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Thalamus—relays visual, auditory, taste, somatosensory information to/from appropriate
areas of cerebral cortex.
Hypothalamus—controls feeding behavior, drinking behavior, body temperature,
sexual behavior, threshold for rage behavior, activation of the sympathetic and parasym-
pathetic systems, and secretion of hormones of the pituitary.
Amygdala—influences emotions such as aggression, fear, and self-protective behaviors.
Hippocampus—enables formation of new long-term memories.
Cerebral cortex—center for higher order processes such as thinking, planning, judg-
ment; receives and processes sensory information and directs movement.
Association areas—areas of the cerebral cortex that do not have specific sensory or
motor functions, but are involved in higher mental functions such as thinking, planning,
communicating.Geographically, the cerebral cortex can be divided into eight lobes, four on the left side and
four on the right side:
Occipital lobes—primary area for processing visual information.
Parietal lobes—front strip is somatosensory cortex that processes sensory information
including touch, temperature, and pain from body parts; association areas perceive
objects.
Frontal lobes—interpret and control emotional behaviors, make decisions, carry out
plans; motor cortex strip just in front of somatosensory cortex initiates movements and
integrates activities of skeletal muscles; produces speech (Broca’s area).
Broca’s area—located in left frontal lobe, controls production of speech.
Temporal lobes—primary area for hearing, understanding language (Wernicke’s area),
understanding music/tonality, processing smell.
Wernicke’s area—located in left temporal lobe, plays role in understanding language
and making meaningful sentences.
Aphasia—impairment of the ability to understand or use language.
Glial cells—supportive cells of the nervous system that guide the growth of developing
neurons, help provide nutrition for and get rid of wastes of neurons, and form an insu-
lating sheath around neurons that speeds conduction.
Neuron—the basic unit of structure and function of your nervous system. Neurons per-
form three major functions: receive information, process it, and transmit it to the rest of
your body.- Cell body—also called the cyton or soma; the part of the neuron that contains
cytoplasm and the nucleus, which directs synthesis of such substances as neuro-
transmitters; - Dendrites—branching tubular processes of neuron that have receptor sites for receiv-
ing information; - Axon—a long, single conducting fiber extending from the cell body of a neuron
that transmits an action potential and that branches and ends in tips called terminal
buttons (a.k.a. axon terminals, or synaptic knobs), which secrete neurotransmitters;
Biological Bases of Behavior ❮ 79