The brain is the body's decision and communication center. It controls every part of a person's daily life, from breathing to learning and from perception to speaking. Although scientists have a clear understanding of where and how people process sensory information in the brain, it is still difficult for neuroscience to explain how people learn and where memories are stored in the brain.
Memory and Learning
Memory and learning, among the most complicated cognitive processes, are controlled by several areas of the brain. This is partly due to the fact that there are so many different types of memories. The prefrontal cortex is essential for storing information for brief periods of time.
Long-term memory processing is even more complicated than short-term memory processing. When new memories are forming, the hippocampus of the brain is at work. This area is unusually slow to mature, which might explain why humans cannot remember much from the first years of life.
The function of learning is thought to also change the structure and function of neurons in the brain. Scientists with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute say that their 2010 research results show it may be possible to use fewer neurons during the learning process and use them more efficiently. Neurons in mice appeared to coordinate activity in response to learning activities. This could explain why a task becomes easier to perform the more a person performs it.
Language
Language is mainly processed at the level of the cortex. In most right handed people, the left hemisphere of the cortex is the home of language processing. In left handed people, either the left or the right hemisphere can dominate language processing.
The most well-known language areas in the cortex are Broca's and Wernicke's areas. The Wernicke's area, located in the temporal lobe, is responsible for understanding language, whereas Broca's area in the frontal cortex, is responsible for speech production.
Despite the fact that the left hemisphere is mainly responsible for language processing, the right hemisphere has some language-related tasks as well. It seems to control the intonation in speech and is also responsible for understanding sarcasm and following indirect requests, says RightHemisphereLanguage.html.
Perception and Sensation
Different lobes in the cortex are responsible for one particular sensory system. For example, the temporal lobe processes auditory stimuli, the parietal lobe is the home of the somatosensory system, the occipital lobe is processes visual information, and the frontal lobe is responsible for planning, controlling and executing movements.
The cortex is mainly responsible for interpreting stimuli that a person sees or hears. The more basic level processing, such as processing the color that a person sees or the loudness of a sound, happens at lower levels before the information enters the cortex. If a person has damage at the level of the cortex, he may not be aware of what he sees, for example.
Emotions
Emotions are mainly processed by the limbic system. It is composed of the hypothalamus, the amygdala and the septum.
The hippocampus plays an essential role in memory formation. People who have sustained damage to the hippocampus can still recall old memories, for instance, but are unable to form new ones.
The amygdala controls feelings of anger and aggression; damage to this part of the brain can affect perception. For example, monkeys with lesions in the amygdala were observed handling animals that they typically fear, such as snakes, according to the 2004 online article in UCDavis Magazine, "Fear, Itself." The septum, which regulates the brain's electrical activity, is involved in the expression of anger and fear as well.
Basic Life Functions
The area of the brain that is mainly responsible for sustaining such basic life functions is called the brain stem. It is the pathway from the spinal cord to the higher parts of the brain. This area is responsible for heart rate, respiration, breathing, arousal, digestion and blood pressure. The reticular activating system in the brain stem controls wakefulness and alertness. Damage to this area can lead to drowsiness, coma or even death.
