What does your brain do?
The brain is responsible for everything we do. It controls all movements, sensations, speech, thoughts and emotions. Surprisingly, for such an important organ, the brain is very soft, almost the consistency of jelly. The brain would easily be injured if it was not contained by the skull.
Anatomy of the brain
The Frontal Lobe
Our brain’s frontal lobe controls executive functions, like emotion regulation, planning, reasoning and problem solving.
The Brain Stem
Our brain stem controls our life sustaining functions, like heart rate and breathing.
The Cerebellum
The cerebellum controls our coordination.
The Temporal Lobe
The temporal lobe of the brain controls how we process information, including recognising language, forming memories, and hearing.
The Occipital Lobe
The occipital lobe controls how we process things visually, such as distance, identifying objects and surroundings.
The Parietal Lobe
The brain’s parietal lobe controls our senses, including touch, temperature, pressure and pain.
The brain is made up of two halves – the right and left hemispheres. The right hemisphere controls the left side of the brain and the left hemisphere controls the right side of the brain.
Each half of the brain is made up of sections called lobes. There are four lobes and each one has a special function.
The brain also includes the cerebellum, which controls coordination, and the brain stem which controls vital functions like heart rate and breathing. It’s useful to understand the functions of the brain to know how they can be impacted when a particular part of the brain is injured.
Brain Functions
The frontal lobe controls…
- Planning
- Reasoning
- Problem solving
- Regulating emotions
- Attention
The frontal lobe controls
- Planning
- Reasoning
- Problem solving
- Regulating emotions
- Attention
- Decision-making
- Judgement
- Motivation
- Spontaneity
- Sequencing
- Verbal expression
- Voluntary movement
- Emotional, social and sexual control
The parietal lobe controls…
- Touch
- Temperature
- Pressure
- Pain
- Awareness of body parts
The parietal lobe
- Touch
- Temperature
- Pressure
- Pain
- Awareness of body parts
- Hand-eye coordination
- Academic skills
- Left/right organisation
- Object naming
- Visual attention
The temporal lobe controls…
- Behaviour (aggressive)
- Processing information
- Recognising language
- Forming memories
- Hearing information
The temporal lobe
- Behaviour (aggressive)
- Processing information
- Recognising language
- Forming memories
- Hearing information
- Face recognition
- Musical awareness
- Categorising objects
- Locating objects
- Selective attention
The occipital lobe controls…
- Processing distance
- Identifying objects
- Recognising surroundings
- Reading (recognising and understanding printed words)
The Cerebellum controls…
- Coordination of voluntary movement
- Eye movement
- Balance and equilibrium
- Postural control
- Gross and fine motor coordination
The Brain stem controls…
- Balance and movement
- Heart rate
- Breathing
- Temperature
- Level of alertness
Brain stem
- Balance and movement
- Heart rate
- Breathing
- Temperature
- Level of alertness
- Swallowing food and fluid
- Regulating sleep
