Brain Structures and Functions Essay

Brain Structures and Functions Essay

Brain Structures and Functions Essay

The brain has many functions in which it helps process and understands information. One aspect of the brain is its memory. Memory is there so information can be used to understand what is happening around someone.Brain Structures and Functions Essay The function of memory is somewhat of an enigma to many scientists. How does the brain store and retrieve such information and at such high speeds? Although it is hard to conceive the actual machine working behind memory scientist have been able to figure out the physiology behind this process. The brain is composed of millions of neurons. Communication between these neurons is by using nerve impulses from the axon of one neuron to the dendrites of another. This is called a synapse. All…show more content…

Such diseases are called agnosia and dissociative disorder. In order to understand these problems one must understand the different parts of memory and what is affected. There is much evidence of the existence of short and long-term memory. Most disorders of the mind stem from the inability of the mind to transfer signals from short to long-term memory.Brain Structures and Functions Essay Memory is conceived as a transfer of information between short-term and long-term memory. What factor must be present in order for a person memory to work incorrectly? An average person forgets things on a regular basis and that can be attributed to the breakdown in information transfer in the brain. Scientist explains that the best way to remember things is by rehearsal. Through this technique people can remember information presented with a higher rate accuracy. However this leaves little or no evidence to the reason of why people forget things. This is attributed to a break down in the transfer of memory. Short-term memory is broken down into three main parts. These parts are also broken down into a few sub categories. The three main parts in short-term memory are visual STM, auditory STM, and working memory.The brain is located in the cranial cavity of the skull, which protects it from damage (Aspinall & Cappello, 2009). The forebrain consists of the cerebrum, thalamus and hypothalamus. The cerebrum takes up a large part of the forebrain and contains around 90% of all the neurons in the entire nervous system (Aspinall & Cappello, 2009). Figure 2 shows the locations of the cerebrum, forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain in a chimpanzee.

Figure 2: Main parts of the chimpanzee brain (Gomez-Robles, et al., 2013).Brain Structures and Functions Essay
The right and left sections are linked by the corpus callosum (Campbell & Reece, 2002). Nerve fibres run across the brain between the right and left hemispheres. The surface of the hemispheres is deeply folded, which results in a large surface area to be within the small cranial cavity (Carter, 2009). The ventral surface of the forebrain has other structures present, which are: Optic (eye) Chiasma (route images from eye nerves to the left and right side of the brain), pituitary gland (part of the endocrine system) and olfactory bulbs (controls sense of smell) (Cavendish, 2010).
The hypothalamus is a section that controls stress response, as it helps control the autonomic nervous system (Sporns, 2011). It connects with the nervous and endocrine systems in order to play an important part in the role of homeostasis, which will regulate the body conditions after the acute stress has passed (Wilson, 2009). Brain Structures and Functions Essay

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