Parts of the Brain and Brain Stem Basal
Parts of the Brain and Brain Stem Basal nuclei (or ganglion) lies within the central white matter of each cerebral hemisphere and processes much of your motor and sensory information at a subconscious level. It consists of the caudate nucleus, globus pallidus, putamen and amygdaloid body. These parts of the brain don’t start a movement, but once it has begun, they maintain a pattern and rhythm to keep it going. The diencephalon consists of three parts. It integrates conscious/unconscious sensory and motor functions. The epithalmus, most superior (exterior) portion, contains the pineal gland, which secretes melatonin and regulates sleep cycles.
The thalamus exists in both cerebral hemispheres and is separated by the 3 rd ventricle. It is the relay point for all ascending sensory information before it gets to consciousness, passing some on to the primary sensory cortex and the rest to the basal nuclei. It plays a large role in coordination of voluntary and involuntary movements. The hypothalamus is the most inferior portion and does many things: subconscious control of rage, pleasure, pain & sexual arousal; adjusting heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, digestion, body temperature, cycles of activity, hunger and thirst; coordinating the nervous and endocrine systems and secreting hormones. The brainstem consists of the midbrain, pons and medulla oblongata. The midbrain controls reflex movements of the eyes, head and neck in relation to visual or auditory stimuli. It also contains the reticular formation which defines our state of attention and wakefulness.
Maintenance of muscle tone and posture is also controlled in the midbrain. The pons links the cerebellum to the rest of the brain and spinal cord. It controls pace and depth of respiration. The medulla oblongata connects the brain to the spinal cord and contains all ascending/descending pathways. It controls and adjusts the involuntary actions of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Adjusting heart rate, strength of contractions and flow of blood in addition to the pace of respiration (with the pons). The brainstem also contains 10 of 12 cranial nerves, excluding olfactory and optic. Lastly, the cerebellum is an automatic processing center. It adjusts posture and maintains balance. It programs and fine tunes conscious and subconscious movements making them smooth. It also compares motor commands to proprioceptive information (or position sense).
1 st Left Side Activity Create a fictional story with 7 different characters interacting in any way you choose. Each of these characters will represent a person with a non-functioning (1)epithalmus, (2)thalamus, (3)hypothalamus, (4)midbrain, (5)pons, (6)medulla oblongata, and (7)cerebellum. Each of these characters will have a name of your choice and through your description of how those characters interact, I will know which part of their brain is not working. Do not give me a key of which character represents which non-functioning part of the brain. Your description must be sufficient for me to determine that for myself. This story must be a minimum of 10 sentences. 2 nd Left Side Activity Cut, glue and color 3 rd Left Side Activity Write a Free the Brain Stem/Cerebellum diagram Rhyming Poem using at least 5 of these given in class. terms: epithalmus, thalamus, hypothalamus, midbrain, pons, medulla oblongata, and cerebellum
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