PSY BEH 11A Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Temporal Lobe, Camillo Golgi, Frontal Lobe
3 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
Elephants and blue whales have larger brains than humans. Perhaps the ratio of brain weight/body weight is a better metric of complexity and intelligence because the ratio is greater for humans than for elephants and whales. However, the brain weight/body weight ration for a mouse and a human is the same (1/40) and the ratio for small birds is 1/12, considerably greater than any mammal. What matters is how much brain surface you have: the human brain has valleys and ridges, compacted. The folding of the cerebral in the form of gyri (ridges) and sulci (grooves) increases the surface area of the cortex, greatly increasing the amount of gray matter in the brain: frog, squirrel, kangaroo, baboon, dolphin, human. For the hominid line (australopithecus to homo sapiens), brain size increased by a factor of three. Temporal lobe expansion: speech and language. Frontal lobe expansion: planning, organization, problem solving. Elaboration of sensory/motor areas: fine-grained finger dexterity.
