Friday, March 29, 2013

What are the five major divisions of the brain and their associated psychological functions?


     The five major divisions of the brain are the telencephalon, the diencephalon, the mesencephalon, the metencephalon, and the myelencephalon. The telencephalon, which is the human brain's largest division, is responsible for mediating the most complex functions of the brain (Pinel, 2009). It is responsible for initiating voluntary movement, interprets sensory input, and mediates complex cognitive processes such as speaking, problem solving, and learning (Pinel, 2009). The diencephalon is a divison of the human brain, which is composed of the thalamus and the hypothalamus. The thalamus has sensory relay nuclei, which receive signals from sensory receptors, then processes the signals, and transmits those signals to the designated areas of the sensory cortex (Pinel, 2009). The hypothalamus plays a role in regulating several motivated behaviors by regulating the release of hormones from the pituitary gland (Pinel, 2009).
     The mesencephalon is a division that is comprised of two divisions, which are the tectum and the tegmentum. The tectum is composed of the inferior colliculi, which have an auditory function, and the superior colliculi, which have a visual function (Pinel, 2009). The tegmentum contains three structures, which are the periaqueductal gray, the substantia nigra, and the red nucleus. The periaqueductal gray has a role in mediating the analgesic (pain-reducing) effects of opiate drugs (Pinel, 2009). The substantia nigra and the red nucleus are important components of the sensorimotor system (Pinel, 2009). The metencephalon is a division that has two major divisions, which are the pons and the cerebellum. The cerebellum is a sensorimotor structure, which function is sensorimotor control. The myelencephalon, also referred to as the medulla, is the most posterior division of the brain (Pinel, 2009). It plays a role in arousal and is  is responsible for functions such as sleep, movement, attention, the maintenance of muscle tone, and various cardiac, circulatory, and respiratory reflexes (Pinel, 2009).
 Reference
 Pinel, J.P.J. (2009). Biopsychology (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

5 comments:

  1. STEVEN - PLEASE REMOVE THESE POSTS FROM YOUR BLOG. Students are using this site to try and cheat REPEATEDLY. I cannot even count how many times your answers are getting used in my course. And yes, I know you were a student in my course because you have answers on here to specific questions that I ask. Ultimately, you are assisting students in using short cuts to pass college courses. Please remove all of the answers to DQs and worksheets from this blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why is this school and the instructors recycling the same questions every year?

      Delete
    2. That is not the point. That is up to the school. The point is that he is trying to help people cheat.

      Delete
  2. Keep doing your thing Steven. - a student using this to study

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  3. His "thing" is helping students cheat. I have given a 0 to 20+ students due to their direct copy and pasting from this website/blog. It would be very different if this was a study guide, but he posted his answers to all the Discussion Questions when he took the course, as well as his answers to actual assignments. It is promoting cheating.

    ReplyDelete

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