Parts of the Brain

Medulla

• Location: The medulla is a continutaion of the spinal cord. It contains ascending and descending fiber tracts interconnecting the brain and the spinal cord. A majority of the cranial nerves enter and leave the brain from the medulla.
• Function: Several vital autonomic nuclei concerned with respiration, heart action and gastrointestinal function are in the medulla. It controls our breathing, blood pressure and heart rhythms.

Pons

• Location: The pons is the upward continuation of the brain stem. It contains ascending and descending fiber tracts and many additional nuclei.
• Function: The pons plays a major role in feeding behavior and in facial expressions. It also helps in controlling our breathing, blood pressure and heart rhythms.

Midbrain

• Location: The midbrain is the most anterior continuation of the brain stem that still maintains the basic tubular structure of the spinal cord.
• Function: The top portion of the midbrain contains nuclei important for the visual and auditory systems. The bottom portion of the midbrain contains nuclei for the cranial nerves that control eye movement and the lower portions of the brain. A large nucleus called the red nucleus is found here, as is a collection of dark, heavily pigmented cells, the substania nigra. These structures are involved in movement.

Cerebellum

• Location: The cerebellum overlies the pons.
• Function: The cerebellum sends motor fibers to the thalamus, brain stem and several other structures. Although it is involved in a number of various functions, the cerebellum is primarily concerned with the regulation of motor coordination. It plays an important role in learning. The cerebellum fine tunes our motor activity and movement.

Thalamus

• Location: The thalamus is located towards the anterior and dorsal side of the midbrain.
• Function: The thalamus is the final relay station for the major sensory systems that project to the cerebral cortex: the visual, auditory and somatic sensory systems. It plays a role in pain sensation, attention and alertness.

Hypothalamus

• Location: The hypothalamus is the lower portion of the cerebrum at the junction of the midbrain and the thalamus.
• Function: The hyptothalamus interconnects regions of the brain. It secretes hormones that control the pituatary glands, which are responsible for physical growth, fight or flight reactions, sexual responses and many other physical expressions of mental states. The hypothalamus is sometimes called the "mastery control system."

Hippocampus

• Location: The hippocampus is found between the corpus callosum and the temporal lobe.
• Function: The hippocampus provides the structure of the limbic system. It also is involved in the learning and memorization processes.

Basal Ganglia

• Location: The basal ganglia surronds the thalamus and is enclosed by the cerebral cortex and cerebral white matter.
• Function: The basal ganglia forms the major part of the extrapyamidal motor system.

Cerebral Cortex

• Location: The cerebral cortex is the brain's outer covering of cells.
• Function: The cerebral cortex is responsible for visual, auditory and skin-to-brain information. It is also responsible for controlling movements.