Brain Basics
This system consists of the brain and spinal cord.
What is the Central Nervous System (CNS)?
This lobe processes visual information.
What is the occipital lobe?
People with a severed corpus callosum are called this.
What are split-brain patients?
The “relay center” for sensory information.
What is the thalamus?
When a bear jumps out at you on a hike, your heart rate spikes, pupils dilate, and digestion stops. Which system is responsible for this chaos?
What is the sympathetic nervous system?
The brain’s wrinkled outer layer where most mental processes occur.
What is the cerebral cortex?
This lobe handles hearing and smell.
What is the temporal lobe?
This concept explains that each hemisphere has specialized functions.
What is hemispheric specialization? Or What is Lateralization
Regulates hunger, thirst, temperature, and hormones.
What is the hypothalamus?
After the bear leaves and you collapse on your couch with ice cream, this system slows your heart rate and restarts digestion
What is the parasympathetic nervous system?
The large bundle of axons that connects the two hemispheres.
What is the corpus callosum?
The lobe involved in touch, taste, and spatial awareness
What is the parietal lobe?
The experimenters who discovered differences in the hemispheres.
Who are Gazzaniga and LeDoux?
Plays a role in memory formation.
What is the hippocampus?
These two systems make up the autonomic nervous system; when one is up, the other is down...
What are the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems?
These protective membranes surround and cushion the brain.
What are the meninges?
Located behind the forehead, this lobe is key for decision-making and personality.
What is the frontal lobe?
In split-brain patients, which hemisphere can speak?
What is the left hemisphere?
Involved in fear, anger, and emotional processing.
What is the amygdala?
You just ran away from danger—but that’s a voluntary muscle movement! Which part of the peripheral nervous system made that possible?
What is the somatic nervous system?
The grooves and ridges on the cortex are called what?
What are sulci (grooves) and gyri (ridges)?
The gyrus directly behind the central sulcus that registers body sensations.
What is the somatosensory strip?
This hemisphere tends to interpret and make up explanations for actions
What is the left hemisphere (the interpreter)?
The structure at the base that connects the brain to the spinal cord.
What is the brainstem?
Your brain sends signals down this long “information highway” that coordinates reflexes and connects to the rest of your body.
What is the spinal cord?