Expository Essay on the Human Brain

1913 Words8 Pages
The human brain can be considered the most complex organ in the human body and also the centrepiece of the nervous system. Although the brain works as a unified whole, neuroscientists can identify areas within it that perform specific functions. Your brain is organized into three interconnected layers: the central core, limbic system and the cerebral cortex, all of which contain structures that regulate everyday life. (The Human Brain, Discovering Psychology) The central core is found in all vertebrates. Its five main regions help regulate basic life processes, including breathing, pulse, arousal, movement, balance and sleep and the early stage of processing sensory information. The central core consists of the thalamus which relays sensory and motor signals to cerebral cortex, the pons which relay signals from the forebrain to the cerebellum, the cerebellum which deals with motor control, the reticular formation which deals with multiple tasks such as regulating the sleep-wake cycle and filtering incoming stimuli to discriminate irrelevant background stimuli, and finally the medulla which contains the cardiac, respiratory, vomiting and vasomotor centers and so deals with the autonomic (involuntary) functions of breathing, heart rate and blood pressure. (The Central Core, Discovering Psychology) The limbic system exists only in mammals. Its regions mediate motivated behaviours, emotional states, and memory processes. The limbic system regulates body temperature, blood pressure, blood sugar level, and other housekeeping activites. The limbic system contains the Hippocampus, the amygdala and the hypothalamus. Some researchers of memory focus their studies on the limbic system. Memory function is partly organized by the hippocampus which collects and relays memory information to other layers of the brain. Memory-impairing conditions like Alzheimer’s

More about Expository Essay on the Human Brain

Open Document