Prefrontal Cortex The prefrontal cortex is the most anterior portion of the frontal lobe. It responds mostly to stimuli signaling the need for movement, however it is also responsible for many other specialized functions. It receives information from all sensory systems and can integrate a large amount of information (Kalat 2004). Studies have shown that the prefrontal cortex is responsible for working memory. Working memory is defined as "the information that is currently available
The premotor cortex (Brodmann’s Area 6) is located in the frontal cortex of the primate brain and lies anterior to the central sulcus and the primary motor cortex (M1) with the overarching functions of planning possible movement trajectories, spatial and sensory guidance of movements, as well as comprehending the actions of others. The premotor cortex receives afferent and sends efferent signals to the primary motor cortex, prefrontal cortex, and parietal cortex. In addition, it also sends projections
Introduction The orbitofrontal cortex is found to be associated with the processing of cognitive information related to decision making. This is, responding to the reward or punishment outcomes experienced by an individual after making a decision and, responding to the expectation of facing such an outcome later. This region of the brain is involved in the regulation of emotions during the process of decision making thereby causing an individual to engage in certain social behaviours. This essay
Fig1.5. shows a broad overview of the cerebral cortex. Firstly, there is various of sensing activities as in seeing and hearing as in a sense of understanding of what is seen and heard. Secondly the sense of feeling in numerous parts of the body from the head to the toes. The ability to recall past events, the sophisticated emotions and the thinking process. The cerebellum acts as a physiological microcomputer which intercepts various sensory and motor nerves to smooth out what would otherwise
Music Appreciation and the Auditory System Have you ever come home after an exhausting day and turned on music to relax your nerves? While you are taking it easy, your auditory cortex is not. It works hard to synthesize the several musical elements of rhythm, pitch, frequency, and timbre to create a rich auditory experience. First, a discussion of the ear physiology is needed. Vibrating air moving at different frequencies hits the eardrum which causes the middle ear's three bones to move
the body, context perceptions, and holistic perception. The orbito-frontal cortex (the part of the brain directly behind the eyes) is responsible for integrating emotional responses generated in the limbic system with higher cognitive functions, such as planning and language, in the cerebral cortex's prefrontal lobes(Culp). The left orbito-frontal cortex is responsible for memory creation while the right orbito-frontal cortex is responsible for memory retrieval. Healthy functioning requires an integrated
Helping Phantom Limb Pain Over the years scientists have noted many complaints of a strange form of pain called phantom limb pain. This pain is strange because it is located in an appendage that no longer exists. By many of the amputees the pain is described as totally unbearable. Phantom limb pain has even driven some victims crazy. For the amputee population this is a very real problem that definitely needs to be solved. After James Peacock had his right arm amputated last December, he
osmosis, water molecules move from an area that is hypotonic to an area that is hypertonic. A hypotonic area is one in which has less solute and a hypertonic area is one which has more solute. Plant cells, such as the ones in the epidermis and cortex regions of the roots of the plant, all have living contents, which are enclosed by a cell surface membrane and a thick, quite inelastic cellulose cell wall. The cell wall has special properties, which help the cells resist during the osmotic uptake
of the autonomic nervous system connected to the sensori-motor strip of the cortex. This change was found to be related to the level of cortical arousal. The emotional charge on a word, heard by a subject, would have an immediate effect on the subject's level of arousal, and cause this physiological response. Because the hands have a particularly large representation of nerve endings on the sensori-motor strip of the cortex, hand-held electrodes are ideal. As arousal increases, the "fight or flight"
cerebral cortex, is not able to rest but rather remains semi-alert in a state of "quiet readiness" (2). Certain stages of sleep are needed for the regeneration of neurons within the cerebral cortex while other stages of sleep seem to be used for forming new memories and generating new synaptic connections. The effects of sleep deprivation on behavior have been tested with relation to the presence of activity in different sections of the cerebral cortex. The temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex is associated
Tachyglossus aculeatus and Zaglossus bruijni, all contain three types of receptors: push-rod mechanoreceptors, serous gland electroreceptors, and mucous gland electroreceptors. The information collected by these receptors is sent to the somatosensory cortex. The platypus, whose electroreceptive system is more complex than that of the echidna, uses electroreception to capture prey and is the only mammal know to so. (It is not yet known if the echidna uses electroreception to capture prey.) Introduction
side of the cortex analyzes the words and structure of the joke. Then the brain's large frontal lobe becomes very active. This part of the brain has a lot to do with social emotional responses. After this, the right hemisphere of the cortex helps with comprehension of the joke. Then stimulation of the motor sections occurred, producing the physical responses of laughter.(3) The production of laughter is also highly involved with certain parts of the brain. For example, the central cortex has been found
Disease consist of memory loss, impaired language ability, impaired judgement, and learning (M. Wong, et al. , 1997). Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is mainly a disease of the cerebral cortex. Alzheimer's is marked structurally by the senile plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and severe loss of neurons and synapses in the cerebral cortex. Alzheimer's is a neurodegenerative disorder ( Hof, Vogt, Bouras, and Morrison 1997). Recent attention has been focused on visual dysfunction in Alzheimer's Disease (K. U. Loffler
Pitch, melody, and intensity of notes are processed in several areas of the brain such as the cerebral cortex, the brain stem, and the frontal lobes. Both the right-brain and left-brain auditory cortex interprets sound. Feza Sancar (1999) writes that the right-brain auditory cortex specializes in determining hierarchies of harmonic relations and rich overtones and the left-brain auditory cortex deciphers the sequencing of sound and perception of rhythm. Many studies have been performed to examine
The Effects of Smoking on the Developing Fetus The exposure of the fetus to nicotine during development has several effects. The most well known result of smoking is low birth weight of the infant. There are also some studies that reveal nicotine as a drug that can affect the brain of the developing fetus. Nicotine also has direct effects on the neurotransmitter systems in the CNS and may cause a decrease in cell growth which could result in mental impairment. The correlation between maternal
body by a simple organ. The cut surface of the kidney reveals two distinct areas: the cortex- a dark band along the outer border, about one centimeter in thickness, and the inner medulla. The medulla is divided into 8 to 18 cone-shaped masses of tissue named renal pyramids. The apex of each pyramid, the papilla, extends into the renal pelvis, through which urine is released from the kidney tissue. The cortex arches over the bases of the pyramids (cortical arches) and extends down between each pyramid
primary motor cortex and the prefrontal cortex, which extend from the central sulcus to the anterior of the brain. The posterior part of the frontal lobe is the precentral gyrus which is specialized in the control of fine movements. The very most anterior portion of the frontal lobe is the prefrontal cortex. The neurons in this area have up to sixteen times as many dendritic spines as neurons in the occipital lobe or primary visual cortex. As a result, the prefrontal cortex is able to integrate
recent advances has produced several clues as to how it is born. Initially when we study the brain of a Alzheimer's victim, we focus on two specific areas. One is the cortex of the frontal and cerebral lobes1. The second is the hippocampus (meaning seahorses in Greek which it resembles2) which is located below the cerebral cortex and responsible for short-term memory. If we study samples of these two section, we would find three irregularities which are not found in normal brain matter. These
AD symptoms is a result of the progressive deterioration of brain cells (neurons) in the cerebral cortex of the brain. This area of the brain, which is the largest and uppermost portion, controls all our thought processes, movement, speech, and senses. This deterioration initially starts in the area of the cortex that is associated with memory and then progresses into other areas of the cortex, then into other areas of the brain that control bodily function. The death of these cells causes
Damage to the frontal lobe cortex of the brain can cause difficulty in everyday activities. The frontal lobes role in people’s behavior includes executive processes, language, emotional expression and movement. Ryan Godfrey has difficulties in some areas of executive processes due to the damage tumors caused in his brain. Ryan and others with frontal lobe damage can benefit from knowing these deficits by taking steps to reduce their impact. The brain tends to compensate for damaged parts and a faith