REVIEW The Cerebral Cortex and Our Divided Brain

Learning Objectives

Page 65

Test Yourself by taking a moment to answer each of these Learning Objective Questions (repeated here from within the module). Research suggests that trying to answer these questions on your own will improve your long-term memory of the concepts (McDaniel et al., 2009).

Question

5-1 What are the functions of the various cerebral cortex regions?

ANSWER: The cerebral cortex has two hemispheres, and each hemisphere has four lobes: the frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal. Each lobe performs many functions and interacts with other areas of the cortex. The motor cortex, at the rear of the frontal lobes, controls voluntary movements. The somatosensory cortex, at the front of the parietal lobes, registers and processes body touch and movement sensations. Body parts requiring precise control (in the motor cortex) or those that are especially sensitive (in the somatosensory cortex) occupy the greatest amount of space. Most of the brain's cortex—the major portion of each of the four lobes—is devoted to uncommitted association areas, which integrate information involved in learning, remembering, thinking, and other higher-level functions. Our mental experiences arise from coordinated brain activity.

Question

5-2 To what extent can a damaged brain reorganize itself, and what is neurogenesis?

ANSWER: If one hemisphere is damaged early in life, the other will pick up many of its functions by reorganizing or building new pathways. This plasticity diminishes later in life. The brain sometimes mends itself by forming new neurons, a process known as neurogenesis.

Question

5-3 What do split brains reveal about the functions of our two brain hemispheres?

ANSWER: Split-brain research (experiments on people with a severed corpus callosum) has confirmed that in most people, the left hemisphere is the more verbal, and that the right hemisphere excels in visual perception and the recognition of emotion. Studies of healthy people with intact brains confirm that each hemisphere makes unique contributions to the integrated functioning of the brain.

Terms and Concepts to Remember

Test yourself on these terms.

Question

cerebral (seh-REE-bruhl) cortex (p. 56)
frontal lobes (p. 56)
parietal (puh-RYE-uh-tuhl) lobes (p. 56)
occipital (ahk-SIP-uh-tuhl) lobes (p. 56)
temporal lobes (p. 56)
motor cortex (p. 57)
somatosensory cortex (p. 58)
association areas (p. 59)
plasticity (p. 60)
neurogenesis (p. 61)
corpus callosum (KOR-pus kah-LOW-sum) (p. 62)
split brain (p. 62)
the large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them.
portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the top of the head and toward the rear; receives sensory input for touch and body position.
an area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements.
the intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells covering the cerebral hemispheres; the body's ultimate control and information-processing center.
area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch and movement sensations.
areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions; rather, they are involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking
the formation of new neurons.
a condition resulting from surgery that isolates the brain's two hemispheres by cutting the fibers (mainly those of the corpus callosum) connecting them.
portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the back of the head; includes areas that receive information from the visual fields.
portion of the cerebral cortex lying roughly above the ears; includes the auditory areas, each receiving information primarily from the opposite ear.
portion of the cerebral cortex lying just behind the forehead; involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgments.
the brain's ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience.

Experience the Testing Effect

Test yourself repeatedly throughout your studies. This will not only help you figure out what you know and don’t know; the testing itself will help you learn and remember the information more effectively thanks to the testing effect.

Question 2.19

1. If a neurosurgeon stimulated your right motor cortex, you would most likely

A.
B.
C.
D.

Question 2.20

2. How do different neural networks communicate with one another to let you respond when a friend greets you at a party?

ANSWER: The visual cortex is a neural network of sensory neurons connected via interneurons to other neural networks, including auditory networks. This allows you to integrate visual and auditory information to respond when a friend you recognize greets you at a party.

Question 2.21

3. Which of the following body regions has the greatest representation in the somatosensory cortex?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Question 2.22

4. Judging and planning are enabled by the lobes.

Question 2.23

5. What would it be like to talk on the phone if you didn't have temporal lobe association areas? What would you hear? What would you understand?

ANSWER: You would hear sounds, but without the temporal lobe association areas you would be unable to make sense of what you were hearing.

Question 2.24

6. The “uncommitted” areas that make up about three-fourths of the cerebral cortex are called .

Question 2.25

7. Plasticity is especially evident in the brains of

A.
B.
C.
D.

Question 2.26

8. An experimenter flashes the word HERON across the visual field of a man whose corpus callosum has been severed. HER is transmitted to his right hemisphere and ON to his left hemisphere. When asked to indicate what he saw, the man says he saw but points to .

Question 2.27

9. Studies of people with split brains and brain scans of those with undivided brains indicate that the left hemisphere excels in

A.
B.
C.
D.

Question 2.28

10. Damage to the brain's right hemisphere is most likely to reduce a person's ability to

A.
B.
C.
D.

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