Article on anatomy of the brain

The Human brain is the most highly structured system in the known universe. It controls a plethora of bodily functions; processing sensory information; regulating biochemical processes; coordinating movement and of course, providing us the ability of higher thought/perception. There are three primary areas of the human brain:
• The hindbrain
• The midbrain
• The prosencephalon
Hindbrain
The hindbrain includes the brain stem and cerebellum and controls a number of of functions. It is situated in the cranial cavity.
One essential organ that composes the rhombencephalon is the medulla. The medulla oblongata is directly above the spinal cord and is so essential to life that diseases disturbing it are often fatal.
An additional area is the cerebellum. This section is sometimes called the “little brain”. It looks different to the rest of the brain. It has a surface of densely folded gray matter. It is mainly concerned with movement.
The Pons measures roughly 2cm in length and is situated between the mesencephalon and the medulla. It is composed of nuclei that have significant involvment with sleep, respiration, swallowing, bladder control, hearing, equilibrium, taste, eye movement, facial expressions, facial sensation, and posture.
Midbrain
The Midbrain/Mesencephalon is above the Pons and below the cerebral hemispheres. The rear region of the mesencephalon is often called the tectum, it is significantly responsible for reflexes in relation to auditory processes and sight (e.g. the eye movement, pupil size, lens shape). The anterior section of the mesencephalon is referred to as the tegmentum, it is in essence a highly structured interconnected network of nerves accountable for unconscious homeostatic and reflexive pathways.
Forebrain
The Forebrain is above both the hindbrain and the midbrain as well as being the most ventral. It has central roles in the following actions:
 Mastication
 Directs sensory impulses through the body
 Equilibrium
 Vision
 Eye movement
 Facial sensation
 Hearing
 Phonation
 Intelligence
 Memory
 Personality
 Respiration
 Salivation
 Swallowing
 Smell
 Taste

The Forebrain is split into 2 central structures:

 Telencephalon

The neocortex is the folded outer region of the brain, in humans it is between 0.5cm deep. It has the highest levels of non- insulated grey matter of any section of the brain. The cortex forms folded protrusions (thus significantly expanding the structure without expanding the volume) called gyri; so much so that more than 75% of the brain lie in these crevices (known as sucli).
The Frontal lobe is the most forward structure of the lobes and is additionally superior to the temporal lobe. This structure of the brain is connected with some of of the the most crucial traits associated with personality (e.g ability to know future results of action taken), learning, impulse control, and priority of actions. It is host to most of the brain’s dopamine receptors (these are the major way through which learning is rewarded).

The temporal lobes are inferior to the frontal and parietal lobe and anterior to the occipital lobe. Studies imply they are the essential portion of the brain involved in declarative memory; damage to the temporal lobes can result in an inability to form memory after the point of damage (anterograde amnesia). They contain the hippocampus (long-term memory) and are concerned auditory and higher visual perception (e.g. facial recognition).

The parietal lobe is anterior of the occipital lobe, behind the frontal lobe and superior of the temporal lobes. The border between the frontal lobe and the parietal lobe is marked by the central sulcus. The border between the occipital lobe and the parietal lobe is marked by the parieto-occipito sulcus and the border between the temporal lobe and the parietal lobe is marked by the lateral sulcus. The parietal lobe coordinates information from multiple senses in order to establish spatial orientation.
The Occipital lobe is the most posterior of all the main lobes of the brain. Anatomically this part contains most of the visual cortex (Brodmann area 17) and damage to the occipital lobes results in essential homonomous vision loss (i.e. the effect is the same in both eyes). The occipital lobes are where shape, colour, and like the temporal lobes, facial recognition take place. Projections from the occipital lobe to the superior temporal-parietal area are critical for perceiving motion of objects.

The basal ganglia are a portion of the corpus striatum and are in essence a set of interconnected nuclei within the brain. Messages from the cerebrum passes to the basal ganglia where it is processed and then relayed back through the thalamus. There are a great deal of connections and pathways within and although the basal ganglia have long been known to be involved in motor function; studies show this is not there sole function, though the exact action in relation to behaviour control have yet to be properly established. Evidence suggests that during learning, basal ganglia and medial temporal lobe memory systems are activated simultaneously and that in some learning situations competitive interference exists between these two systems. One theory suggests the basal ganglia decides which out of a number of possible actions the cortex may be planning, actually gets executed. Fitting this with idea that dopamine is used as a reward system for learning.