Module 7 Review

REVIEW The Cerebral Cortex and Our Divided Brain

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

RETRIEVAL PRACTICE Take a moment to answer each of these Learning Objective Questions (repeated here from within this section). Then click the 'show answer' button to check your answers. Research suggests that trying to answer these questions on your own will improve your long-term retention (McDaniel et al., 2009).

7-1 What are the functions of the various cerebral cortex regions?

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.

7-2 To what extent can a damaged brain reorganize itself, and what is neurogenesis?

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.

7-3 What do split brains reveal about the functions of our two brain hemispheres?

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.

7-4 What does research tell us about being left-handed? Is it advantageous to be right-handed?

Some 10 percent of us (somewhat more among males, somewhat less among females) are left-handed. Handedness appears to be influenced by genetic or prenatal factors. Most left-handers process speech in the left hemisphere, as right-handers do, but some do so in the right hemisphere or use both hemispheres. Left-handers are more likely to be among those with reading disabilities, allergies, and migraine headaches, but sometimes do better academically. Left-handedness is also more common among musicians, mathematicians, architects, artists, and in professional baseball and cricket players. The pros and cons of being left-handed seem roughly equal.

TERMS AND CONCEPTS TO REMEMBER

RETRIEVAL PRACTICE Match each of the terms on the left with its definition on the right. Click on the term first and then click on the matching definition. As you match them correctly they will move to the bottom of the activity.

Question

cerebral [seh-REE-bruhl] cortex
frontal lobes
parietal [puh-RYE-uh-tuhl] lobes
occipital [ahk-SIP-uh-tuhl] lobes
temporal lobes
motor cortex
somatosensory cortex
association areas
plasticity
neurogenesis
corpus callosum [KOR-pus kah-LOW-sum]
split brain
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.
area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch and movement sensations.
portion of the cerebral cortex lying just behind the forehead; involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgments.
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 brain’s ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience.
the formation of new neurons.
the intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells covering the cerebral hemispheres; the body’s ultimate control and information-processing center.
portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the top of the head and toward the rear; receives sensory input for touch and body position.
the large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them.
a condition resulting from surgery that isolates the brain’s two hemispheres by cutting the fibers (mainly those of the corpus callosum) connecting them.
an area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements.

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