Be sure to cite any sources used in addition to your text. 1. Imagine that you a

Question

Be sure to cite any sources used in addition to your text.

1.       Imagine that you are a mad scientist. Bwahhha haha. You operate on unsuspecting victims, I mean patients, because you want to determine how behavior changes when a particular part of the brain is destroyed. Half of the fun you gain from this comes from predicting beforehand how behavior changes. You are ready to make your predictions. For each part of the brain listed below, make up a patient and describe how his or her behavior changes after removal of that brain part.  

For instance, Darren is a professional tennis player who has been on Sports Illustrated covers and is world famous for his backhand and amazing serve. Upon removing the cerebellum, poor unsuspecting Darren now hits himself in the face with his tennis racket and stumbles just trying to get to the court. Newspapers report that Darren must have started drinking because of this change in behavior. Little do they know that you did this!

As a mad scientist, please remove the following parts and describe subsequent behavior changes:

A.      Thalamus

B.      Hippocampus

C.      Pons

D.      Hypothalamus

E.       Corpus Callosum

F.       Amygdala

G.      Broca’s area

H.      Wernicke’s area

Explanation / Answer

A. The thalamus has many functions, including:

The thalamus can be thought of as a "relay station," receiving signals from the brain’s outer regions (cerebral cortex), interpreting them, then sending them to other areas of the brain to complete their job. Though relatively small, the thalamus controls a big part of how our bodies function and respond to the world around us.

B. Hippocampus- When hippocampus is removed people loose their fear of death; others start lying incessantly; a few may became pedophiles. Deficit in the hippocampus tends to damage the processing of vital cues

C. Pons- When pons are affected pons devastating consequences of brain stem takes place. It results in a condition called locked-in syndrome. In locked-in, all the survivor's higher cognitive functions are intact, but they can only move their eyes up and down.

D. Hypothalamus- One of the most important functions of hypothalamus is that it connects the nervous system to the endocrine system through the pituitary gland. Its important role is that it helps in the production of hormones and helps in stimulating many important processes in the body. It is also that part of the brain which maintains homeostasis and also governs our hunger, thirst or sexual needs. The hormones from the hypothalamus takes care of physiological functions like regulating the temperature, thirst, hunger sleep mood, sex drive, besides this it also releases the hormones of various organs within the human body. Hypothalamus is one of the major glands of the endocrine system.Therefore, biological needs are governed by hypothalamus.

E. Corpus Callosum- The effects are-

F. Amygdala- Widespread changes in human emotionality will take place. People will find difficulty in feeling pain, will be more anxious and will have difficulty in decision making.

G. Broca's Area- No overt changes but changes in persoanlity and mood will occur.

H. Werneicke's Area-  It is involved in the comprehension or understanding of written and spoken language. Therefore, language comrehension will be lost.

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