PSYC 1000 Chapter Notes -Cerebral Cortex, Frontal Lobe, Temporal Lobe

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1000
• Professor: Benjamin Giguere

Document Summary

Older brain networks sustain basic life functions and enable memory, emotions, and basic drives. Newer neural networks within the cerebrum (the hemispheres that contribute 85% of the brains weigh) form specialized work teams the enable our perceiving, thinking and speaking. Covering the hemispheres is the cerebral cortex, a think surface layer of interconnected neural cells it is the brains thinking crown; body"s ultimate control and information-processing center. As we move up the ladder of animal life, the cerebral cortex expands, tight genetic control relax, and the organism"s adaptability increases. The brain"s ballooning left and right hemispheres are filled mainly with axons connecting the cortex to the brain"s others regions. The cerebral cortex contains 20-23 billion nerve cells and 300 trillion synaptic connections. In more complex animal brains, the proportion of glia to neurons increase. Each hemisphere"s context is subdivided into four lobes, separated by prominent fissures, or folds.