Unit 2B:
Biology of Mind
Objective 8:
Explain the functions of the motor & sensory cortex & association
area.
 Lobes
 Frontal
lobes
 motor
area & speaking
 planning, judgment / morality
 Parietal
lobes
sensory
 Occipital
input for touch & body position
lobes
vision
 Temporal
hearing
lobes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATz3A
dbjyRI&list=PL1DFCAC7F7CF68241
Frontal Lobe
cerebral cortex:
information
processing
center
Motor Sensory
Cortex Cortex
Parietal Lobe
Corpus Callosum
Thalamus
Objective 7:
Explain the
functions of the
old brain &
limbic system. Brainstem
Occipital Lobe
Pons
Cerbellum
Medulla
Temporal Lobe
Brain Stem = cross wiring left
hemi controls right body
Brainstem

oldest; beginning where the
spinal cord swells as it enters
the skull; automatic survival
functions
Medulla

Base of brain; heartbeat &
breathing
Pons

Coordinate movements
The Thalamus (midbrain)
 Thalamus
 sensory
switchboard
 All the senses
EXCEPT smell go
through here
The Cerebellum (midbrain)
 Cerebellum
 “Little
brain”
 discriminate
 judge
sound & texture
time
 movement
 memory
memory
of movement=muscle
The Limbic System(midbrain)
 Limbic System
 hippocampus
(#11)
memory
 amygdala
fear
(#8)
& aggression
 hypothalamus
controls
(#5)
eating, and other
hormonal drives – sex,
thirst, etc…
reward centers
Objective 8:
Explain the functions of the motor & sensory cortex & association
area.
 Lobes
 Frontal
lobes
 motor
area & speaking
 planning, judgment / morality
 Parietal
lobes
sensory
 Occipital
input for touch & body position
lobes
vision
 Temporal
hearing
lobes
Move RIGHT hand in circular motion
as if polishing the desk. Now start your
RIGHT foot doing the same,
synchronizing with the hand.
Now reverse the foot motion but not the
hand. Now try moving LEFT foot
opposite the right hand.
Functions of the Cortex
Motor Functions
Motor Cortex
 Penfield & Foerster
mapped motor cortex
precise
movements
occupy greatest
cortical space
Neural Prosthetics
What might happen if
we implanted a device
to detect motor
activity?
Could such a device
cause a robotic limb to
move for a paralyzed
person?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm2d0w87wQE
Monkey Controls Robotic arm w/
brain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRt8QCx3BCo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppILwXwsMng
Man & Robotic Arm
Functions of the Cortex
Sensory Functions
 Sensory cortex

The more
sensitive a body
region, the larger
the sensory
cortex devoted to
it
Association Areas
 Area of cerebral cortex involved in higher mental
functions, such as speaking, thinking, learning &
remembering



Electronically probing these areas WILL NOT trigger any
observable response
Found in all four lobes
Judgment, planning, processing new memories
Phineas Gage
 Association areas
areas of the cerebral cortex that are
not involved in primary motor or
sensory functions; rather, they are
involved in mental functions such
as learning, remembering,
thinking, and speaking.
 Frontal lobes


Phineas Gage
Parietal lobes (math/spatial reasoning)
 Temporal lobes (facial recognition)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=c6kRP41ygrI
Objective 9:
Explain how the brain processes language.
Objective 10:
Explain how a damaged brain reorganize itself?
Brain Damage
 Plasticity
 the brain’s ability to change,
especially during childhood, by
reorganizing after damage or by
building new pathways based on
experience.
 Constraint-induced therapy
 Neurogenesis
 The formation of new neurons
Language
Language
Language
Language
Language
Aphasia

impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either
to Broca’s area or to Wernicke’s area.
 Broca’s
area (muscle movement involved in speech)
 Wernicke’s area (language comprehension & expression)
Angular Gyrus: Can speak
& understand but can’t
read teat
Sarah Scott Broca’s Patient
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aplTvEQ6ew
Sarah Scott Broca’s Patient Update (4 yrs later)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcjEKjJTmNk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKTdMV6cOZw
Wernicke’s Aphasia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpkH25XVpFU
Wake Surgery - Tumor
Point to remember…
Mind’s subsytems are localized in particular
brain regions, yet the brain acts as a unified
whole
Specialization & Integration
Our Divided Brain
Objective 6:
What do split brains reveal about the
functions of our two brain hemispheres?
Splitting the Brain
 Vogel and Bogen
Corpus-callosum
Split
brain
Myers and Gazzaniga
Right-Left Differences in the
Intact Brain
Right face seems happier because the RH,
which is skilled in emotional processing,
receives information the LVF (left side of
each face)
Right-Left Brain Differences
Left
 language
 sign
language
 calculations
 literal
Right
 perceptual task
 inferences
 insight
 meaning
 “What’s that in the
road ahead?”
 “Whats that in the
road, a head?”
 sense of self
 faces