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Neurogenesis in the adult mammalian brain. In The cognitive neurosciences 3rd ed. Figure 4. Cerebral cortex. Skip to content Chapter 4. Brains, Bodies, and Behaviour. Explain the structure of the cerebral cortex its hemispheres and lobes and the function of each area of the cortex. Define the concepts of brain plasticity, neurogenesis, and brain lateralization. Research Focus: Identifying the Unique Functions of the Left and Right Hemispheres Using Split-Brain Patients We have seen that the left hemisphere of the brain primarily senses and controls the motor movements on the right side of the body, and vice versa.
The information that is presented on the left side of our field of vision is transmitted to the right brain hemisphere, and vice versa. In split-brain patients, the severed corpus callosum does not permit information to be transferred between hemispheres, which allows researchers to learn about the functions of each hemisphere.
In the sample on the left, the split-brain patient could not choose which image had been presented because the left hemisphere cannot process visual information. In the sample on the right the patient could not read the passage because the right brain hemisphere cannot process language. Key Takeaways The old brain — including the brain stem, medulla, pons, reticular formation, thalamus, cerebellum, amygdala, hypothalamus, and hippocampus — regulates basic survival functions, such as breathing, moving, resting, feeding, emotions, and memory.
The cerebral cortex, made up of billions of neurons and glial cells, is divided into the right and left hemispheres and into four lobes. The frontal lobe is primarily responsible for thinking, planning, memory, and judgment. The parietal lobe is primarily responsible for bodily sensations and touch. The temporal lobe is primarily responsible for hearing and language. The occipital lobe is primarily responsible for vision. Other areas of the cortex act as association areas, responsible for integrating information.
The brain changes as a function of experience and potential damage in a process known as plasticity. The brain can generate new neurons through neurogenesis.
The motor cortex controls voluntary movements. Body parts requiring the most control and dexterity take up the most space in the motor cortex. The sensory cortex receives and processes bodily sensations. Body parts that are the most sensitive occupy the greatest amount of space in the sensory cortex.
The left cerebral hemisphere is primarily responsible for language and speech in most people, whereas the right hemisphere specializes in spatial and perceptual skills, visualization, and the recognition of patterns, faces, and melodies.
Studies with split-brain patients as research participants have been used to study brain lateralization. Neuroplasticity allows the brain to adapt and change as a function of experience or damage.
Exercises and Critical Thinking Do you think that animals experience emotion? What aspects of brain structure might lead you to believe that they do or do not? The hippocampus , meanwhile, reminds us which courses of action are congruent with our mood. For instance, if you feel great you might like to walk down a path fringed with daffodils. If you feel crap, you may instead be drawn to that bar that spins melancholy albums by The Smiths. The hippocampus has been shown to be shrunken in people with chronic depression.
This may account for common features of the condition, such as vague or non-specific recall of personal memories. The limbic system also regulates biological functions in line with our mood, such as accelerated heart rate and sweating triggered by feeling flustered. Being so old, however, the limbic system is rather primitive.
Researchers are increasingly looking towards newer networks to understand how the brain controls mood. Two particular networks that stand out across numerous studies are the autobiographic memory network and cognitive control network. The autobiographic memory network processes information related to ourselves, including recalling personal memories and self-reflection. Key hubs in this network comprise brain areas inside the prefrontal cortex, which sits in the front of the brain; the hippocampus; the posterior cingulate cortex, which is the upper part of the limbic lobe; and parietal regions, which sit behind the frontal lobe and are important for mental imagery.
The cognitive control network links up regions that co-ordinate our attention and concentration so that we can complete tasks. Both the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex are part of the emotion network.
Just like good friends, these different brain regions stay in touch and communicate frequently with each other. For example, the amygdala the emotion center can detect an important fearful event and transport that information to the prefrontal cortex the control center.
The prefrontal cortex gets the message that there is something scary happening. If necessary, this control center at the front of your head sends commands to other brain regions telling them to move your body and run away. To sum it up, many brain regions work together to process and react to an emotional situation see Figure 3.
By now, you understand that feelings are complicated and that emotions are represented and processed by many regions in the brain. As mentioned before, it can be really difficult to be around people that are constantly cursing, hitting, or bullying the people around them because they cannot control their negative emotions.
Unfortunately, some children struggle more than others with their emotions. Imagine you have a classmate named Jamie, who has problems with regulating emotions, especially anger and fear. Now picture that you make a silly joke with Jamie, but instead of laughing, Jamie gets very upset and maybe even starts fighting with you. This is an example of someone who has emotion regulation difficulties. Such difficulties in handling emotions can often be observed in very aggressive frequently fighting and bullying and antisocial breaking rules teenagers.
Research studies have shown that these teenagers cannot always successfully identify their emotions. It can also be very hard for these children to control their emotions, like in the case of Jamie.
This is not fun for you, if you become a victim of Jamie when he wants to fight you. But it is also not fun for Jamie, who might be expelled from school for his behavior. It is no fun either for his parents or the people around him. Because we are interested in how the brain processes and regulates emotions, we do a lot of work with children who can successfully handle their emotions.
We also invite children who struggle with emotion processing and regulation to see whether their brain structure and function looks any different from the children who do not have trouble with emotion processing. So far, there have been several small studies, suggesting that there are differences in brain function and structure in children with aggressive behavior [ 4 ]. But, as our MRI section describes, there are challenges when doing research studies with younger participants.
Because of this, most studies have a very small number of participants, and the results are not as clear. Meta-analysis takes the results of many studies and combines them into one big finding. For example, we have combined all small studies done so far in children and teenagers with aggressive behavior [ 5 ]. While each study had a maximum size of about 40 participants, combining all of them into one meta-analysis allowed us to look at over children at once.
Even the definition of emotion is a topic of controversy. One thing is clear though — emotions arise from activity in distinct regions of the brain. Three brain structures appear most closely linked with emotions: the amygdala , the insula or insular cortex, and a structure in the midbrain called the periaqueductal gray. Explore the Amygdala 3D BRAIN A paired, almond-shaped structure deep within the brain, the amygdala integrates emotions, emotional behavior, and motivation.
It interprets fear, helps distinguish friends from foes, and identifies social rewards and how to attain them. The amygdala is also important for a type of learning called classical conditioning.
Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov first described classical conditioning, where, through repeated exposure, a stimulus elicits a particular response, in his studies of digestion in dogs. The dogs salivated when a lab technician brought them food.
Over time, Pavlov noted the dogs also began to salivate at the mere sight of the technician, even if he was empty-handed. The insula is the source of disgust — a strong negative reaction to an unpleasant odor, for instance.
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