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Brain regions, brain mapping and plasticity – cortex, cerebellum, medulla, homunculus and LTP

BiologyHuman & Animal PhysiologyAges 16–17

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Tap a schematic brain, seen from the side or cut down the middle, to find the cerebral cortex areas (motor, somatosensory, visual, auditory, Broca's, Wernicke's, prefrontal), the cerebellum, the medulla, the hypothalamus, the hippocampus and other structures. Find out how lesion studies, electrical stimulation, EEG, fMRI and PET scans reveal what each area does, and what each method cannot show. A motor cortex screen shows the homunculus body map changing with practice and recovering after a stroke, and a synapse screen shows long-term potentiation, the strengthening of synapses during learning.

Lesson: The brain – regions, mapping methods and plasticity

What it shows

The brain is divided into regions with different jobs. The cerebral cortex handles conscious thought, senses, movement, language and memory; the cerebellum coordinates muscle activity and balance; the medulla controls unconscious activities such as heart rate and breathing. Scientists mapped these regions by studying patients with brain damage, by stimulating the brain electrically during surgery, and with scanners such as EEG, fMRI and PET, each with strengths and limits. The brain is also plastic: practice, injury and learning reshape its maps and strengthen its synapses.

How to use

On the Brain map screen, choose Side view or Midline view and a Method, then tap the brain or an area button; for fMRI scan or PET scan choose a Task, for EEG choose a State. On Motor cortex and plasticity, pick a Body map and a Body part, then press Practise 1 week, 1 week without practice or Stroke here. On Synapse learning, send bursts or a 1 Hz train and tick Block NMDA receptors.

Parameters you can change

  • Screen Brain map, Motor cortex and plasticity, Synapse learning (LTP)
  • Brain view Side view, Midline view (cut in half)
  • Method Explore functions, Lesion (damage), Electrical stimulation, EEG, fMRI scan, PET scan
  • Task during fMRI or PET Rest, Tap fingers of the right hand, Listen to speech, Say words aloud, Look at a picture, Solve a puzzle, Learn a new route
  • Body map Motor (movement), Somatosensory (touch)
  • Show labels on the drawings

Questions to explore

  1. Why did doctors learn about Broca's area from patients with brain damage rather than from healthy people?
  2. What can EEG show better than fMRI, and what can fMRI show better than EEG?
  3. Why does the motor cortex give more space to the fingers and lips than to the trunk?

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