The Evolution Of Prefrontal Inputs From Macaque Monkeys And Humans

22. The part of the lower brain located behind the pons that controls and coordinates involuntary, rapid, fine motor movement is called the cerebellum.

A fresh human brain does not resemble the stereotypical fixated human brain typically seen in textbooks or diagrams. Instead, a fresh human brain is rich in vasculature, extending across the entire surface of the brain. The brain, in a sense, is greedy, requiring twenty percent of the oxygen coming from the lungs and twenty percent of the blood pumped by the heart. Recently, the brain’s greediness has led to advances in medical brain imaging technology. The PET scan maps the amount blood flow through specific areas of the brain, allowing researchers to localize particular functions to precise areas of the brain. In the TED talk, Dr. Allen explains the function of the cerebellum, temporal cortex, and frontal lobe – areas of the brain whose functions were determined using PET scan.

The basal ganglia, otherwise known as the basal nuclei, is the structure in the brain responsible for controlling movement. Specifically, the basal ganglia are responsible for the inhibition of muscle tone throughout the body; the selection and maintenance of purposeful motor activity, as well as the suppression of useless or unwanted patterns of

Using Functional MRI helps to visualize the brain functionality through local metabolism. In this technology it allows the researcher to measure and track the brain functions by discovering the correlated changes in blood flow. From this functional Mri when a brain function is acted out the flow of oxygenated rich blood is detected and highlighted on the specific location where the functionality came from on the brain.

b.) What is the role of cortical brain regions (i.e., cerebellum, the anterior cingulate cortex, the supplementary motor area, and the right frontal operculum)

Hoover WB, Vertes RP. Anatomical analysis of afferent projections to the medial prefrontal cortex in the rat. Brain Struct Funct. 2007;212(2):149-179.

VII) Describe how the shape of the thalamus and brainstem reflect the presence of impinging cortical structures along the antero-posterior axis. Describe the difference between sheep and human brains.

The frontal lobe contains two key structures that have a great impact on mood, behavior and judgment. These structures are located in the outer area of the cerebrum towards the front of the skull (Carlson, 2013). This paper will discuss the function and structure of the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex (including the orbitofrontal cortex) and the Dorsolateral Cortex.

The human brain contains about 100 billion neurones, and has an average volume of 1200-1400mL. Once brain cells die, they stay dead forever.
The brain controls and regulates body functions. Without it you cannot survive. Damage to the brain is repaired slowly. Sometimes other parts of the brain take over the function of the damaged parts, but there are instances where brain damage is permanent.

The Cerebrum:
Associated with higher brain function, such as thought and action. The cerebrum obtains information from an individual’s surroundings and their body, and then sends that information to a specific part of the cerebrum. The cerebrum interprets this knowledge and decides what must happen next. The muscles and sensory information from the left side of the body is controlled by the right side of the brain, and vice versa.

Occupies more than 80% of the brain, and contains over 10 billions neurones. The folds in the cerebrum are called ‘convolutions’, and are used to fit more neurones and information in. These folds increase its surface area by three times. It is here that the high intellectual functions of humans take place. The cerebrum controls you conscious thoughts and the intentional (voluntary)

I decided to analyze how the different areas of the brain are affected by walking across campus, on a sunny day where you pass a friend or two on the way to your next class. As you start walking across the quad the first think that is affected is your Cerebellum, this is because in order to move and not fall over you must have the cerebellum processing your actions, in this case walking. This is because the cerebellum helps to coordinate voluntary muscle movements as well as balance, coordination and your posture. While walking across campus you run into Julie, you say hi and wave as you pass. The action of speaking is also possible because it is coordinated by your cerebellum. Maybe you decide to take a drink of water on the way. This is processed by the Medulla along with the

Cerebellum: Maintains balance, and corrects errors in motor commands generates normal muscle for cognitive functions.

Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value, which is dependent on the material being imaged, then can be determined to show the amount of water movement. Because molecules diffuse in three dimensions, diffusion weighted images can be obtained along the X, Y, and Z planes. These images then can be averaged to produce a more accurate measurement. In each of the three planes, two strong dephasing and rephasing gradient pulses are added to a standard MRI pulse sequence at varying degrees of strength. The bright areas show the volume of the brain that may be damaged. Strong magnetic field gradients are used to separate fast and slow moving water molecules. The strength and duration of these gradient pulses are much stronger than those used with standard imaging sequences. The degree of diffusion weighting depends on the region of interest as well as the time between the diffusion gradients.

It serves as the brain’s command center, that helps with "editing" behavior, resisting distractions, and developing awareness (NIMH, 1996). The caudate nucleus and globus pallidus, which are more commonly known as the basal ganglia, are located near the middle of the brain. They are "at least two of the clusters of nerve cells deep in the brain" (Barkley, 1998). The caudate nucleus and globus pallidus translate the commands, given by the prefrontal cortex, into action (NIMH, 1996). Researchers have found that these parts of the brain, which are in the right hemisphere of the brain, are smaller in children with ADHD than in children without this disorder (Barkley, 1998). The right hemisphere of the brain is normally larger than the left hemisphere, but some researchers have thought that due to this abnormality in ADHD children that this could be a cause of the disorder (Barkley, 1998).

Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) is a form of MR imaging based upon measuring the random Brownian motion of water molecules within a voxel of tissue. The relationship between histology and diffusion is complex, however generally densely cellular tissues or those with cellular swelling exhibit lower diffusion coefficients, and thus diffusion is particularly useful in tumour characterisation and cerebral ischaemia.(11)

These procedures involved in cognitive neuroscience require high levels of control, therefore are usually conducted in a laboratory setting, thus producing quantitative data that can be easily analysed, (Eysenck and Keane, 2010). Nevertheless, the techniques vary in the precision with which they identify the brain areas active when a task is performed (spatial resolution), and the time course of such activation (temporal resolution).Therefore, several procedures often need to be combined to compensate for limitations, (Sternberg and Wagner, 1999).