Lobes

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Frontal Lobes

The largest area of the human brain. Responsible for what are known as higher level functions such as thinking, planning, judgment, imagination.

An important area in the frontal lobes is Broca’s area which is responsible for our ability to speak. This area is not the word understanding area, that lays further back, but it is responsible for coordinating mouth and tongue and jaw muscles so that we can speak. Other primates, and human beings are considered as primates, such as gorilllas, can learn sign language but they do not have an equivalent of Broca’s area that makes it possible for them to speak like we do.

Occipital Lobes

Contain our visual cortex. The term “cortex” refers to a specific functional area - the term lobe refer to a distinct anatomical division.

Right at the back is where the image from the eye is projected. The image on its own does not mean much to the brain - the brain must learn how to understand a visual image. It is known that in people born blind whose sight has been surgically restored when adults, it can take between 2 and 4 months for the brain to tell the difference between a circle and a square - even though the eyes are now seeing exactly the same as anyone else.

This understanding is achieved by what are known as association area. There are two main visual association areas - the peristriate cortex and the parastriate cortex. The actual area at the back which has the visual projection is known as the striate cortex.

Parietal Lobe

Has different functions in the two brains. Typically the left brain contains Wernicke’’s area which is a general interpretation area. Not just language as we know it - deaf and dumb people use this area to know sign language.

These are distinct anatomical divisions. In the lobes there are different cortex areas meaning functional areas, that is areas which look after specific functions. A cortex may span more than one lobe or may be a small portion of a lobe.

Temporal Lobes

These lay on the side of the brain. Important in memory, and understanding taste and smell.

The visual association areas also depend on the memory areas mainly in the temporal lobe in order to understand that which is being seen.