This post is a list of major human brain regions. There are 25 regions listed below alphabetically. License:
CC BY-SA 3.0
1. Amygdalae - (fear and anger)
"Shown to perform a primary role in the processing of memory, decision making and emotional responses (including fear, anxiety and aggression), the amygdalae are considered part of the limbic system." (
Wikipedia: Amygdala, 8.4.21 UTC 02:14)
2. Cerebellum - (coordination)
"The human cerebellum does not initiate movement, but contributes to coordination, precision and accurate timing: it received input from sensory systems of the spinal cord and from other parts of the brain, and integrates these inputs to fine-tune motor activity." (
Wikipedia: Cerebellum, 6.18.21 UTC 06:13)
3. Claustrum - (consciousness)
"The claustrum has been shown to have widespread activity to numerous cortical components, all of which have been associated with having components of consciousness and sustained attention." (
Wikipedia: Claustrum, 7.25.21 UTC 05:34)
4. Corpus Callosum - (connects left and right sides)
"The corpus callosum... is a wide, thick nerve tract, consisting of a flat bundle of commissural fibers beneath the cerebral cortex in the brain... It spans part of the longitudinal fissure, connecting the left and right cerebral hemispheres, enabling communication between them." (
Wikipedia: Corpus callosum, 7.30.21 UTC 15:33)
5. Fornix - (output of hippocampus)
"The fornix is a C-shaped bundle of nerve fibers in the brain that acts as the major output tract of the hippocampus." (
Wikipedia: Fornix, 8.10.21 UTC 18:22)
6. Frontal lobe (cerebrum) - (decision-making)
"The entirety of the frontal cortex can be considered the 'action cortex', much as the posterior cortex is considered the 'sensory cortex'. It is devoted to action of one kind or another: skeletal movement, ocular movement, speech control and the expression of emotions." (
Wikipedia: Frontal lobe, 8.2.21 UTC 19:00)
7. Globus pallidus - (subconscious movement)
"The globus pallidus is a structure in the brain involved in the regulation of voluntary movement. It is part of the basal ganglia, which, among many other things, regulate movements that occur on the subconscious level." (
Wikipedia: Globus pallidus, 10.25.20 UTC 19:20)
8. Hippocampus - (memory)
"The hippocampus is part of the limbic system, and plays important roles in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long term memory, and in spatial memory that enables navigation." (
Wikipedia: Hippocampus, 7.5.20 UTC 06:09)
9. Hypothalamus - (hormone regulation)
"The hypothalamus is responsible for the regulation of certain metabolic processes and other activities of the autonomic nervous system. It synthesizes and secretes certain neurohormones, called releasing hormones or hypothalamic hormones, and these in turn stimulate or inhibit the secretion of hormones from the pituitary gland." (
Wikipedia: Hypothalamus, 8.12.21 UTC 04:33)
10. Medulla oblongata - (breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, sleep)
"The medulla contains the cardiac, respiratory, vomiting and vasomotor centers and therefore deals with the autonomic functions of breathing, heart rate and blood pressure as well as the sleep wake cycle." (
Wikipedia: Medulla oblongata, 4.8.21 UTC 20:42)
11. Midbrain - (vision, hearing, coordination, sleep, temperature)
"The midbrain... is associated with vision, hearing, motor control, sleep and wakefulness, arousal (alertness), and temperature regulation." (
Wikipedia: Midbrain, 6.22.21 UTC 00:52)
12. Nucleus Accumbens - (reward)
"As a whole, the nucleus accumbens has a significant role in the cognitive processing of motivation aversion, reward (i.e. incentive salience, pleasure, and positive reinforcement) and reinforcement learning (e.g. Pavlovian-instrument transfer); hence, it has a significant role in addiction. " (
Wikipedia: Nucleus accumbens, 8.9.20 UTC 21:19)
13. Occipital lobe (cerebrum) - (vision)
"The occipital lobe is the visual processing center of the mammalian brain... The occipital lobe is divided into several functional visual areas. Each visual area contains a full map of the visual world." (
Wikipedia: Occipital lobe, 7.22.21 UTC 20:21)
14. Olfactory bulb - (smell)
"It sends olfactory information [smell] to be further processed in the amygdala, the orbitofrontal cortex [frontal lobe] and the hippocampus where it plays a role in emotion, memory and learning." (
Wikipedia: Olfactory bulb, 7.6.21 UTC 00:38)
15. Optic nerve - (connects eyes to brain)
"The optic nerve... is a paired cranial nerve that transmits visual information from the retina to the brain. In humans, the optic nerve... extends from the optic disc to the optic chiasma nad continues as the optic tract to the lateral geniculate nucleus [thalamus], pretectal nuclei [midbrain], and superior colliculus [midbrain]." (
Wikipedia: Optic nerve, 7.14.21 UTC 21:06)
16. Parietal lobe (cerebrum) - (touch, navigation)
"The parietal lobe integrates sensory information among various modalities, including spatial sense and navigation (proprioception), the main sensory receptive area for the sense of touch in the somatosensory cortex... The major sensory inputs from the skin (touch, temperature and pain receptors) relay through the thalamus to the parietal lobe." (
Wikipedia: Parietal lobe, 7.5.21 UTC 09:14)
17. Pineal gland - (melatonin and sleep)
"The primary function of the pineal gland is to produce melatonin. Melatonin has various functions in the central nervous system, the most important of which is to help modulate sleep patterns." (
Wikipedia: Pineal gland, 8.14.21 UTC 07:32)
18. Pons - (breathing, hearing, taste, touch, eating, facial expression, etc.)
"The functions of [the pons] include regulation of respiration, controls involuntary actions, sensory roles in hearing, equilibrium, and taste, and in facial sensations such as touch and pain, as well as motor roles in eye movement, facial expressions, chewing, swallowing, and the secretion of saliva and tears." (
Wikipedia: Pons, 7.10.21 UTC 07:03)
19. Spinal cord - (connects body parts to brain)
"The spinal cord functions primarily in the transmission of nerve signals from the motor cortex to the body, and from the afferent fibers of the sensory neurons tot he sensory cortex. It is also center for coordinating many reflexes and contains reflex arcs that can independently control reflexes." (
Wikipedia: Spinal cord, 8.5.21 UTC 04:35)
20. Striatum - (reward, impulsivity)
"The ventral striatum, and the nucleus accumbens in particular, primarily mediates reward, cognition, reinforcement, and motivational salience, whereas the dorsal striatum primarily mediates cognition involving motor function, certain executive functions (e.g. inhibitory control and impulsivity), and stimulus-response learning..." (
Wikipedia: Striatum, 8.6.21 UTC 18:42)
21. Substantia nigra - (eye movement, motor planning, reward)
"The substantia nigra is an important player in brain function, in particular, in eye movement, motor planning, reward-seeking, learning, and addiction. Many of the substantia nigra's effects are mediated through the striatum. The dopaminergic input to the striatum via the nigrostriatal pathway is intimately linked with striatum's function." (
Wikipedia: Substantia nigra, 6.5.21 UTC 08:19)
22. Subthalamic nucleus - (motor control)
"The function of the subthalamic nucleus is unknown, but current theories place it as a component of the basal ganglia control system that may perform action selection. It is thought to implement the so-called 'hyperdirect pathway' of motor control, contrasting with the direct and indirect pathways implemented elsewhere in the basal ganglia." (
Wikipedia: Subthalamic nucleus, 5.24.21 UTC 01:56)
23. Temporal lobe (cerebrum) - (language, visual memory)
"The temporal lobe is involved in processing sensory input in derived meanings for the appropriate retention of visual memory, language comprehension, and emotion association." (
Wikipedia: Temporal lobe, 5.16.21 UTC 03:15)
24. Thalamus - (relay station)
"The thalamus has multiple functions, generally believed to act as a relay station, or hub, relaying information between different subcortical areas and the cerebral cortex. In particular, every sensory system (with the exception of the olfactory system) includes a thalamic nucleus that receives sensory signals and sends them to the associated primary cortical area." (
Wikipedia: Thalamus, 7.14.21 UTC 02:24)
25. Ventricular system - (cerebrospinal fluid)
"The ventricular system is a set of four interconnected cavities (ventricles or lumen) in the brain. Within each ventricle is a region of choroid plexus which produces the circulating cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)." (
Wikipedia: Ventricular system, 5.6.21 UTC 13:13)
