Central Nervous

System
Brain and Spinal cord are included in Central Nervous
System
 Brain
• Most complex structure in the world
• Weighs about three pounds
• It seems like a pinkish jelly like mass that uses very little energy and operates
mainly on sugar
It contains three parts:
1. Fore Brain
2. Mid Brain
3. Hind Brain
 Fore Brain
• Fore brain includes:

• Cerebrum
1. Right Hemisphere
2. Left Hemisphere

• Cortex
1. Frontal Lobe
2. Temporal Lobe
3. Parietal Lobe
4. Occipital Lobe
• Thalamus
• Basal Ganglia
• Hypothalamus
• Limbic System
• Reticular System
 Cerebral Cortex
Cortex means bar or covering. Cerebral cortex also known as Cerebrum. It covers lower portion of brain. It is larger than any other brain structure. It is
greatly convoluted with lots of grooves and bulges. It is highly connected with other parts of brain.

Functions:
• Centre of processing and storing information
• Performs voluntary actions
• Thinking and Planning
Cerebral Cortex divided into two halves called hemispheres.
• Left Hemisphere
• Right Hemisphere
 The Left Hemisphere
It is Larger of the two halves and Dominant hemisphere. Language center is housed in left hemisphere but for right handed people. The two hemispheres are interconnected by series of
fibers called corpus collosum. Through corpus collosum, one side of our cortex remains in complete connect with other.

Functions:
• Speech Production
• Language Skills
• Reliance on language
• Verbal information

Language and memory function

• Controls spontaneous speaking and writing
• Direct formulation of replies to complex commands
• Direct recognition of words
• Control memory of words and functions

Perceptual and cognitive functions

• Sequence of movements
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Emotional Functions
• It involves in the feeling of anxiety
• Responsible for negative emotions in response to unpleasant events
 The Right Hemisphere
Functions:
• Process visually presented information
• Skills in visual arts; drawing and painting
• Non-verbal information
• Appreciation of spatial relationships
Damage in right hemisphere cause perceptual and attention problems and serious difficulties spatial orientation.

Language and perceptual functions:

• Controls non spontaneous verbal communication
• Can direct response to simple commands
• Directs recognition of faces
• Controls memory of shapes and music

Perceptual and Cognitive functions

• Functions in map interpretation
• Functions in mental rotation of images
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Emotional Function:
• Controls emotional responsiveness
• Responsible for positive emotions
 Lobes
Each hemisphere has four major divisions called lobes.

Frontal lobe:
• It is located at the front of the brain and covers largest area.
• The portion of cerebral cortex behind the forehead is involved in center of voluntary muscles, intelligence and personality.
• Pre-frontal cortex in frontal lobe involves in higher cognitive functions such as planning and reasoning.

Temporal lobe:
• It is located at the temples within each side of the brain, just above the ears.
• It involves in hearing, language processing and memory.
• Due to its Damage, individual can not file experience into long term memory.
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Parietal lobe:
• Wedged in behind the frontal lobe and above the occipital lobe and temporal lobe
• Involves in spatial location, attention and motor control

Occipital lobe:
• Located at the very back of brain
• Responds to visual stimuli
• Process information about visual stimuli as their colour, shape and motion.
• Damage in occipital lobe cause blindness
 Areas of cortex
Sensory areas:
• Receives information from senses
• Large area of cerebral cortex involves in vision and hearing
• Entire occipital involved in visual information
• Temporal lobes contains auditory impulses
• Body senses from different body parts send impulses to the very front of parietal lobe
Motor areas:
• Voluntary activities originates in the motor area of cerebral cortex

Associative areas:
• After sensory and motor areas, the remaining areas are called associative areas.
• Cognitive functions such as problem solving, remembering and thinking occurs here
• Language and speech behaviors are localized in frontal associative area
• Involves in linguistic and perceptual functioning
 Thalamus
• Located at right below cerebral cortex
• Process information from senses
• Messages from lower body, eyes, ears and other senses passes through
thalamus
• Involves in wakefulness and sleep
 Basal ganglia
• Located at above the thalamus and under the cerebral cortex
• Works with cerebellum and cerebral cortex to control and coordinate voluntary movements
• Involves in habitual behaviors such as riding a bicycle
• Due to its damage, people suffer from either unwanted movements or too little movements
 Hypothalamus
• Located near the limbic system
• Involves in innovational and emotional reactions
• Monitors critical internal bodily functions and emotional reactions
• Controls motivation
• Controls eating behaviors i.e. hunger and thrust
• Acts as a thermostat i.e. should we become too warm or too cold
• Influences many functions of endocrine system
• Involves in aggressive and sexual behaviors and regulates many hormones
 Limbic system
• Involves in display of emotional reactions
• Important in memory and reactions
It’s two principal functions are:
1. Amygdala
2. Hippocampus

Amygdala:
• Amygdala taken from Latin, meaning “almond shape”.
• Located with the base of temporal lobe
• Involved in discrimination of objects such as appropriate food, mates and social rivals
• Involved in emotional awareness and expressions
Septum (another part of limbic system) has opposite effect. It reduces the intensity of emotional reactions

Hippocampus:
• Part of limbic system
• Involved in formation of memories
• Role in storage of memory
 Mid Brain
• Most not visible
• Located between the hind brain and fore brain
• It relays information between the brain and eyes and ears
• Involved in the ability to attend to an object visually
 Hind Brain
• Lowest part of brain
It includes:
1. Medulla
2. Pons

Pons:
• Located at above the medulla
• Centers in the pons are responsible for the rapid eye movement
• Involved in sleeping and waken
• Involved in dreaming and waking from sleep

Medulla:
• Lowest structure in the brain
• Involved in involuntary reflexes
• Controls each function of eye and tongue movements
• Controls breathing , heart rate and blood pressure
• Monitors the muscles of heart to keep it beating rhythmically
 Cerebellum
• Main function is to smooth and coordinate rapid body movements
• Position behind the pons, tucked up under the base of skull
• Eye movements originates in the cerebellum
• Complex series of movements are made regular and smooth
• Movement of mouth, tongue and lips are coordinated
• Damaged to the cerebellum may disrupt motor activity
• If the outer region of the cerebellum is damaged person may suffer jerky tremors and involuntary
trembling movements
• Damage of inner area lead to tremors at rest
• Head may shake or twitch when the person want to remain still
 Reticular Activating System
• Reticular activating system is involved in level of activation and arousal
• Involved in awake or attentive, sound sleep or at some level in between
• Involved in being awake and alert
• It keep the brain awake even during sleep
• Involved in stereotyped patterns of behaviors such as walking, sleeping or
turning to attend to a sudden noise
 Brain Stem
• Includes much of the hind brain and mid brain
• It looks like a stem
• It is the brain’s oldest and inner most region therefore it is called central core
• It determines alertness
• Regulates basic survival functions such as breathing, heart beat and blood pressure