Brain Lobes, Functions, and Cognitive Processes
Frontal Lobe
The frontal lobe controls emotions and adaptation of personality to event experiences. It is also responsible for foresight, imagination, and self-awareness. Main areas of the frontal lobe include:
Parietal Lobe
The parietal lobe is the principal sensory area for touch. Lesions can cause sensory issues and impairment in cognitive receptive speech.
Temporal Lobe
The temporal lobe is involved in cognition, emotion, and memory.
Occipital Lobe
The occipital lobe is responsible for vision, visual processing, and visual association. It is also involved in eye movement. Hemianopia can result from damage to this area.
White Matter
The white matter of the adult cerebral hemisphere contains myelinated nerve fibers of many sizes, as well as neuroglia.
Corpus Callosum
The corpus callosum connects the two hemispheres. It is a large bundle of myelinated and non-myelinated fibers that crosses the longitudinal cerebral fissure and interconnects the hemispheres.
Cortex
Your brain’s folded surface is a specialized outer layer of the cerebrum called the cortex. Scientists have “mapped” the cortex by identifying areas strongly linked to certain functions.
Left Brain/Right Brain
Your brain is divided into right and left halves. The left half controls movements on the body’s right side, and vice-versa.
Homunculus
Homunculus maps of motor and sensory cortices reflect the body. Sizes indicate the amount of “brain” needed for various parts. Note the vast area for the face—this is because we have many senses in the face.
Neuron Forest
The real work of your brain goes on in individual cells. An adult brain contains about 100 billion nerve cells, or neurons, with branches that connect at more than 100 trillion points. Scientists call this dense, branching network a “neuron forest.”
Neuron
A neuron is the functioning unit of the nervous system; it is specialized to receive, integrate, and transmit information. The flow of information moves in the following direction: dendrites to soma to axon to terminal buttons to synapse.
Axon
The axon of a neuron is a singular fiber that carries information away from the soma to the synaptic sites of other neurons, muscles, or glands.
Dendrites
The dendrites of a neuron are its many short, branching fibers extending from the cell body or soma. These fibers increase the surface area available for receiving incoming information.
Myelin Sheath
The myelin sheath of a neuron consists of fat-containing cells that insulate the axon from electrical activity. This insulation acts to increase the rate of transmission of signals. A gap exists between each myelin sheath cell along the axon. Since fat inhibits the propagation of electricity, the signals jump from one gap to the next.
Synapse
The synapse is the gap between two neurons where the transmission of impulses happens.
Reward Circuit
For a species to survive, its members must carry out such vital functions as eating, reproducing, and responding to aggression. Evolution has therefore developed certain areas in our brain whose role is to provide a pleasurable sensation as a “reward” for carrying out these vital functions.
Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA)
The Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) is a group of neurons. The VTA receives information from several other regions that tell it how human needs are being satisfied.
Attention
Attention is a cognitive process of selectively concentrating on one aspect of the environment while ignoring other things. There are several types of attention:
- Focused Attention: The ability to respond directly to a specific visual, auditory, or tactile stimulus.
- Sustained Attention: The ability to maintain a consistent behavioral response during continuous and repetitive activity.
- Selective Attention: The capacity to maintain a behavioral or cognitive set in the face of distracting or competing stimuli.
- Alternating Attention: The capacity to shift the focus of attention and move between tasks.
- Divided Attention: The highest level of attention and the ability to respond simultaneously to multiple tasks.