Institute on Neuroscience

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Institute on Neuroscience ION/Teach
Build-A-Brain!
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This Is Your Brain
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Directional Terms
Middle English words for front, back, top and
bottom
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Nonhuman animals are oriented differently
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So are their brains
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The Cerebrum

• Parietal Lobe
• perception related to
• touch
• pressure
• temperature
• pain

• Frontal Lobe
• reasoning
• planning
• parts of speech
• movement
• emotions
• problem-solving

• Occipital Lobe
• Vision or sight

• Temporal Lobe
• Hearing or audition
• memory

Lobes are only organized like this in the brains
of mammals
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Brain Stem Spinal Cord

• Diencephalon

-Hypothalamus the 4 Fs -Thalamussensory relay
station

• Midbrain

-Tectum -Processing visual and
auditory stimuli -Lower vertebrates
vision -Tegmentum -basal ganglia motor
activity

• Hindbrain

-Pons - bridge (plus nuclei) -Medulla
oblongata -Cerebellum
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The Cerebellum

• Functions
• coordination of balance, locomotion and movement
• Note
• All vertebrates have a cerebellum which varies
  in size depending on the class of animals

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Brain Complexity Surface Area

• Convolutions folds
• Increase surface area
• Reflect more complexity
• (in cerebrum and/or cerebellum only)

How does this brain compare to other vertebrate
brain models?
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Vertebrate Brain Diversity

• Brain diversity across vertebrate classes
• Size of forebrain related to "intelligence" of
  species
• behavioral complexity?
• Compare across species to consider
  structure-function relations
• e.g. olf bulb or cerebellum

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Vertebrate Brains and Brain Diversity
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Brain Diversity Adaptations

• Understanding an animals behavior or how it
  interacts with its environment can help you make
  predictions about what its brain might look like
• Knowing about an animals brain can help you make
  predictions about its behavior or sensory systems
• Relative brain size is more important than
  overall brain size

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Who has the best brain?
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That depends on what you need it for.
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• Evolutionary increase in relative brain size.
• Humans and several other animals have much larger
  brains than expected, based on body mass.
• Ratio was named the encephalization quotient,
  by H. J. Jerison.

• Hypothesized reasons
• climate change
• eating fruit!
• improved
• vasculature
• neoteny

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How are dog and cat brains different?

• Which do you think has a proportionally larger
  olfactory bulb?
• How about cerebral cortex? Which has more
  wrinkles (convolutions)?
• How about the cerebellum? Which is bigger?
  Which has more convolutions?

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Dog vs. Cat
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Brains and Behavior of Aquatic Mammals A
Comparison of Dolphins, Sea Lions and Manatees
Comparison Porpoise Sea Lion Manatee
Class Mammal Mammal Mammal
Primary way to find food (forage) echolocation visual tactile
Diet shrimp, fish fish sea grasses
Vocalizations complex -- mother-pup I.D.
Territorial no yes no
Dominance hierarchy yes yes no
Tricks Acrobatic/balance Acrobatic/balance --
Olfaction Lobes and nerves absent Pup I.D. probably
Cerebral cortex Guess! Guess! Guess!
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Sea Lion
Bottle-nose Dolphin
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Marine Mammal Florida Manatee
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Compare Marine Mammal Brains
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Consider These Brains
Forebrain/Cortex
Midbrain (Visual)
Cerebellum (Coordination)
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What do these brains tell you about the behavior
of these animals?
Forebrain/Cortex
Midbrain (Visual)
Cerebellum (Coordination)
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Now Build Your Own Brain!

• It can be a brain from a real or imaginary
  creature
• Supplies Play-Doh (at least four different
  colors), your imagination, and hands!
• What does the relative size of different brain
  regions say about the environment of the animal?