BRAIN

The human brain is responsible for all behaviors, thoughts, and

experiences described in this textbook. This module provides an
introductory overview of the brain, including some basic neuroanatomy, and
brief descriptions of the neuroscience methods used to study it.

Learning Objectives

• Name and describe the basic function of the brain stem,

cerebellum, and cerebral hemispheres.

• Name and describe the basic function of the four cerebral

lobes: occipital, temporal, parietal, and frontal cortex.

• Describe a split-brain patient and at least two important

aspects of brain function that these patients reveal.

• Distinguish between gray and white matter of the cerebral

hemispheres.

• Name and describe the most common approaches to

studying the human brain.

• Distinguish among four neuroimaging methods: PET, fMRI,

EEG, and DOI.

• Describe the difference between spatial and temporal

resolution with regard to brain function.

Introduction

Any textbook on psychology would be incomplete without reference to

the brain. Every behavior, thought, or experience described in the
other modules must be implemented in the brain. A detailed
understanding of the human brain can help us make sense of human
experience and behavior. For example, one well-established fact about
human cognition is that it is limited. We cannot do two
complex tasks at once: We cannot read and carry on a conversation at
the same time, text and drive, or surf the Internet while listening to a lecture,
at least not successfully or safely. We cannot even pat our head and rub our
stomach at the same time (with exceptions, see “A Brain Divided”). Why is
this? Many people have suggested that such limitations reflect the fact that
the behaviors draw on the same resource; if one behavior uses up most of
the resource there is not enough resource left for the other. But what might
this limited resource be in the brain?

 The brain uses oxygen and glucose, delivered via the

blood. The brain is a large consumer of these metabolites, using 20% of
the oxygen and calories we consume despite being only 2% of our total
weight. However, as long as we are not oxygen-deprived or

malnourished, we have more than enough oxygen and glucose

to fuel the brain. Thus, insufficient “brain fuel” cannot explain our
limited capacity. Nor is it likely that our limitations reflect too few
neurons. The average human brain contains 100 billion neurons. It is also
not the case that we use only 10% of our brain, a myth that was likely
started to imply we had untapped potential. Modern neuroimaging (see
“Studying the Human Brain”) has shown that we use all parts of brain, just
at different times, and certainly more than 10% at any one time.
If we have an abundance of brain fuel and neurons, how can we explain our
limited cognitive abilities? Why can’t we do more at once? The most likely
explanation is the way these neurons are wired up. We know, for
instance, that many neurons in the visual cortex (the part of the brain
responsible for processing visual information) are hooked up in such a way
as to inhibit each other (Beck & Kastner, 2009). When one neuron fires, it
suppresses the firing of other nearby neurons. If two neurons that are
hooked up in an inhibitory way both fire, then neither neuron can fire as
vigorously as it would otherwise. This competitive behavior among neurons
limits how much visual information the brain can respond to at the same
time. Similar kinds of competitive wiring among neurons may underlie many
of our limitations. Thus, although talking about limited resources provides an
intuitive description of our limited capacity behavior, a detailed
understanding of the brain suggests that our limitations more likely reflect
the complex way in which neurons talk to each other rather than the
depletion of any specific resource.

The Anatomy of the Brain

There are many ways to subdivide the mammalian brain, resulting in some
inconsistent and ambiguous nomenclature over the history of
neuroanatomy (Swanson, 2000). For simplicity, we will divide the brain into
three basic parts: the brain stem, cerebellum, cerebral
hemispheres (see Figure 1). In Figure 2, however, we depict other
prominent groupings (Swanson, 2000) of the six major subdivisions of the
brain (Kandal, Schwartz, & Jessell, 2000).

Brain Stem

The brain stem is sometimes referred to as the “trunk” of the brain. It

is responsible for many of the neural functions that keep us alive,
including regulating our respiration (breathing), heart rate, and digestion.
In keeping with its function, if a patient sustains severe damage to the brain
stem he or she will require “life support” (i.e., machines are used to keep him
or her alive). Because of its vital role in survival, in many countries a person
who has lost brain stem function is said to be “brain dead,” although other
countries require significant tissue loss in the cortex (of the cerebral
hemispheres), which is responsible for our conscious experience, for the
same diagnosis. The brain stem includes the medulla, pons, midbrain,
and diencephalon (which consists of thalamus and hypothalamus).
Collectively, these regions also are involved in our sleep–wake cycle, some
sensory and motor function, as well as growth and other hormonal
behaviors. Figure 2. A sample of neuroanatomy nomenclature. The colored boxes indicate the different
groupings of the seven structures printed in black, with the labels matching the color of the boxes. The
hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain nomenclature stems from the development of the vertebrate brain; these
three areas differentiate early in embryonic development and later give rise to the structures listed in black.
These three areas further subdivide into the telencephalon, diencephalon, mesencephalon, metencephalon, and
myelencephalon at a later stage of development.
Cerebellum

The cerebellum is the distinctive structure at the back of the brain.

The Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle aptly referred to it as the
“small brain” (“parencephalon” in Greek, “cerebellum” in Latin) in order to
distinguish it from the “large brain” (“encephalon” in Greek, “cerebrum” in
Latin). The cerebellum is critical for coordinated movement and posture.
More recently, neuroimaging studies (see “Studying the Human Brain”) have
implicated it in a range of cognitive abilities, including language. It is
perhaps not surprising that the cerebellum’s influence extends beyond that
of movement and posture, given that it contains the greatest number of
neurons of any structure in the brain. However, the exact role it plays in
these higher functions is still a matter of further study.

Cerebral Hemispheres

The cerebral hemispheres are responsible for our cognitive abilities

and conscious experience. They consist of the cerebral cortex and
accompanying white matter (“cerebrum” in Latin) as well as
the subcortical structures of the basal ganglia, amygdala, and
hippocampal formation. The cerebral cortex is the largest and most visible
part of the brain, retaining the Latin name (cerebrum) for “large brain” that
Aristotle coined. It consists of two hemispheres (literally two half spheres)
and gives the brain its characteristic gray and convoluted appearance; the
folds and grooves of the cortex are called gyri and sulci (gyrus and sulcus if
referring to just one), respectively.

The two cerebral hemispheres can be further subdivided into four

lobes: the occipital, temporal, parietal, and frontal lobes. The occipital
lobe is responsible for vision, as is much of the temporal lobe.
The temporal lobe is also involved in auditory processing,
memory, and multisensory integration (e.g., the convergence of
vision and audition). The parietal lobe houses the somatosensory
(body sensations) cortex and structures involved in visual
attention, as well as multisensory convergence zones.
The frontal lobe houses the motor cortex and structures
involved in motor planning, language, judgment, and decision-
making. Not surprisingly then, the frontal lobe is proportionally larger in
humans than in any other animal.

The subcortical structures are so named because they reside beneath the
cortex. The basal ganglia are critical to voluntary movement and
as such make contact with the cortex, the thalamus, and the
brain stem. The amygdala and hippocampal formation are part of
the limbic system, which also includes some cortical structures. The limbic
system plays an important role in emotion and, in particular, in aversion and
gratification.

A Brain Divided

The two cerebral hemispheres are connected by a dense bundle of

white matter tracts called the corpus callosum. Some functions are
replicated in the two hemispheres. For example, both hemispheres are
responsible for sensory and motor function, although the sensory and
motor cortices have a contralateral (or opposite-side) representation; that
is, the left cerebral hemisphere is responsible for movements and sensations
on the right side of the body and the right cerebral hemisphere is responsible
for movements and sensations on the left side of the body. Other functions
are lateralized; that is, they reside primarily in one hemisphere or the other.
For example, for right-handed and the majority of left-handed individuals, the
left hemisphere is most responsible for language.

There are some people whose two hemispheres are not connected,
either because the corpus callosum was surgically severed (callosotomy) or
due to a genetic abnormality. These split-brain patients have helped us
understand the functioning of the two hemispheres. First, because of the
contralateral representation of sensory information, if an object is placed in
only the left or only the right visual hemifield, then only the right or left
hemisphere, respectively, of the split-brain patient will see it. In essence, it is
as though the person has two brains in his or her head, each seeing half the
world.

Interestingly, because language is very often localized in the left

hemisphere, if we show the right hemisphere a picture and ask the patient
what she saw, she will say she didn’t see anything (because only the left
hemisphere can speak and it didn’t see anything). However, we know that
the right hemisphere sees the picture because if the patient is asked to press
a button whenever she sees the image, the left hand (which is controlled by
the right hemisphere) will respond despite the left hemisphere’s denial that
anything was there. There are also some advantages to having disconnected
hemispheres. Unlike those with a fully functional corpus callosum, a split-
brain patient can simultaneously search for something in his right and left
visual fields (Luck, Hillyard, Mangun, & Gazzaniga, 1989) and can do the
equivalent of rubbing his stomach and patting his head at the same time
(Franz, Eliason, Ivry, & Gazzaniga, 1996). In other words, they exhibit less
competition between the hemispheres.

Gray Versus White Matter

The cerebral hemispheres contain both grey and white matter, so

called because they appear grayish and whitish in dissections or in an MRI
(magnetic resonance imaging; see, “Studying the Human Brain”). The gray

matter is composed of the neuronal cell bodies (see module,

“Neurons”). The cell bodies (or soma) contain the genes of the cell and are
responsible for metabolism (keeping the cell alive) and synthesizing
proteins. In this way, the cell body is the workhorse of the cell. The white

matter is composed of the axons of the neurons, and, in

particular, axons that are covered with a sheath of myelin (fatty
support cells that are whitish in color). Axons conduct the electrical signals
from the cell and are, therefore, critical to cell communication. People use
the expression “use your gray matter” when they want a person to think
harder. The “gray matter” in this expression is probably a reference to the
cerebral hemispheres more generally; the gray cortical sheet (the convoluted
surface of the cortex) being the most visible. However, both the gray matter
and white matter are critical to proper functioning of the mind. Losses
of either result in deficits in language, memory, reasoning, and other
mental functions. See Figure 3 for MRI slices showing both the inner white
matter that connects the cell bodies in the gray cortical sheet.

figure 3. MRI slices of the human brain.

Both the outer gray matter and inner white
matter are visible in each image. The brain is
a three-dimensional (3-D) structure, but an
image is two-dimensional (2-D). Here, we
show example slices of the three possible 2-
D cuts through the brain: a saggital slice (top
image), a horizontal slice (bottom left),
which is also know as a transverse or axial
slice, and a coronal slice (bottom right). The
bottom two images are color coded to match
the illustration of the relative orientations of
the three slices in the top image.
Studying the Human Brain

How do we know what the brain does? We have gathered knowledge

about the functions of the brain from many different methods. Each method
is useful for answering distinct types of questions, but the strongest
evidence for a specific role or function of a particular brain area
is converging evidence; that is, similar findings reported from
multiple studies using different methods.

One of the first organized attempts to study the functions of the brain
was phrenology, a popular field of study in the first half of the 19th century.
Phrenologists assumed that various features of the brain, such as its uneven
surface, are reflected on the skull; therefore, they attempted to correlate
bumps and indentations of the skull with specific functions of the brain. For
example, they would claim that a very artistic person has ridges on the head
that vary in size and location from those of someone who is very good at
spatial reasoning. Although the assumption that the skull reflects the
underlying brain structure has been proven wrong, phrenology nonetheless
significantly impacted current-day neuroscience and its thinking about the
functions of the brain. That is, different parts of the brain are devoted to
very specific functions that can be identified through scientific inquiry.

Neuroanatomy

Dissection of the brain, in either animals or cadavers, has been a

critical tool of neuroscientists since 340 BC when Aristotle first published his
dissections. Since then this method has advanced considerably with the
discovery of various staining techniques that can highlight particular cells.
Because the brain can be sliced very thinly, examined under the microscope,
and particular cells highlighted, this method is especially useful for studying
specific groups of neurons or small brain structures; that is, it has a very
high spatial resolution. Dissections allow scientists to study changes in the
brain that occur due to various diseases or experiences (e.g., exposure to
drugs or brain injuries).

Virtual dissection studies with living humans are also conducted. Here,
the brain is imaged using computerized axial tomography (CAT) or MRI
scanners; they reveal with very high precision the various structures in the
brain and can help detect changes in gray or white matter. These changes in
the brain can then be correlated with behavior, such as performance on
memory tests, and, therefore, implicate specific brain areas in certain
cognitive functions.

Changing the Brain

Some researchers induce lesions or ablate (i.e., remove) parts of the

brain in animals. If the animal’s behavior changes after the lesion, we can
infer that the removed structure is important for that behavior. Lesions of
human brains are studied in patient populations only; that is, patients who
have lost a brain region due to a stroke or other injury, or who have had
surgical removal of a structure to treat a particular disease (e.g., a
callosotomy to control epilepsy, as in split-brain patients). From such case
studies, we can infer brain function by measuring changes in the
behavior of the patients before and after the lesion.
Because the brain works by generating electrical signals, it is also
possible to change brain function with electrical stimulation.

 Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) refers to a technique whereby a

brief magnetic pulse is applied to the head that temporarily induces a weak
electrical current in the brain. Although effects of TMS are sometimes
referred to as temporary virtual lesions, it is more appropriate to describe the
induced electricity as interference with neurons’ normal communication with
each other. TMS allows very precise study of when events in the brain
happen so it has a good temporal resolution, but its application is limited
only to the surface of the cortex and cannot extend to deep areas of the
brain.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is similar to TMS except

that it uses electrical current directly, rather than inducing it with magnetic
pulses, by placing small electrodes on the skull. A brain area is stimulated by
a low current (equivalent to an AA battery) for a more extended period of
time than TMS. When used in combination with cognitive training, tDCS has
been shown to improve performance of many cognitive functions such as
mathematical ability, memory, attention, and coordination (e.g., Brasil-Neto,
2012; Feng, Bowden, & Kautz, 2013; Kuo & Nitsche, 2012).

Neuroimaging

Neuroimaging tools are used to study the brain in action; that

is, when it is engaged in a specific task.
  Positron emission tomography (PET) records blood flow in the brain.
The PET scanner detects the radioactive substance that is injected into the
bloodstream of the participant just before or while he or she is performing
some task (e.g., adding numbers). Because active neuron populations
require metabolites, more blood and hence more radioactive substance
flows into those regions. PET scanners detect the injected radioactive
substance in specific brain regions, allowing researchers to infer that those
areas were active during the task.

 Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) also relies on blood

flow in the brain. This method, however, measures the changes in oxygen
levels in the blood and does not require any substance to be injected into the
participant. Both of these tools have good spatial resolution (although not as
precise as dissection studies), but because it takes at least several seconds
for the blood to arrive to the active areas of the brain, PET and fMRI have
poor temporal resolution; that is, they do not tell us very precisely when the
activity occurred.

Electroencephalography (EEG), on the other hand, measures the electrical

activity of the brain, and therefore, it has a much greater temporal resolution
(millisecond precision rather than seconds) than PET or fMRI. Like tDCS,
electrodes are placed on the participant’s head when he or she is performing
a task. In this case, however, many more electrodes are used, and they
measure rather than produce activity. Because the electrical activity picked
up at any particular electrode can be coming from anywhere in the brain,
EEG has poor spatial resolution; that is, we have only a rough idea of which
part of the brain generates the measured activity.

Diffuse optical imaging (DOI) can give researchers the best of both worlds:
high spatial and temporal resolution, depending on how it is used. Here, one
shines infrared light into the brain, and measures the light that comes back
out. DOI relies on the fact that the properties of the light change when it
passes through oxygenated blood, or when it encounters active neurons.
Researchers can then infer from the properties of the collected light what
regions in the brain were engaged by the task. When DOI is set up to detect
changes in blood oxygen levels, the temporal resolution is low and
comparable to PET or fMRI. However, when DOI is set up to directly detect
active neurons, it has both high spatial and temporal resolution.

Because the spatial and temporal resolution of each tool varies, strongest
evidence for what role a certain brain area serves comes from converging
evidence. For example, we are more likely to believe that the hippocampal
formation is involved in memory if multiple studies using a variety of tasks
and different neuroimaging tools provide evidence for this hypothesis. The
brain is a complex system, and only advances in brain research will show
whether the brain can ever really understand itself.