Brain

Kamal Kumar Choudhary

kamal@[Link]
Some books to read
• O'Shea, Michael. The Brain: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short
Introductions). OUP Oxford.

• Gellatly, Angus. Introducing Mind and Brain. Icon Books Ltd.

• Eagleman, David. The Brain: The Story of You. Canongate Books.

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Other Links
• [Link]
• [Link]
diction/guide/[Link]
Introduction
• Basic introduction.
• Nervous System
• Structure (parts) and Function of the brain
• A bit of History on the study of brain and language
• Phrenology and localization View
• Other issues related to brain and language
Human Brain
• An organ of just 1.4 kg.
• Contains one hundred billion nerve cells.
• Left and Right Hemispheres
• 4 Lobes: Frontal Lobe, Temporal Lobe, Parietal Lobe, Occipital Lobe

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The Hemispheres
• Structurally speaking, cerebrum is the largest division of the brain.
• It is divided into two hemispheres, the right and the left hemisphere.

• The right hemisphere is traditionally believed to be responsible for

creativity and spatial ability.
• The left hemisphere on the other hand has been traditionally been
associated with language and problem solving abilities, like logic and
mathematical abilities. 6
[Link]
Some basic questions
• Are both the Hemispheres symmetric?
• Is it lateralized?
• Handedness has an impact of the brain?
• How does brain work?
• Are the functions localized or not ?
• How can we study these functions?
[Link]
Introduction
• Nervous System:
• The human body has two nervous systems.
• The central nervous system which contains the brain and spinal cord.
• The peripheral nervous system which consists of nerves, motor
neurons, the autonomic nervous system.
• Central Nervous System (CNS): Brain and Spinal Cord
• Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): Nerves
• Autonomic Nervous system: Involuntary control

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Brain

• Gellatly, Angus. Introducing Mind and Brain

(Introducing...) (p. 45). Icon Books Ltd. Kindle
Edition.

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Brain

[Link]
The Cerebral Cortex
• Houses organs that provide the basis for sensory processing and motor control i.e.
mid-brain, brainstem and cerebellum.
• Has two hemispheres: left and right
• Each of the two hemispheres are further divided into 4 lobes: parietal, frontal,
occipital and temporal.
• The border crossings between the lobes also mark the primary sensory and motor
areas of the cerebral cortex.

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The Cerebral Cortex

[Link]
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The Four Lobes

Neurolinguistics by Ingram 15
The Four Lobes
• The temporal lobe is separated from the frontal and parietal lobes by
the ‘Sylvian Fissure’.
• Almost halfway through the sylvian fissure is the primary auditory
cortex which receives auditory input.
• The frontal lobe is separated from the parietal lobe by the central
sulcus.
• At the back of the brain in the occipital lobe lies the primary visual
cortex.

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Function of the lobes
• Frontal Lobe: Judgment, Planning, Problem Solving, Speaking (Broca’s
area)
• Parietal Lobe: Movement, touch, pain etc.
• Occipital Lobe: Vision
• Temporal Lobe: Memory, Speech

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[Link]
The Lobes:
Each of these hemispheres are divided into four lobes, separated by
Fissures.

PET Foundations, 2004 19

The Frontal Lobe
• The Frontal Lobe is the biggest lobe among the four.
• It is located deep to the Frontal Bone of the skull.
• It contains the primary motor cortex, the pre motor cortex and
Broca’s Area
• It plays an integral role in the following functions/actions:
• Planning movement
• Memory
• Emotions
• Decision making
• Reasoning

Modified from: [Link]

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The Parietal Lobe
• Parietal lobe is located deep in the Parietal Bone of the skull.
• This is just behind the frontal lobe, and included the somatosensory
cortex.
• It role is majorly to aid
• Senses
• Integrate sensations
• Spatial Awareness
• Perception
• Comprehension of language

Modified from: [Link]

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The Temporal Lobe
• The temporal lobe is situated in the temporal bone of the skull on
both sides of the skull.
• This includes the Wernicke’s area
• The region performs the functions of
• Hearing
• Organizing and comprehending language
mainly auditory input.
• Retrieving information (Memory)

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The Occipital Lobe
• The Occipital Lobe is located in the Occipital bone of the skull.
• This is the rear most part of the brain and includes the visual
processing area.
• The region is primarily responsible for
• Processing
• Integrating interpretation

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 Medulla Oblongata, Pons and Cerebellum
The Medulla Oblongata woks in controlling the basic functions like
• Respiration
• Heart rate
• Continuous with the spinal cord (2.5 cm)

Pons help
• relay between the cerebral hemispheres and the cerebellum

Cerebellum is the ‘little brain’ and has two main roles

• Receiving input from all senses and project this information to other parts.
• Maintaining body equilibrium, in terms of posture and coordinating the voluntary movement.
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History of the study of human brain/mind
”Egyptians of The Middle Kingdom (c. 2040–1786 B.C.) were so
unimpressed by the brain that they did not preserve it with the rest of
the body, as they did the heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys” .

Gellatly, Angus. Introducing Mind and Brain (Introducing...) (p. 13). Icon
Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

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History of the study of human brain/mind and
language
• Different theories exited before René Descartes (1596–1650),
• Divide between conscious mind/soul and body

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Gall & Phrenology
• Franz Gall (1758–1828) and Johann Spurzheim (1776–1832).
• Believed that brain is the organ of the mind.
• Different mental faculties are located in particular cortical region.
• Was the first person to localize mental faculties in the brain cortex.
• According to him, cortex was the highest level of organization of the
brain and other grey areas were connected by fibers of white matter.
• Gall’s contribution popular as a field of study called Phrenology.
• Popular in the Victorian Era of the 1800s, attempted to map elements
of personality and mental ability in the brain.
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Phrenology
• They also believed that mental faculties can be decided on the basis
of bump on the head.
• It means that the personality can be decided looking at the skull.
• However, soon this became problematic.

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Phrenology

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[Link]
Localization
• Marie-Jean-Pierre Flourens (1794–1867),
• ”He believed in a unified mind or soul which could not be analyzed
into separate parts”.

• “In the 1860s, Gustav Fritsch (1838–1927) and Edouard Hitzig (1838–
1907) seemed to provide conclusive evidence of localization of
cortical functions”.

• Gellatly, Angus. Introducing Mind and Brain (Introducing...) (p. 23).

Icon Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

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Localization
• Paul Broca (1824–80) and Carl Wernicke (1848–1904)
• Paul Broca observed a patient in 1861.
• The patient was able to understand others but spoke with great
difficulty.
• Known as Broca’s aphasia, due to damage in the left frontal lobe.

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Localization
• Carl Wernicke observed a patient 1874.
• Discovered damage in the area of temporal lobe.
• Problem in the speech comprehension.

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• Gellatly, Angus. Introducing Mind
and Brain (Introducing...) (p. 25).
Icon Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

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Issues related to language and the brain
• Lateralization
• Handedness and brain
• Right hemispheres
Lateralization
• The term lateralization refers to the fact that the two halves of the human
brain are not exactly alike.
• Each hemisphere has functional specializations: some function whose
neural mechanisms are localized primarily in one half of the brain.
• The concept was first introduced by Paul Broca, a French neurosurgeon,
who talked of functional specialization in speech and language abilities. He
identified a particular area of the left hemisphere that plays a primary role
in speech production.
• Shortly afterwards, a German neurologist, Carl Wernicke, identified
another part of the left hemisphere primarily concerned with language
comprehension.

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Handedness
• Handedness is a vague term, and can mean many things to many
people.
• It is most often defined as the hand you use for writing.
• Within the scientific community however, researchers define
handedness based on different theoretical assumptions.
• the hand that performs faster or more precisely on manual tests
• the hand that one prefers to use, regardless of performance.
• Paul Broca along with identifying the concept of brain specializations,
also suggested that a person's handedness was opposite from the
specialized hemisphere (so a right-handed person probably has a left-
hemispheric language specialization).
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THANK YOU!