THE HUMAN BRAIN

Objectives

Identify the general structure of the human brain.

Recognize the two hemispheres of the brain.

Identify the differences between right and left

hemispheres.

Describe the function of Broca’s and Wernicke’s

areas.
 Introduction

• The human brain is by far the most complex and

highly organized structure of the body.
• This organ allows us to think, move, feel, see, hear,
taste, and smell.
• It controls our body, receives, analyzes, and stores
information.
• The brain produces electrical signals, which, together
with chemical reactions, let the parts of the body
communicate. Nerves send these signals throughout
the body.
Answers
 Cerebrum -The largest division of the brain. It is
divided into two hemispheres, each of which is
divided into four lobes.

Cerebrum
Cerebrum

Cerebellum
 Longitudinal Fissure

Right hemisphere
Left hemisphere
STRUCTURE OF THE BRAIN
 Frontal lobe
• It is located deep to the Frontal Bone of the skull.
• It plays an integral role in the following functions/actions:
- Memory Formation
- Emotions
- Decision Making/Reasoning
- Personality
•Broca’s Area – Controls facial neurons,
speech, and language comprehension.
Located on Left Frontal Lobe.
•Broca’s Aphasia – Results in the
ability to comprehend speech, but
the decreased motor ability (or
inability) to speak and form words.
 Parietal lobe
•It plays a major role in the following
functions/actions:
- Senses and integrated
sensation(s)
- Spatial awareness and
perception
 Occipital lobe

Its primary function is the:

- processing,
- integration,
- interpretation,

VISION and visual stimuli.

 Temporal lobe
•It plays an integral role in the following functions:
-Hearing
- Organization/Comprehension of language
- Information Retrieval (Memory and Memory Formation)

•Wernicke’s Area – Language

comprehension. Located on the Left
Temporal Lobe.

- Wernicke’s Aphasia – Language

comprehension is inhibited. Words
and sentences are not clearly
understood, and sentence formation
may be inhibited or non-sensical.
 •Arcuate Fasciculus - A white matter tract that connects Broca’s Area and
Wernicke’s Area through the Temporal, Parietal and Frontal Lobes. Allows
for coordinated, comprehensible speech. Damage may result in:
- C o n d u c t io n A p h a s ia - Where auditory comprehension
and speech articulation are preserved, but people find it difficult to
repeat heard speech.

Broca’s Area

Wernicke’s
Area
 Left and Right Hemispheres

Optimistic half Pessimistic half

Positive emotions- Emotional
control perceptions
 NEUROFUNCTIONAL THEORY

LAMENDELLA –

“A neurofunctional perspective on language attempts

to characterize the neurolinguistic information
processing systems responsible for the development
and use of language”.
 Right hemisphere

This deals with different aspects of language.

Associated with right hemisphere functioning is the

holistic processing and according to Krashen, this
hemisphere is responsible for the storing and
processing of formulaic speech.
 Left hemisphere
 There are two main areas associated with language.
BROCA’S AREA
This area is located just anterior to the
motor cortex which controls
movements of the lips, tongue, jaw, and
vocal cords.
Damage to this area results in slow and
laboured speech, but is does not affect
comprehension.
WERNICKE’S AREA
This area partially surrounds the
auditory cortex.
Damage to this area results in speech
that is fluent but also meaningless, and
it also affects comprehension of
language(spoken and written).
 Brain’s hemispheres
LEFT
 One-at-a ti me processing.
 Sequentia l: A to B to C.
 Looks at d etails.
 Receptive to verifiable
aspects of the world.
 A splitter ( distinction is
important ).
 Talks, and talks and talks.
 Knows “ho w”
 Lineal thinking
RIGHT
 All-at-once processing
 Simultaneous
 Look at the whole
 Receptive to qualitative a spects of
the world (feelings)
 A lumper (conecctedness is
important, puts everythin g
together)
 Mute ,uses pictures not w ords.
 Knows “what”
 Majestic thinking
 Men’s and women’s learning styles and capacities
Temporal lobe: this region of
the cerebral cortex helps
control hearing, memory
and a person’s sense of self
and time.
Corpus callosum: this bundle
of neurons is the main
bridge between the left and
the right hemispheres,
carrying messages between
them.
Anterior Commissure: this
collection of nerve cells also
connects the brain’s two
hemispheres . It is smaller
and appeared earlier in
evolution than corpus
callosum.
MEN
In cognitively normal men, a
tiny region of the temporal
lobe behind the eye has about
10% fewer neurons than it
does in women.
A man’s corpus callosum
takes up less volume in his
brain than a woman’s does,
suggesting the two
hemispheres communicate .
In men, the commissure is
smaller than it is in women,
even though men’s brains
are, on average, larger than
women’s.
Christoph Blumrich (newsweek)
WOMEN
Women have more neurons
in this region, which
understands language as well
as melodies and speech
tones.
In women, the back part of
the callosum is bigger than in
men. That may explain why
women use both sides of
their brains for language.
The larger commisure in
women may be another
reason their two cerebral
hemispheres seem to work in
partnership on tasks from
language to emotional
responses.
 What
Cortical
Region of
the brain
would these
doctors be
stimulating?
 Bibliography

 “Understanding Psychology” –Fourth Edition, Random

House School Division.
 “Biology” Chapter 43 – Integration and control IV: The
vertebrate Brain. Helena Curtis & N. Sue Barnes.
 “Theories of Second Language Acquisition” – Rod Ellis
 “The Human Brain” - Harvard University LS/HHMI High
School Science - Multiple Diagrams of the Human Brain.
outreach.mcb.harvard.edu/teachers/Summer05/.../Huma
n_brain.ppt
 www.bbc.co.uk - BBC homepage – the brain
 Thank you!!!

JUANITA QUEVEDO VALERIA MACHINES

Label the brain anatomy diagram.
Label the neuron diagram below.