Your Brain Map

Cerebral Cortex

What do the frontal lobes do?

The frontal lobes are the command center and leadership of the brain. They control our personality, our decision making, judgement, language and executive behaviors. The frontal lobes also control the animalistic instincts of immediate gratification to allow stronger willpower and organization. 

What is the relationship between selective attention and learning?

Selective attention is the minds action of keeping track and remembering only important details rather than as much as possible. It is a persons way to filter out unnecessary information and being able to remember what is needed, learning more efficiently. 

What is the last part of your brain to develop and what can you do to prevent it from deteriorating?

The frontal lobe is the last part to develop and to prevent it from deteriorating quickly you can actively think rather than be on auto pilot, and transform memories rather than pure memorization. 

What does the neo cortex do?

This part of our brain takes care of our spacial awareness and governs our senses by being the main receptor for them. 

What is the role of the pre frontal cortex?

The pre frontal cortex is the part of your brain that makes up your personality and how we act around others. It is referred to as the "central bottleneck" as to filter our thoughts to know what to do.

What do we know about the pre frontal cortex’s relationship with multitasking?

Multitasking does not really exist because our brain is really just constantly switching between the two tasks and takes much longer to complete then than if you were focusing on one. 

Which part of the brain is associated with speech and language development?  Give an interesting fact about this region.

Broca's area is responsible for speech and language development and it is the part of the brain that allows you to learn a new language and be bilingual. 

Which part of your brain is responsible for thinking the following: “Is it hot in here or is it just me?”

The somatosensory cortex is the part of the brain responsible for processing temperature. 

What does your visual cortex do for you?

This is the part of the brain that discerns colors and complex objects such as faces.

State three interesting or significant facts about your occipital lobe.

The occipital lobe is not just where visual information is processed, it is also the place where the imagination originates, is stimulated when you "visualize" a situation, and is not fully developed in children meaning that they have a harder time telling the difference between real things and fake ones. 

What would happen if your temporal lobes were damaged?

If your temporal lobes were damaged we would not be able to learn, remember locations, or remember much of anything really because the temporal lobes don't interpret sounds but are in charge of recognition. 

What is your “fast brain” and what does it do?

The "fast brain" is the eye fields that can process information on milliseconds.

Neuron

State 3 things that you could do that would influence your synapses, and have a positive affect on your life and health?

You can exercise, eat a healthy diet with omega fatty acids, and socialize to influence the synapses and improve brain function. 

What is the relationship between multi-sensory or multi-modal learning and your dendrites?

With multi-modal learning, you are stimulating the dendrites many times and also in many places simultaneously causing you to learn more. 

How does “big picture thinking” and mnemonics affect dendrites and/or learning?

Thinking of the big picture stimulates different areas of the brain making more regions remember the information and be more effective at learning the information. 

Describe a neurotransmitter that you feel is very important.  Justify your reasoning.

Dopamine is a very important neurotransmitter because is is released when you are happy and most of the time if you are happy, you are healthy. Dopamine increases alertness, energy, and learning abilities, and without it, you would not be interested in trying any new things in life.

Limbic System

What does the corpus callosum do?

The corpus callosum is the connection and communicator between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. It also is the area that allows us to understand language and read because it is the part that understands handwriting.

What is the relationship between music and the corpus callosum? 

Scientists believe that music can help make communication between the two hemispheres more efficient and even more ambidextrous. 

Why is the thalamus important?

The thalamus is important because it is the main processor in sleep and consciousness. 

Relate and Review 

In this simulation we learned about the major parts of the brain and their function along with their association with learning. Many parts of the brain overlap in their functions making the multi-modal learning possible because when multiple areas are stimulated, the easier it is to learn and remember information. There are so many ways to stimulate the mind and make sure that information is remembered better but it does take effort that students are not always willing to commit. Most people do live their lives on autopilot and I always had thought that it was a good thing at times because it meant that you had gotten to used to that activity that you didn't need to think about it but this taught me that you shouldn't because it deteriorates your mind.