The Human Brain

The human brain

 Interesting brain facts!
• About 1.4 kg (2% of body weight) mass of fat & protein with 75% water content

• W = 140 mm, L = 167 mm, H = 93 mm. Left hemisphere is larger than the right

• 40% grey matter (outer covering: cerebral cortex)

60% white matter (myelinated fiber tracts traveling to & from the cerebral cortex)

• Uses 10 – 23 watt of energy, consuming 20% oxygen from the body. Goes unconscious in 8
– 10 sec. w/o oxygen

• 100 billion neurons (166 times human population & would take 171 years to count! (Tony
Buzan)

• 2,50,000 neurons/ minute in early development & stops growing at 18

• 12 pairs of cranial nerves & 31 pairs of spinal nerves

• Thinking initiates electro-chemical-neuro-impulse transmission from

0.5 m/sec - 120 m/sec. (434 km/hr)
 Parts of the brain
Keep in mind there are two distinct sides with different functions
 The Brainstem
(Pathway to the Body)

• Base of brain
• Unconscious work
• Autonomic functions,
e.g., survival, breathing,
body functions, etc.
 The Cerebellum
(Balance)

• ‘little brain’
• Large in size
• 11% of brain’s
weight
• Center of balance
The brain has 4 areas called lobes
• Frontal

• Parietal

• Temporal

• Occipital
 The Frontal Lobes
(Problem Solving)

• Largest part
• Moves your body
• Highly developed
• Forms your
personality
 The Parietal Lobes
(Touching)

• Two major divisions

Anterior and posterior
• Senses hot and
cold, hard and soft, and
pain
• Taste and smell
• Helps integrate the
senses
 The Temporal Lobes
(Hearing)

• Processes auditory
stimuli
• Subdivisions into
• Wernicke’s Area
(associated with speech
comprehension)

• Broca’s Area
(associated with speech
production)
 The Occipital Lobes
(Seeing)

• Located at lower
central back of brain
• Processes visual
stimuli
 Taking sides….two sides that is!

• Two sides or hemispheres of the brain: LEFT and RIGHT

• We have two cerebral hemispheres connected by the corpus

callosum

• This is a bundle of nerves that allows each side of the brain to

communicate with each other

• Each side of the brain processes things differently

• It is an outdated assumption that “artsy” type people are

right-brained
How the two sides process information!

Left Brain Right Brain

• Logical • Random
• Sequential • Intuitive
• Rational • Holistic
• Analytical • Synthesizing
• Objective • Subjective
• Looks at parts • Looks at wholes
 Left Hemisphere

• processes things more in parts & sequentially

• recognizes positive emotions

• identified with practicality and rationality

• understands symbols and representations

• processes rapid auditory information faster than the right

(crucial for separating the sounds of speech into distinct units
for comprehension)

• is responsible for language development. It develops slower

in boys, that is why males usually develop more language
problems than females
 Right Hemisphere

• recognizes negative emotions

• high level mathematicians, problem solver like chess playing

• the “non-verbal” side

• responds to touch & music (sensory)

• intuitive

• responsive to color & shape

• emotional & creative

 Taking sides….
what information the two sides recognize!

Left Brain Right Brain

• Letters • Faces

• Places
• Numbers

• Objects
• Words
based on Sousa (1995, p. 88)
 Taking sides….take the test!

http://capone.mtsu.edu/studskl/hd/hemispheric_dominan
ce.html
Aphasia
• Aphasia is defined as an acquired impairment
in the use of language due to damage to
certain parts of the brain

• This damage could be caused by injury, stroke,

or seizures

• The language deficits include difficulties in

language comprehension and execution
 Major Types of Aphasias
All aphasias can be classified into two groups
• Fluent aphasias
– The inability to understand the language of others
and the production of less meaningful speech
then normal
• Non-fluent aphasias
– Difficulty producing fluent, articulated, or self-
initiated speech
 Types of Fluent Aphasias
• Wernicke’s aphasia
– People with this type of aphasia have difficulty or inability
understanding others speech, and produce meaningless
speech
– They generally do not realize their speech is meaningless
and are surprised when others cannot understand them
– They may demonstrate paragrammatical speech, which
means they use inappropriate morphemes. For instance a
person my say to you instead of for you or substitute the
word pork for fork
– This type of aphasia is produced by damage to Wernicke’s
area of the brain

Video of someone with Wernicke’s aphasia

 More Types of Fluent Aphasia
• Conduction aphasia
– The main symptom of this type of aphasia is difficulty
repeating something someone has just said
– People with this condition have relatively good
language comprehension and their conversational
speech is only mildly impaired
– This type of aphasia is produced by damage to the left
temporoparietal region
– It has been suggested that this type of aphasia could
come about because of deficits in short term memory
or phoneme selection
 More Types of Fluent Aphasia
• Anomic aphasia
– This aphasia is characterized by difficulty finding
names and difficulty substituting indefinite nouns and
pronouns with substantive words. For instance,
people with this affliction will use words like, thing,
stuff, or it instead of automobiles, groceries, or
furniture.
– There are very few cases of pure anomic aphasia and
it is therefore difficult to find the area of the brain
responsible
– Some have suggested that it is a mild form of
Wernicke’s aphasia
 More Types of Fluent Aphasia
• Transcortical sensory aphasia
– Symptoms of this type of aphasia are fluent speech
with some anomia, poor language comprehension,
and echolalia.
– Echolalia is the tendency to repeat something
someone has just said. For instance, if a person with
this type of aphasia was asked, “What is your name?”
they are predisposed to repeat the question over and
over instead of answering it.
– This aphasia may be caused by damage surrounding
and including Wernicke’s area
 Non-Fluent Aphasias
• Broca’s aphasia
– This type of aphasia manifests with difficulties
initiating well-articulated conversational speech
– The language that is produced is slow, labored, and
agrammatical, which means words like a, an, or the
and verb tense is left out of their speech
– This aphasia is produced by damage to Broca’s area of
the brain

Video of someone with Broca’s aphasia

More Types of Non-Fluent Aphasia’s
• Transcortical motor aphasia
– People with this aphasia do not speak unless they
are strongly encouraged to do so and when they
do speak it is labored and non-fluent
– Interestingly enough when these people are
verbally presented with long complicated
sentences they are able to repeat them fluently
– This aphasia is produced by damage to the
premotor cortex anterior and superior to Broca’s
area
More Types of Non-Fluent Aphasia’s

• Global aphasia
– As the name suggests, this type of aphasia is
characterized by a severe depression of all
language functioning
– The people with this affliction have poor language
comprehension and speak in slow, labored jargon
– This aphasia is caused by damage around and to
Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas of the brain
Other Interesting Facts About Aphasia
The handwriting of a person with an aphasia
reflects their speech impediment.

There was an experiment done where people

with Broca’s and Wernicke’s aphasias were
presented with a picture and then asked to
write down a description of what they say in
the picture.
This is the picture
 A patient with Broca’s aphasia wrote this

Notice the use of very few words, but the words

do make some sense
 A patient with Wernicke’s aphasia wrote
this

Notice here that there are many, less forced, words, but
they don’t make much sense. Also because they’re
not struggling to find their words, the handwriting is
better.