Areas and Function

Question 1

Cerebral cortex

Answer 1

Outer layer of cerebrum, overlying deep nuclei
- frontal lobe
- occipital lobe
- parietal lobe
- temporal lobe

Question 2

Primary cortical areas

Answer 2

receive sensory information from peripheral receptors or execute motor tasks; little interpretation of the meaning of the information
- eg., primary motor/somatosensory/visual/auditory/gustatory areas

Question 3

Association areas

Answer 3

receive input from primary area
involved in higher order processing, integrating, and interpreting information
associate simpler elements of cognition
tune sensory expectation based on expectations, needs, etc.
- eg., premotor/somatosensory/visual/auditory/frontal association areas etc.
- prefrontal cortex

Question 4

Brain stem (3 structures)

Answer 4

midbrain
pons
medulla oblongata

Question 5

Brain stem function

Answer 5

basic vital functions (heart rate, breathing, sleeping/alertness, digestion)
transfers information between body and cerebrum and cerebellum

Question 6

Thalamus function

Answer 6

relay station - integrates sensory information and projects to cerebral frontal lobes
limbic system
50ish nuclei subdivisions have multiple function specializations

Question 7

Hypothalamus function

Answer 7

controls autonomic functions
sets appetite drives and reproductive behaviour
participates in emotional responses
secretes ADH, oxytocin, releasing hormones for anterior pituitary regulation

Question 8

Cerebrum (Telencephalon) function

Answer 8

contains cerebral cortex
motor area (voluntary muscle movements)
sensory cortex (conscious perception of touch, pressure, vibration, pain, temperature, taste)
association areas (sensory data integration and processing)

Question 9

Cerebellum function

Answer 9

balance
coordination
voluntary and involuntary movement

Question 10

Pons function

Answer 10

connects cerebellum to other brain centres, medulla, and spinal cord
modifies output of respiratory centres in medulla

Question 11

Medulla oblongata function

Answer 11

regulates heart rate and contraction force
vasomotor control (blood vessel diameter)
sets breathing rate
relays information to cerebellum

Question 12

Cerebral commissures

Answer 12

type of white matter tract that crosses midline; connects same cortical area in opposite hemispheres

Question 13

Sulci

Answer 13

large fissures in cortex
major ones:
- central fissure (separates frontal and parietal lobes)
- lateral fissure (separates frontal and parietal from temporal
- longitudinal fissure (longest fissure)

Question 14

Gyri

Answer 14

ridges between fissures in cortex
major ones: precentral gyrus; postcentral gyrus; superior temporal gyrus; cingulate gyrus

Question 15

Corpus callosum

Answer 15

largest/most significant commisural fibers tract
connects left and right hemispheres

Question 16

Parietal lobe function

Answer 16

sensory processing (touch, pressure, heat, cold, pain)
spatial coordinate system
perception of body awareness
topographically ordered

Question 17

Occipital lobe function

Answer 17

vision
retinotopically organized

Question 18

Temporal lobe function

Answer 18

auditory reception
affect/emotion processing
language processing
memory encoding
learning
FFA (fusiform face area); Wernicke’s area (speech comprehension)

Question 19

Frontal lobe function

Answer 19

movement
planning
motivation
motor cortex (works with sensory cortex but in different lobe)
premotor cortex
prefrontal cortex (PFC)
Broca’s area (language production)

Question 20

Premotor cortex function

Answer 20

storage of motor patterns

Question 21

Prefrontal cortex sub-regions (5)

Answer 21

orbitofrontal cortex
ventrolateral pfc
dorsolateral pfc (DLPFC)
dorsomedial cortex
ventromedial cortex

Question 22

Prefrontal cortex (PFC) function

Answer 22

high order cognition (planning, emotion regulation, abstract thinking, attention, inhibition)

Question 23

Orbitofrontal cortex function

Answer 23

understanding the relationship between action and result given situation
(if damaged: difficulty applying reasoning to actions and making appropriate decisions)

Question 24

Ventrolateral PFC

Answer 24

inhibits inappropriate actions and unhelpful thoughts

Question 25

Dorsolateral PFC

Answer 25

working memory (holding and manipulating multiple things in mind) abstract thought (eg holding and maintaining complex sets of rules)

Question 26

Limbic system function

Answer 26

emotion processing learning/memory encoding motivation regulating autonomic/endocrine function

Question 27

Limbic system structures

Answer 27

limbic lobe hippocampus amygdala hypothalamus fornix; cingulate cortex; septum; mammilary bodies

Question 28

Basal ganglia structures

Answer 28

(subcortical) striatum (caudate, putamen, nucleus accumbens) globus pallidus substantia nigra subthalamic nucleus

Question 29

Basal ganglia function

Answer 29

voluntary motor movement procedural learning habit learning eye movements cognition emotion motivation and reward

Question 30

Pituitary gland function

Answer 30

"master gland" produces, stores, and releases hormones controls autonomic nervous system

Question 31

Hippocampus function

Answer 31

navigation memory (cognitive mapping) ie., time and space

Question 32

Amygdala function

Answer 32

fear and threat detection processing positive stimuli emotional memory consolidation

Question 33

Key subcortical systems (4)

Answer 33

Thalamus Basal Ganglia Hippocampus Amygdala

Question 34

Key cortical systems (3)

Answer 34

somatosensory cortex motor cortex association areas

Question 35

Somatosensory cortex function

Answer 35

somatic sensation processing (touch, proprioception, nociception, temperature) somatotopic arrangement

Question 36

Motor cortex regions (3 main regions)

Answer 36

primary motor cortex supplementary motor cortex premotor cortex

Question 37

Primary motor cortex function

Answer 37

contains homunculous sends movement related signals to spinal cord (body movement; through corticospinal tract) and brainstem (head/neck/face movement; through corticobulbar tract)

Question 38

Supplementary motor cortex function

Answer 38

execution of sequences of movement attainment of motor sikills movement selection

Question 39

Premotor cortex function

Answer 39

movement planning

Question 40

Blue

Answer 40

Frontal lobe

Question 41

Yellow

Answer 41

Parietal lobe

Question 42

Pink

Answer 42

Occipital lobe

Question 43

Green

Answer 43

Temporal lobe

Question 44

Answer 44