Primer: Anatomy of the Brain
January 2, 2023
You know it looks like a walnut, and you know it's in your skull... want to learn some more? This primer offers an overview of the different areas of the brain and what they do.
Introductory
Terms
Lobe: a lobe is one of the four distinct regions of the cerebrum (the wrinkly-looking top part of the brain).
Cortex: The outer layer of the brain- the wrinkly gray matter. Often we refer to the cortex of a particular area. If you want to refer to the cortex of the frontal lobe, you don't have to say the "frontal lobe cortex". You can simply say, "frontal cortex."
Hemisphere: A hemisphere is one half of the brain- specifically the left or the right half.
The Three Pieces of the Brain
Brainstem: You can think of this as the primordial brain; it does all those things that keep you alive that you don’t have to think about, like digestion, breathing, and temperature regulation. It basically sits between the spinal cord to the rest of the brain, and in a lot of illustrations it looks like the stem of a head of broccoli poking out- it’s easy to spot.
If you were suddenly a star in a soap opera and found yourself in a coma, this is the part of your brain that you would be using- you wouldn’t be doing anything interesting, but your brainstem would still keep managing your body so that you could awake at a dramatically convenient time.
Cerebellum: This part of the brain sits below the cerebrum (defined below), and looks like a little mini-brain wearing the rest of the brain as a hat.
If you were suddenly in a zombie movie as a zombie, this part of your brain would let you stand, move, walk, and chase the heroes… but you wouldn’t be able to talk, or think, or make clever choices or write that novel you’ve been meaning to write.
Cerebrum: If I asked you to draw a brain, this is the part you’d probably draw. It’s the big wrinkly part that sits atop the other two. The left and right halves (hemispheres) look pretty symmetrical. This part of the brain is what lets us think and talk and do fine motor skills like putting on eyeliner. Maybe you’ve heard of something being too cerebral, or brainy- that word can help you remember which part of the brain is responsible for the ability to think!
If you've been imagining yourself in any of the previous scenarios, then congratulations... you've been using your cerebrum!
The Lobes of the Cerebrum
There are 4 lobes on each of the hemispheres of the brain. Each one is named for the part of the skull that covers it. There’s one on the bottom, and the three more that go from the front to the back and sit atop the bottom one.
Temporal Lobe
The lobe on the bottom is the Temporal Cortex.
The temporal lobe is responsible for hearing, understanding language, putting things into sequence, and memory.
How to remember the name: If you held a watch up to your ear to hear it tick, you’d hold it near your temporal lobe. (Temporal means “related to time”)
Frontal Lobe
The lobe in the front of your cerebrum is called your Frontal Cortex. That one is easy to remember!
The frontal lobe responsible for a lot of what makes you… you! Personality, emotions, intelligence, self-awareness, and more live here.
Parietal Lobe
The middle lobe is called the Parietal Cortex.
The parietal lobe is responsible for a lot of interpretation of data. We interpret words and language using this area, as well as managing our visual perception.
How to remember the name: If people perceived you sprouting moose antlers out of your parietal lobe, you’d risk being a social pariah! (A pariah is someone who is an outcast)
Occipetal Lobe
The lobe at the back of your head is called the Occipital Cortex.
The occipital lobe is responsible for vision in the basic sense; if you think about the way that sometimes when you’re deep in thought you can be staring at something but not really seeing it, you can imagine that your occipital lobe is doing the staring, and the parietal lobe is just not doing the processing.
How to remember the name: The ox who likes to stop and stare at the flowers will end up at the back of the herd (ox, petal, visual, back of the herd/head…. Get it?).
That's it!
Now you know the main areas of the brain. This article only focused on the big parts- the overall anatomy- while a future article will discuss the little parts like neurons and synapses.
There is (always) more to learn about the brain, but hopefully this nibble of information is an interesting start for you!
Text-Only Version of
Primer: Anatomy of the Brain
You know it looks like a walnut, and you know it's in your skull... want to learn some more? This primer offers an overview of the different areas of the brain and what they do.
Introductory Terms
Lobe: a lobe is one of the four distinct regions of the cerebrum (the wrinkly-looking top part of the brain).
Cortex: The outer layer of the brain- the wrinkly gray matter. Often we refer to the cortex of a particular area. If you want to refer to the cortex of the frontal lobe, you don't have to say the "frontal lobe cortex". You can simply say, "frontal cortex."
Hemisphere: A hemisphere is one half of the brain- specifically the left or the right half.
The Three Pieces of the Brain
Brainstem: You can think of this as the primordial brain; it does all those things that keep you alive that you don’t have to think about, like digestion, breathing, and temperature regulation. It basically sits between the spinal cord to the rest of the brain, and in a lot of illustrations it looks like the stem of a head of broccoli poking out- it’s easy to spot.
If you were suddenly a star in a soap opera and found yourself in a coma, this is the part of your brain that you would be using- you wouldn’t be doing anything interesting, but your brainstem would still keep managing your body so that you could awake at a dramatically convenient time.
Cerebellum: This part of the brain sits below the cerebrum (defined below), and looks like a little mini-brain wearing the rest of the brain as a hat.
If you were suddenly in a zombie movie as a zombie, this part of your brain would let you stand, move, walk, and chase the heroes… but you wouldn’t be able to talk, or think, or make clever choices or write that novel you’ve been meaning to write.
Cerebrum: If I asked you to draw a brain, this is the part you’d probably draw. It’s the big wrinkly part that sits atop the other two. The left and right halves (hemispheres) look pretty symmetrical. This part of the brain is what lets us think and talk and do fine motor skills like putting on eyeliner. Maybe you’ve heard of something being too cerebral, or brainy- that word can help you remember which part of the brain is responsible for the ability to think!
If you've been imagining yourself in any of the previous scenarios, then congratulations... you've been using your cerebrum!
The Lobes of the Cerebrum
There are 4 lobes on each of the hemispheres of the brain. Each one is named for the part of the skull that covers it. There’s one on the bottom, and the three more that go from the front to the back and sit atop the bottom one.
Temporal Lobe
The lobe on the bottom is the Temporal Cortex.
The temporal lobe is responsible for hearing, understanding language, putting things into sequence, and memory.
How to remember the name: If you held a watch up to your ear to hear it tick, you’d hold it near your temporal lobe. (Temporal means “related to time”)
Frontal Lobe
The lobe in the front of your cerebrum is called your Frontal Cortex. That one is easy to remember!
The frontal lobe responsible for a lot of what makes you… you! Personality, emotions, intelligence, self-awareness, and more live here.
Parietal Lobe
The middle lobe is called the Parietal Cortex.
The parietal lobe is responsible for a lot of interpretation of data. We interpret words and language using this area, as well as managing our visual perception.
How to remember the name: If people perceived you sprouting moose antlers out of your parietal lobe, you’d risk being a social pariah! (A pariah is someone who is an outcast)
Occipetal Lobe
The lobe at the back of your head is called the Occipital Cortex.
The occipital lobe is responsible for vision in the basic sense; if you think about the way that sometimes when you’re deep in thought you can be staring at something but not really seeing it, you can imagine that your occipital lobe is doing the staring, and the parietal lobe is just not doing the processing.
How to remember the name: The ox who likes to stop and stare at the flowers will end up at the back of the herd (ox, petal, visual, back of the herd/head…. Get it?). Sure, it's a stretch- but sometimes weird silly things are easier to remember anyway!
That's it!
Now you know the main areas of the brain. This article only focused on the big parts- the overall anatomy- while a future article will discuss the little parts like neurons and synapses.