Understanding the Five Major Areas of the Brain

The brain is made up of five major areas, all of which serve as individual power houses that process conscious thought, control emotional and physical reactions, store memory and much more.  Through brain mapping, scientists have been able to slowly understand which parts of the brain are responsible for certain functions, study the aftermath of a stroke, conduct case studies on mental disorders, and implement small electric shocks on certain areas of the brain.

The brain can be divided up into many ways, but it can be categorized in the most general sense by the cerebrum and cerebellum. The cerebrum consists of the left and right hemispheres, which is how the brain is often depicted to the public. The cerebellum sits at the base of the brain near the brain stem.  The cerebrum also houses five out of five of the major areas of the brain.

 

Frontal Lobe

Frontal LobeThe frontal lobe is the last portion of the brain that fully develops and is not fully “grown” until after a person passes from adolescence into adulthood. This portion of the brain is also the largest. The hub of neurons that reside there are considered to be responsible for decision making, analytical thought, language, conscious movement and conscious thought.

An underdeveloped frontal lobe is the cause of a teenager’s notoriously risky behavior and impulses because this part of the brain is still trying to strengthen the existing neurons. If the neurons are weak and improperly sending signals to other parts of the brain, then the brain cannot send signals of potential emotional or physical harm to the rest of the body.

 

Parietal LobeParietal Love

The parietal lobe is responsible for collecting the five senses – sound, sight, touch, taste and smell – to create a total awareness of what is currently happening. It interprets the data sent from other various data gathering areas of the brain that cannot connect the dots individually.

The parietal lobe helps to create awareness of one’s environment: who, what, where, and when through touch, pressure, pain, and spatial attention.

 

occipital lobeOccipital Lobe

Located in the back of the brain, the occipital lobe is used mainly for collection of visual data and stimuli, which is sent to the parietal lobe for conscious processing.

The type of information collected by this portion of the brain includes colors, motion of objects, and visual orientation.

 

Temporal Lobetemporarl lobe

The temporal lobe is mainly responsible for memory and can encompass a surprising amount of functions. These functions include recognition of facial features, recognition of a face he or she has seen before, recognition of objects, understanding words, and language structure.

Prosopagnosia, a brain injury to the temporal lobe, can cause an inability among some people to remember the faces that they see. This makes it impossible for them to recognize their family, friends or even themselves in a mirror.

  1. Home
  2. News
  3. Understanding the Five Major Areas of the Brain

Have a Question? Let’s discuss it.

  • View our list of Insurance companies we currently accept.

    Any message submitted cannot be guaranteed to be received, read or answered, within any specific timeframe. PLEASE DO NOT submit sensitive or confidential information via email. The Holiner Psychiatric Group cannot guarantee the delivery and/or confidentiality of any email message submitted. A physician is on call for urgent matters after office hours. If this is a medical emergency, please call 911. For the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, please call 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

 

Menu