User:Looie496/Human brain outline

This is a temporary page to help me work on the Human brain article in a structured way.


 * Lead

Structure

 * corticalization

Cerebral hemispheres

 * symmetry

Cerebral cortex

 * functional specificity


 * lobes


 * Because of the arbitrary way most of the borders between lobes are demarcated, they have little functional significance.


 * gyri and sulci


 * Deep folding features in the brain, such as the inter-hemispheric and lateral fissure, which divides the left and right brain, and the lateral sulcus, which "splits-off" the temporal lobe, are present in almost all normal subjects.

functional divisions

 * sensory areas


 * motor areas


 * and association areas.

Cytoarchitecture

 * Brodmann areas

local topography

 * maps


 * In visual areas, the maps are retinotopic.


 * In auditory areas, the primary map is tonotopic.


 * Within a topographic map there can sometimes be finer levels of spatial structure.

Cognition

 * Understanding the relationship between the brain and the mind is a great challenge.


 * dualism and arguments against it

Lateralization

 * Each hemisphere of the brain interacts primarily with one half of the body.


 * corpus callosum.


 * In most respects, the left and right sides of the brain are symmetrical in terms of function, but there are exceptions.


 * split-brain patients.


 * The differences between left and right hemispheres are greatly overblown in much of the popular literature on this topic.

Development

 * During the first 3 weeks of gestation, the human embryo's ectoderm forms a thickened strip called the neural plate.

Evolution
In the course of evolution of the Homininae, the human brain has grown in volume from about 600 cc in Homo habilis to about 1500 cc in Homo sapiens neanderthalensis.


 * Studies tend to indicate small to moderate correlations (averaging around 0.3 to 0.4) between brain volume and IQ.

Sources of information

 * Neuroscientists, along with researchers from allied disciplines, study how the human brain works.


 * Information about the structure and function of the human brain comes from a variety of experimental methods. Some techniques, however, are used mainly in humans, and therefore are described here.

Effects of brain damage

 * A key source of information about the function of brain regions is the effects of damage to them.

Language

 * left hemisphere contains specialized language areas.


 * Broca's area


 * Wernicke's area

Pathology

 * Injuries to the brain


 * Diseases of the brain


 * Mental disorders


 * Infectious diseases


 * Genetic conditions

Metabolism

 * brain energy consumption


 * glucose as source


 * importance for functional imaging