UNIT 2: Biological Bases of Behavior
PART I: Biological Bases of Behavior
Learning Targets
12-1 Describe the four lobes that make up the cerebral cortex and explain the functions of the motor cortex, somatosensory cortex, and association areas.
12-2 Analyze the notion that we really use only 10 percent of our brain.
12-3 Discuss how the brain adjusts to new experiences.
12-4 Discuss the brain’s ability to reorganize itself after damage, and explain neurogenesis.
What is the cerebral cortex?
The intricate fabric of
interconnected neural cells
covering the cerebral hemispheres;
the body’s ultimate control and
information-processing center.
It is divided into four regions called lobes.
What four lobes make up �the cerebral cortex?
What are the functions of the �frontal and parietal lobes?
frontal lobes
Involved in speaking, motor movements, judgment and decision- making.
parietal lobes
Receives and processes sensory input for touch and body position.
What are the functions of the �temporal and occipital lobes?
temporal lobes
Each lobe receives auditory information, primarily from opposite ear.
occipital lobes
Each lobe receives visual information, primarily from opposite visual field.
What are the functions of the �motor and somatosensory cortex?
motor cortex
somatosensory cortex
controls voluntary movements
registers information from the skin senses and body movement
What are the functions of the �auditory and visual cortex?
auditory cortex
visual cortex
receives information from the ears
receives information from the eyes
1. What Would You Answer?
Damage to which of the following areas could interfere with the ability to plan for the future?
B. temporal lobes
C. parietal lobes
D. occipital lobes
Do we really use only �10% of our brain?
What are the association areas?
Most of the brain’s cortex which integrates information involved in learning, remembering, thinking, and other higher-level functions.
Attention is shifted, planning occurs.
Not specifically devoted to motor or sensory cortex functions.
Let’s look at the research on association areas…
The prefrontal cortex in the forward part of
the frontal lobes enables judgment, planning, and processing of new memories
(de la Vega et al., 2016).
People with damaged frontal lobes may have high intelligence test scores and great cake-baking skills. Yet they would not be able to plan ahead to begin baking a cake for a birthday party
(Huey et al., 2006).
And if they did begin to bake, they might forget the recipe.
(MacPherson et al., 2016).
The case of Phineas Gage
A tamping iron accident damaged neural tracks in his frontal lobe.
His frontal lobes could no longer filter emotional reactions from the limbic system.
What are Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas?
Broca’s area
language center located in the left frontal lobe
involved in expressive language
Wernicke’s area
language center located in the left temporal lobe
involved in receptive language
How does our brain adjust to new experiences?
plasticity: the brain’s ability
to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new
pathways based on experience
Let’s consider London taxi drivers…
Taxi driver trainees spend 2-4 years memorizing all of the routes through London.
Eleanor Maguire, an Irish neuroscientist, with her peers, showed increased size in portions of the hippocampus in this population.
The brain changes in response to experience.
(Maguire et al., 2000, 2006)
How does plasticity work?
In this image, most
of the right hemisphere of a young girl’s brain has been removed
due to chronic seizures that threatened her life.
How does plasticity work? Cont.
Due to the cross-wiring of the brain, she should not have been able to move the left side of her body. Yet, her left hemisphere compensated
by putting other areas to work.
2. What Would You Answer?
The ability of our brain to adapt to damage, where one area may take over the function of the damaged area, is due to
B. positron emission training.
C. Broca’s area.
D. Wernicke’s area.
What is neurogenesis?
Although the brain often attempts self-repair by reorganizing existing tissue, it sometimes
attempts to mend itself through neurogenesis—producing new neurons.
Learning Target 12-1 Review
Describe the four lobes that make up the
cerebral cortex and explain the functions
of the motor cortex, somatosensory cortex and association areas.
Learning Target 12-2 Review
Analyze the notion that we really use
only 10 percent of our brain.
Learning Target 12-3 Review
Discuss how the brain adjusts to
new experiences.
Learning Target 12-4 Review
Discuss the brain’s ability to reorganize
itself after damage, and
explain neurogenesis.