Learning more about the Brain

By using the Brain Map, an interactive website which allows you to locate where each part of the brain is located, I was able to learn more in depth about synapses, the frontal lobes, and the neo-cortex. 

1) What do the frontal lobes do?

The frontal lobe is responsible for a large number of functions, including controlling your behavior, remembering different tasks, and making decisions. While the left side of the frontal love is primarily language-based, the right side is responsible for other functions. 

2) What is the relationship between selective attention and learning?

Selective attention differs from learning in which it shows how selective an individual is when retaining information since it allows the memory to prioritize important information and forget about unimportant tasks. 

3) What is the last part of your brain to develop and what can you do to prevent it from deteriorating? 

The frontal lobe is the last part of your brain to develop and deteriorate. This can be stopped through exercising. 

4) What does the neo cortex do?

The neo cortex controls motor skills.

5) What is the role of the pre frontal cortex?

The pre frontal cortex is responsible for your personality and is also responsible for helping individuals to process their thoughts. 

6)What do we know about the pre frontal cortex’s relationship with multitasking?

There is a central bottleneck in the pre-frontal cortex, which acts as a mechanism that prevents people from completing multiple tasks at once. The reality is that while multitasking may seem to be an efficient way to complete numerous tasks, it negatively impacts the results of the tasks. 

7) Which part of the brain is associated with speech and language development?  Give an interesting fact about this region.

Broca's Area is responsible for speech production, language comprehension. It was interesting to see how some individuals who had defects in this region were still able to communicate with others, so other parts of the brain may have been able to complete this task. 

8) Which part of your brain is responsible for thinking the following: “Is it hot in here or is it just me?”

The Somatosensory Cortex. 

9) What does your visual cortex do for you?

The visual cortex helps to differentiate colors and different objects. 

10) State three interesting or significant facts about your occipital lobe.

The occipital lobe is responsible for processing information since it collects a large amount of visual data. It's also responsible for processing various memories.  

11) What would happen if your temporal lobes were damaged?

Because the temporal lobe is responsible for helping to hear; without it, it would be nearly impossible to listen to what other individuals were saying. 

12) What is your “fast brain” and what does it do?

This part of the brain carries out functions quickly. 

Neuron

13) State 3 things that you could do that would influence your synapses, and have a positive affect on your life and health.

Eating a healthy diet rich with nutrients and exercising are both beneficial in helping the body. Also, communicating with others (not through a screen) is an effective way to improve one's overall well-being.

14) What is the relationship between multi-sensory or multi-modal learning and your dendrites?

By continuing to remember information multiple times, it helps the brain to permanently retain the information. With various parts of the brain storing information on the same subject, it allows the brain to connect previously learned ideas with the new knowledge. 

15) How does “big picture thinking” and mnemonics affect dendrites and/or learning?

Rather than attempting to memorize solely facts, an easier way to remember ideas/concepts would be to connect the idea with something that relates to our interests or makes it easier to remember. 

16) Describe a neurotransmitter that you feel is very important.  Justify your reasoning.

Acethylcoline (ACH) is an important neurotransmitter that helps the cardiac, smooth, and skeletal muscle contract. 

Limbic System

17) What does the corpus callosum do?

It's responsible for helping you develop cognitive, motor, and sensory functions. 

18) What is the relationship between music and the corpus callosum? 

Music is proven to be beneficial in strengthening the two hemispheres of the brain. 

19) Why is the thalamus important?

The thalamus is responsible for regulating motor control and processing sensory information. 

Relate and Review 

Summarize what you learned from this tutorial.  Relate what you learned to your everyday life and how you can make it better.  Use at least 5 of the bolded words from the questions.  5-sentence minimum. You may use the back of this if needed.

In general, I thought that the Brain Map was pretty helpful in helping me learn about how the brain plays such a vital role in regulating cognitive/motor/sensory functions, maintaining homeostasis, learning languages, and processing information. While some parts of the brain are able to fulfill some important parts of the brain, other parts, including the hypothalamus and thalamus. In a previous blog post, I discussed why the hypothalamus's role can't be replaced be another part of the brain; with the hypothalamus being the sole part of the brain that regulates homeostasis, having a damaged hypothalamus would alter one's ability to maintain a stable body temperature. Similarly, the thalamus plays a large role in regulating the sleep/wake cycles, which plays a large role in helping us control our schedules.