bodies is referred to as a nucleus in the CNS and as a ganglion in the PNS. A bundle of axons is referred to as a tract in the CNS and as a nerve in the PNS. Whereas nuclei and ganglia are specifically in the central or peripheral divisions, axons can cross the boundary between the two. A single axon can be part of a nerve and a tract. The name for that specific structure depends on its location.

Nervous tissue can also be described as gray matter and white matter on the basis of its appearance in unstained tissue. These descriptions are more often used in the CNS. Gray matter is where nuclei are found and white matter is where tracts are found. In the PNS, ganglia are basically gray matter and nerves are white matter.

The adult brain is separated into four major regions: the cerebrum, the diencephalon, the brain stem, and the cerebellum. The cerebrum is the largest portion and contains the cerebral cortex and subcortical nuclei. It is divided into two halves by the longitudinal fissure.

The cortex is separated into the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes. The frontal lobe is responsible for motor functions, from planning movements through executing commands to be sent to the spinal cord and periphery. The most anterior portion of the frontal lobe is the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with aspects of personality through its influence on motor responses in decision-making.

The other lobes are responsible for sensory functions. The parietal lobe is where somatosensation is processed. The occipital lobe is where visual processing begins, although the other parts of the brain can contribute to visual function. The temporal lobe contains the cortical area for auditory processing, but also has regions crucial for memory formation.

Nuclei beneath the cerebral cortex, known as the subcortical nuclei, are responsible for augmenting cortical functions. The basal nuclei receive input from cortical areas and compare it with the general state of the individual through the activity of a dopamine-releasing nucleus. The output influences the activity of part of the thalamus that can then increase or decrease cortical activity that often results in changes to motor commands. The basal forebrain is responsible for modulating cortical activity in attention and memory. The limbic system includes deep cerebral nuclei that are responsible for emotion and memory.

The diencephalon includes the thalamus and the hypothalamus, along with some other structures. The thalamus is a relay between the cerebrum and the rest of the nervous system. The hypothalamus coordinates homeostatic functions through the autonomic and endocrine systems.

The brain stem is composed of the midbrain, pons, and medulla. It controls the head and neck region of the body through the cranial nerves. There are control centers in the brain stem that regulate the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.

The cerebellum is connected to the brain stem, primarily at the pons, where it receives a copy of the descending input from the cerebrum to the spinal cord. It can compare this with sensory feedback input through the medulla and send output through the midbrain that can correct motor commands for coordination.

Interactive Link Questions

Both cells are inhibitory. The first cell inhibits the second one. Therefore, the second cell can no longer inhibit its target. This is disinhibition of that target across two synapses.

By disinhibiting the subthalamic nucleus, the indirect pathway increases excitation of the globus pallidus internal segment. That, in turn, inhibits the thalamus, which is the opposite effect of the direct pathway that disinhibits the thalamus.

Watch this video to learn about the gray matter of the spinal cord that receives input from fibers of the dorsal (posterior) root and sends information out through the fibers of the ventral (anterior) root. As discussed in this video, these connections represent the interactions of the CNS with peripheral structures for both sensory and motor functions. The cervical and lumbar spinal cords have enlargements as a result of larger populations of neurons. What are these enlargements responsible for?

There are more motor neurons in the anterior horns that are responsible for movement in the limbs. The cervical enlargement is for the arms, and the lumbar enlargement is for the legs.

Energy is needed for the brain to develop and perform higher cognitive functions. That energy is not available for the muscle tissues to develop and function. The hypothesis suggests that humans have larger brains and less muscle mass, and chimpanzees have the smaller brains but more muscle mass.

In 2003, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Paul C. Lauterbur and Sir Peter Mansfield for discoveries related to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This is a tool to see the structures of the body (not just the nervous system) that depends on magnetic fields associated with certain atomic nuclei. The utility of this technique in the nervous system is that fat tissue and water appear as different shades between black and white. Because white matter is fatty (from myelin) and gray matter is not, they can be easily distinguished in MRI images. Visit the Nobel Prize website to play an interactive game that demonstrates the use of this technology and compares it with other types of imaging technologies. Also, the results from an MRI session are compared with images obtained from x-ray or computed tomography. How do the imaging techniques shown in this game indicate the separation of white and gray matter compared with the freshly dissected tissue shown earlier?

MRI uses the relative amount of water in tissue to distinguish different areas, so gray and white matter in the nervous system can be seen clearly in these images.

Visit this site to read about a woman that notices that her daughter is having trouble walking up the stairs. This leads to the discovery of a hereditary condition that affects the brain and spinal cord. The electromyography and MRI tests indicated deficiencies in the spinal cord and cerebellum, both of which are responsible for controlling coordinated movements. To what functional division of the nervous system would these structures belong?

They are part of the somatic nervous system, which is responsible for voluntary movements such as walking or climbing the stairs.

Looking at nervous tissue, there are regions that predominantly contain cell bodies and regions that are largely composed of just axons. These two regions within nervous system structures are often referred to as gray matter (the regions with many cell bodies and dendrites) or white matter (the regions with many axons). Figure 14.3.13 demonstrates the appearance of these regions in the brain and spinal cord. The colors ascribed to these regions are what would be seen in “fresh,” or unstained, nervous tissue. Gray matter is not necessarily gray. It can be pinkish because of blood content, or even slightly tan, depending on how long the tissue has been preserved. But white matter is white because axons are insulated by a lipid-rich substance called myelin . Lipids can appear as white (“fatty”) material, much like the fat on a raw piece of chicken or beef. Actually, gray matter may have that color ascribed to it because next to the white matter, it is just darker—hence, gray.

The distinction between gray matter and white matter is most often applied to central nervous tissue, which has large regions that can be seen with the unaided eye. When looking at peripheral structures, often a microscope is used and the tissue is stained with artificial colors. That is not to say that central nervous tissue cannot be stained and viewed under a microscope, but unstained tissue is most likely from the CNS—for example, a frontal section of the brain or cross section of the spinal cord.

Regardless of the appearance of stained or unstained tissue, the cell bodies of neurons or axons can be located in discrete anatomical structures that need to be named. Those names are specific to whether the structure is central or peripheral. A localized collection of neuron cell bodies in the CNS is referred to as a nucleus . In the PNS, a cluster of neuron cell bodies is referred to as a ganglion . Figure 14.3.14 indicates how the term nucleus has a few different meanings within anatomy and physiology. It is the center of an atom, where protons and neutrons are found; it is the center of a cell, where the DNA is found; and it is a center of some function in the CNS. There is also a potentially confusing use of the word ganglion (plural = ganglia) that has a historical explanation. In the central nervous system, there is a group of nuclei that are connected together and were once called the basal ganglia before “ganglion” became accepted as a description for a peripheral structure. Some sources refer to this group of nuclei as the “basal nuclei” to avoid confusion.

Terminology applied to bundles of axons also differs depending on location. A bundle of axons, or fibers, found in the CNS is called a tract whereas the same thing in the PNS would be called a nerve . There is an important point to make about these terms, which is that they can both be used to refer to the same bundle of axons. When those axons are in the PNS, the term is nerve, but if they are CNS, the term is tract. The most obvious example of this is the axons that project from the retina into the brain. Those axons are called the optic nerve as they leave the eye, but when they are inside the cranium, they are referred to as the optic tract. There is a specific place where the name changes, which is the optic chiasm, but they are still the same axons ( Figure 14.3.15 ). A similar situation outside of science can be described for some roads. Imagine a road called “Broad Street” in a town called “Anyville.” The road leaves Anyville and goes to the next town over, called “Hometown.” When the road crosses the line between the two towns and is in Hometown, its name changes to “Main Street.” That is the idea behind the naming of the retinal axons. In the PNS, they are called the optic nerve, and in the CNS, they are the optic tract. Table 14.1 helps to clarify which of these terms apply to the central or peripheral nervous systems.

Visit the Nobel Prize web site to play an interactive game that demonstrates the use of this technology and compares it with other types of imaging technologies.

In 2003, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Paul C. Lauterbur and Sir Peter Mansfield for discoveries related to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This is a tool to see the structures of the body (not just the nervous system) that depends on magnetic fields associated with certain atomic nuclei. The utility of this technique in the nervous system is that fat tissue and water appear as different shades between black and white. Because white matter is fatty (from myelin) and gray matter is not, they can be easily distinguished in MRI images.

Also, the results from an MRI session are compared with images obtained from X-ray or computed tomography. How do the imaging techniques shown in this game indicate the separation of white and gray matter compared with the freshly dissected tissue shown earlier?

Review Questions

Critical thinking questions.

1. Damage to specific regions of the cerebral cortex, such as through a stroke, can result in specific losses of function. What functions would likely be lost by a stroke in the temporal lobe?

2. Why do the anatomical inputs to the cerebellum suggest that it can compare motor commands and sensory feedback?

Answers for Critical Thinking Questions

• The temporal lobe has sensory functions associated with hearing and vision, as well as being important for memory. A stroke in the temporal lobe can result in specific sensory deficits in these systems (known as agnosias) or losses in memory.
• A copy of descending input from the cerebrum to the spinal cord, through the pons, and sensory feedback from the spinal cord and special senses like balance, through the medulla, both go to the cerebellum. It can therefore send output through the midbrain that will correct spinal cord control of skeletal muscle movements.

This work, Anatomy & Physiology, is adapted from Anatomy & Physiology by OpenStax , licensed under CC BY . This edition, with revised content and artwork, is licensed under CC BY-SA except where otherwise noted.

Images, from Anatomy & Physiology by OpenStax , are licensed under CC BY except where otherwise noted.

Access the original for free at https://openstax.org/books/anatomy-and-physiology/pages/1-introduction .

Anatomy & Physiology Copyright © 2019 by Lindsay M. Biga, Staci Bronson, Sierra Dawson, Amy Harwell, Robin Hopkins, Joel Kaufmann, Mike LeMaster, Philip Matern, Katie Morrison-Graham, Kristen Oja, Devon Quick, Jon Runyeon, OSU OERU, and OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

• News/Events
• Arts and Sciences
• Design and the Arts
• Engineering
• Global Futures
• Health Solutions
• Nursing and Health Innovation
• Public Service and Community Solutions
• University College
• Thunderbird School of Global Management
• Polytechnic
• Downtown Phoenix
• Online and Extended
• Lake Havasu
• Research Park
• Washington D.C.
• Biology Bits
• Bird Finder
• Coloring Pages

Experiments and Activities

• Games and Simulations
• Quizzes in Other Languages
• Virtual Reality (VR)
• World of Biology
• Meet Our Biologists
• Listen and Watch
• PLOSable Biology
• All About Autism
• Xs and Ys: How Our Sex Is Decided
• When Blood Types Shouldn’t Mix: Rh and Pregnancy
• What Is the Menstrual Cycle?
• Understanding Intersex
• The Mysterious Case of the Missing Periods
• Summarizing Sex Traits
• Shedding Light on Endometriosis
• Periods: What Should You Expect?
• Menstruation Matters
• Investigating In Vitro Fertilization
• Introducing the IUD
• How Fast Do Embryos Grow?
• Helpful Sex Hormones
• Getting to Know the Germ Layers
• Gender versus Biological Sex: What’s the Difference?
• Gender Identities and Expression
• Focusing on Female Infertility
• Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Pregnancy
• Ectopic Pregnancy: An Unexpected Path
• Creating Chimeras
• Confronting Human Chimerism
• Cells, Frozen in Time
• EvMed Edits
• Stories in Other Languages
• Virtual Reality
• Zoom Gallery
• Ugly Bug Galleries
• Ask a Question
• Top Questions
• Question Guidelines
• Permissions
• Information Collected
• Author and Artist Notes
• Share Ask A Biologist
• Articles & News
• Our Volunteers
• Teacher Toolbox

show/hide words to know

Blood-brain barrier: a protective layer that surrounds the brain and controls what things can move into the area around the brain.

Circadian rhythm: the body's natural clock that runs on roughly a 24 hour cycle. Many animals have a 24 hour cycle that includes sleeping, eating and doing work...  more

CLSM: confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) makes high quality images of microscopic objects with extreme detail...  more

Metabolism: what living things do to stay alive. This includes eating, drinking, breathing, and getting rid of wastes...  more

Puberty: the change from child to adult where the body is able to reproduce.

Vertebra: any of the bones that make up the backbone.

What Are the Parts of the Brain?

Every second of every day the brain is collecting and sending out signals from and to the parts of your body. It keeps everything working even when we are sleeping at night. Here you can take a quick tour of this amazing control center. You can see each part and later learn what areas are involved with different tasks. 

Brain Cells

There are two types of cells in your brain, neurons and glial cells (glia - Greek word for glue). For a long time biologists have thought that the neurons were the only cells that controlled our bodies and were also where our memories are kept. Glial cells were just in the brain to support neurons, insulate them, provide nutrition, and do basic housekeeping. New research is beginning to show that glial cells are doing more than these jobs.

 Brain Anatomy

Computer animation credit: BodyParts3D, Copyright© 2010 The Database Center for Life Science licensed under CC Attribution-Share Alike 2.1 Japan.

Astrocyte movie credit : Confocal scanning laser image courtesy of Professor Dennis McDaniel.

Read more about: A Nervous Journey

View citation, bibliographic details:.

• Article: What's in Your Brain?
• Author(s): Brett Szymik
• Publisher: Arizona State University School of Life Sciences Ask A Biologist
• Site name: ASU - Ask A Biologist
• Date published: May 5, 2011
• Date accessed: July 15, 2024
• Link: https://askabiologist.asu.edu/parts-of-the-brain

Brett Szymik. (2011, May 05). What's in Your Brain?. ASU - Ask A Biologist. Retrieved July 15, 2024 from https://askabiologist.asu.edu/parts-of-the-brain

Chicago Manual of Style

Brett Szymik. "What's in Your Brain?". ASU - Ask A Biologist. 05 May, 2011. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/parts-of-the-brain

MLA 2017 Style

Brett Szymik. "What's in Your Brain?". ASU - Ask A Biologist. 05 May 2011. ASU - Ask A Biologist, Web. 15 Jul 2024. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/parts-of-the-brain

Learn more about growth and size of the human brain at Ask An Anthropologist's story Babies, Birth, and Brains .

A Nervous Journey

Coloring Pages and Worksheets

Neuron Anatomy

What's In Your Brain

What's Your Brain Doing?

Be Part of Ask A Biologist

By volunteering, or simply sending us feedback on the site. Scientists, teachers, writers, illustrators, and translators are all important to the program. If you are interested in helping with the website we have a Volunteers page to get the process started.

Share to Google Classroom

The Biology Corner

Biology Teaching Resources

Brain Label (Remote)

This brain labeling activity was created for remote learners as an alternative to the labeling and coloring worksheet we would traditionally do in class. Instead of coloring and labeling on printouts, students use google slides to drag labels to the images or type the answers into text boxes.

The slides do not have labeled diagrams but does include links to 3D models on Sketchfab as a reference. Students are encourages to view diagrams in their textbook or use diagrams on google. The brain image I used for labeling came from Wikimedia Commons , but the labels are not in English. This will make it difficult for students to just copy the answers, but certainly there are plenty of brain images out there that can be used as references.

The activity includes an external view of the brain where students label the lobes of the cerebrum (frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal) and the cerebellum. Next students drag and drop labels to the internal structures, such as the thalamus, midbrain, corpus callosum, pineal body, and colliculi.

The next slide has the same image, but this time students need to type the words, though they can always click back to the slide before to check. Mainly, this is just for reinforcement and practice.

The last two slides take a close look at the brain stem and the limbic system , both with links to 3D models on sketchfab.

I use these types of worksheet for practice and reinforcement and rarely give grades for practice done in class. My typical lesson would include going over the brain and each structure, then allowing students to practice labeling on their own, then go over that with them the next day or at the end of the class period.

I also have several Quizlets and brain anatomy quizzes to help students learn the structures.

Shannan Muskopf

The Brain ( AQA GCSE Biology )

Revision note.

Biology Lead

The Brain: Basics

• The brain alongside the spinal cord is part of our central nervous system
• The brain is made of billions of interconnected neurones and is responsible for controlling complex behaviours
• Within the brain are different regions that carry out different functions

Structure of the Brain

• The cerebral cortex: this is the outer layer of the brain which is divided into two hemispheres. It’s highly folded and is responsible for higher-order processes such as intelligence, memory, consciousness and personality
• The cerebellum: this is underneath the cerebral cortex and is responsible for balance, muscle coordination and movement
• The medulla: this region controls unconscious activities such as heart rate and breathing

The brain is made from billions of interconnected neurones which are organised into regions

Investigating the Brain

Higher tier only.

• The brain is an incredibly complex and delicate organ – this makes it extremely difficult for neuroscientists to study it to find out how it works
• Our understanding is limited because the brain is so complex and different regions can’t be studied in isolation
• Accidental damage could lead to speech or motor issues , or changes to personality which are permanent

Mapping regions of the brain

• Neuroscientists have been able to map the regions of the brain to particular functions by studying patients with brain damage, electrically stimulating different parts of the brain and using MRI scanning techniques
• The most famous example of this is Phineas Gage, a railroad construction worker who survived a large iron rod being driven completely through his head – his frontal left lobe was completely destroyed and his personality and temperament changed drastically
• For example, if a region in the medulla responsible for movement is stimulated, the movement caused can be observed
• Functional MRIs can produce images of different regions of the brain that are active during different activities like listening to music or recalling a memory (the scanners can detect changes in blood flow – more active regions of the brain have increased blood flow)

In the exam you may be asked to evaluate the benefits and risks of procedures carried out on the brain and nervous system. The benefits of procedures being carried out usually involve improving the quality of someone’s life (as the procedure is used to treat a disorder of some kind) but there are risks of more permanent damage, some of these will be because we still don’t fully understand how the brain and nervous system works!

You've read 0 of your 0 free revision notes

Get unlimited access.

to absolutely everything:

• Downloadable PDFs
• Unlimited Revision Notes
• Topic Questions
• Past Papers
• Model Answers
• Videos (Maths and Science)

Join the 100,000 + Students that ❤️ Save My Exams

the (exam) results speak for themselves:

Did this page help you?

Author: Lára

Lára graduated from Oxford University in Biological Sciences and has now been a science tutor working in the UK for several years. Lára has a particular interest in the area of infectious disease and epidemiology, and enjoys creating original educational materials that develop confidence and facilitate learning.

Parts of the Brain 2.0

Leaderboard, visual style.

Switch template