Brain Structure and Functions

Front

How is the brain protected?

Back

The skull and cerebrospinal fluid meninges.

Front

List the 3 meninges and give a brief description of each.

Back

Dura matter - outer layer that lines the skull; Arachnoid matter - middle layer; Pia matter - inner layer, covers the brain, consists of blood vessels.

Front

What is cerebrospinal fluid? Where is it created? Where is it maintained?

Back

Substance that forms inside the brain ventricles from blood vessels of the choroid plexus, blood.

Front

How many ventricles are in our brain?

Back

Four.

Front

Why are brain infections difficult to cure?

Back

Because the Blood brain barrier filters most of the drugs out.

Front

How many hemispheres make up the cerebrum? What separates them? How many lobes does it have?

Back

2 hemispheres, separated by a deep groove called longitudinal fissure, 4 lobes.

Front

What function does the frontal lobe control? Parietal? Occipital? Temporal?

Back

Frontal - controls voluntary muscle movement; Parietal - receives and interprets nerve impulses from sensory receptors for pain, touch, heat, cold, and balance; Occipital - controls eyesight; Temporal - anterior portion controls olfactory and the other contains auditory.

Front

What is the limbic system? What does it influence?

Back

The center of the brain beneath the other four lobes encircles the top of the brain stem, influences unconscious and instinctive behaviors that relate to survival.

Front

What structures does the diencephalon contain? What do they each do? What are their vital functions?

Back

Thalamus and hypothalamus; Thalamus acts as a relay station for incoming and outgoing nerve impulses; Hypothalamus stimulates the pituitary gland to release its hormones.

Front

What makes humans the most intelligent of all animals?

Back

Humans have a more developed cerebral cortex and animals don't.