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Understanding the Brain

By ACS Distance Education on November 11, 2014 in Psychology | comments

The brain has three main sections –

  • Hindbrain

  • Midbrain

  • Forebrain

The hindbrain and midbrain are mainly concerned with our basic life support functions ,such as how we breath, our blood pressure and so on.
The forebrain is responsible for higher brain functions such as our memory and language. 
The cerebral cortex is the most important part of the forebrain. It is a thin shell that covers most of the forebrain.  

The forebrain is also divided into four lobes or sections –

  • Occipital lobe – located at the back of the brain and mainly deals with visual information from the eyes.

  • Parietal lobe – located in the upper-rear portion of the brain. It is concerned with information on perception, magnitude and spatial relationships.

  • Temporal lobe – located beneath the parietal lobe. It is concerned with language and memory.

  • Front lobe – This is thought of our management or executive centre.


The brain is also physically divided into two halves. These halves are called the hemispheres.  They are not completed separate, but have fibres connecting them. These fibres allow the two sides of the brain to communicate with each other.  Whilst they look similar, usually one hemisphere is dominant over the other. For example, the left hemisphere is usually dominant in right handed people and the majority of left handed people.

The corpus callosum connects the two hemispheres of the brain.  If the fibres in the corpus callosum are severed/interfered, this can result in a condition called “split brain”.  In some cases, in conditions such as severe epilepsy a callosotomy is performed. This is where the fibres between the two hemispheres are severed. This only happens when the epilepsy is so severe and medication has not helped.

But this can affect the communication between the two sides of the brain in a number of ways. For example, if the person touches an object with their left hand, and receives no visual cues on the right visual field, they cannot say out loud what they are touching.  This is thought to be because in each hemisphere there is a tactile representation of what they are holding, but that the speech centre is usually on the left hand side of the brain, so communication between the two sides is inhibited, so the person cannot name what is in their left hand.

The division between the hemispheres of the brain is lateralisation. This means that some functions are performed between on one side of the brain compared to the other.  In humans, the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body and the right hemisphere controls the left. But not all functions are shared equally. For example, the left hand side of the brain usually focuses more on language.

Scientists have studied the brains and behaviour of people whose brains have been injured and also healthy people and determined the principle functions of the different areas of the brain. BUT there is still a great deal to learn.

But how does the brain affect behaviour? A classic example of how we found out more about the impact of the brain on behaviour is the study of Phineas Gage.  Gage was a railway worker. An explosion forced an iron rod into his head. He survived.  Before the accident, he was a responsible, mild-mannered man. Afterwards, he became violent and impulsive. This accident happened in 1848 but was one of the first cases that helped us to find out more about our brain.  The rod damaged his frontal cortex.  This provided support for the idea that this area of the brain was responsible for the control of impulsive behaviour. 


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