Hi, and welcome to the 3rd blog post! Today, we will be talking about the neuroanatomy of the brain, and what each part does for your body's function. First, Let us talk about the lobes of the brain. There are four main lobes: The frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, and occipital lobe. The frontal lobe is where most processing happens and decision making. The temporal lobes are where your hearing gets processed, and understanding language and producing language happens. The parietal lobes take some visual input, and also take touch input from the skin. Finally, the occipital lobes are where most recognition of shapes and visual processing happens. The brain is split into two hemispheres: the left cerebrum, and right cerebrum. The right side of your brain is for creative thinking, and the left side of your cerebrum is more for critical thinking. There is a big bundle of nerve fibers that connect both sides of the cerebrum called the corpus callosum. There are some smaller structures in the brain such as the hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus, thalamus, and cerebellum. The hippocampus is one of only two areas in the brain that can do neuroregeneration, which is a process where the neurons, if die, can create new ones. It is a long curved structure that is in both temporal lobes. A person named H.M, who had repeated seizures, had a brain surgery where part of his temporal lobe was removed. His seizures conceded, but he couldn’t make new memories. This is when scientists realized that the part of the brain they removed was involved with memories, which we know as the hippocampus. This was a major breakthrough in neuroscience. Next, let us talk about the amygdala. The amygdala is the emotional center of the brain, and this is where you experience emotions. Anger, frustration, excitement - all of these are emotions that are transmitted into small electrical signals. Another brain region called the thalamus, is especially important. It is like the mail office of the brain, which decides which signals go where. This is important, as without this structure, much of what we can do would not work at all. The hypothalamus is where neurotransmitters and hormones are indirectly released from. The hypothalamus has access to multiple glands that can release chemicals that will issue changes in the brain. Finally, the cerebellum is an important part of speech, as it controls many of the muscles in the face. It also controls lots of other muscles and is one of the main structures involved in movement. Also, people who regularly abuse alcohol, can experience cerebellar degeneration. This is when your neurons die in the cerebellum. This was the basic neuroanatomy of the brain. I hope to see you reading next time!