Forebrain Research Paper

Forebrain #3

The section I chose is the forebrain which controls the higher functions of the brain, such as thinking, decision making, and dreaming. I chose forebrain #3 which consists of the occipital lobes, parietal lobes, and the somatosensory cortex. The occipital lobes is the visual processing center of the brain containing most of the region of the visual cortex. The occipital lobes are involved in many functions including visual perception, color recognition, reading, comprehension, depth perception, and recognition of object movement. The parietal lobes are where information such as taste, temperature (warmth, cold), and touch are interpreted or processed. Lastly, the somatosensory cortex receives all sensory input from the body.

The development of the forebrain is why humans are so intellectually advanced. A disorder associated with the forebrain is cyclopia which is a rare form of holoprosencephaly. Holoprosencephaly is a complex brain malfunction characterized by failure of the forebrain to separate into two distinct hemispheres. Cyclopia is a birth defect characterized by the failure of the embryonic prosencephalon to properly divide the orbits of the eye into two cavities. Holoprosencephaly is the most common birth defect of the forebrain and midface in humans, and occurs in 1 in 250 pregnancies. The forebrain helps people make wise decisions, damage to this area could result in an increase in impulsivity, leading this person to make harmful decisions. Damage to the forebrain may also result in memory loss. Patients with damaged frontal lobes often complain of minimal to substantial memory loss. Because of this, frontal lobe injuries have been associated with memory

The study focuses on the number of neurons in the brains of more than two dozen species of birds ranging in size from tiny to large. The new study provides an explanation that birds can perform complex behaviors because birds forebrains contain a lot more neurons than anyone had previously thought. The study provides an answer that anatomists have been questioning, which is, how can birds with their small brains perform complicated cognitive behaviors? The study of the bird brain interests me because the size of the bird brain is compared to the size of an unshelled walnut (depending on species of bird), versus the human brain which is about three-four pounds (average size of adult human). The human brain is so much bigger than the bird brain and it contains so many more neurons making humans so much smarter than the bird species or any other animal