Central Nervous System: Brain Analysis

The first main system is the central nervous system which consists of the brain and the spinal cord. There are three main sections of the brain; the forebrain which contains the cerebrum and the parts of the diencephalon (the thalamus, hypothalamus, and epithalamus most importantly), the midbrain which is a part of the brain stem, and the hindbrain which consists of the medulla oblongata, the pons, and the cerebellum. The cerebrum, the picture on the right hemisphere of the model’s brain, is the largest part of the brain and consists of four lobes; the frontal lobe (in purple) which is responsible for reasoning and planning, movement, emotion, and parts of speech, the parietal lobe (in blue) which is associated with movement and the processing of touch and taste, the occipital lobe (in green), which is linked to visual processing, and the temporal lobe (in red), which is associated with memory, speech, and the perception and recognition of auditory and olfactory stimuli. The lobes of the cerebrum are continued into both hemispheres of the brain, but the left hemisphere of the model’s brain instead depicts the vital parts present inside of the brain. …show more content…
When looking at the left hemisphere of the model’s brain, the thalamus is in dark blue next to the ganglia and in front of the pineal gland. The thalamus serves as the last relay site where axons synapse before sensory signals are sent to the cerebrum. Additionally, the thalamus regulates motor functions and consciousness due to its role in sensory information regulation. The basal ganglia (in light green) are collections of nuclei found on both sides of the thalamus. The many smaller structures inside the basal ganglia inform us of right and wrong, control eye movements, and coordinate automatic behaviors due to their role in the reward pathway of the brain. The hypothalamus (in purple) is located below the thalamus and regulates the activity of the pituitary gland subsequently controlling thirst, hunger, emotions, and also homeostatic systems such as the temperature of the body. Posterior to the thalamus and hypothalamus is the epithalamus, which creates some cerebrospinal fluid and contains the pineal gland (in light green) which produces melatonin that regulates the circadian rhythms of the body. The large red part is representative of the band of nerve fibers called the corpus callosum. The corpus callosum connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain and allows communication, facilitating the transmission of neural messages between them. This is incredibly important because, as an example, during vision, when looking straight forward, the information on the right side of your vision goes to your left hemisphere, and the information on the left side of your vision goes to the right hemisphere and without communication between the two sides, vision would be incomplete.The midbrain (in gray) is associated primarily with hearing and vision, and the sending of information to the forebrain. Below the midbrain and a part of the brainstem is the pons (in turquoise) which houses nuclei that send signals to the cerebellum from the forebrain in relation to sleep patterns, facial movement and expression, …show more content…
In terms of the spinal cord, however, white matter is found on the outside where it can link the CNS and the PNS more efficiently. Cerebrospinal fluid also plays an important role in protection and proficient functioning of the brain and spinal cord. This cerebrospinal fluid surrounds and cushions the brain while also regulating the blood flow. This fluid is important in the function of the brain because it also provides a flow to the blood, meaning that wastes from the brain can be brought to the veins and nutrients can be brought to the brain. Additionally, this fluid can bring hormones to other parts of the brain where they may not have been able to travel but are needed to regulate normal function. In the spinal cord, this cerebrospinal fluid is contained within the central canal that provides the spinal cord with nutrients and cushions it to prevent damage. The cerebrospinal fluid runs the whole length of the spinal cord and branches into the ventricles that are found in the brain. The spinal cord is also dependent on the nerves that run throughout the entire body and facilitate the movement of signals to and from the