Brain Areas – Neuroanatomy · FCPS Part 1

💡Nuclei

Region	Nucleus	Function
Pons	Abducens nucleus	Lateral rectus
	Facial nucleus	Facial expression
	Superior salivatory	Parasympathetic (saliva, tears)
	Trigeminal nuclei	Face sensation
	Superior olivary	Hearing
	Pontine nuclei	Cerebellar relay
Medulla	Hypoglossal nucleus	Tongue movement
	Nucleus ambiguus	Pharynx & larynx
	Dorsal motor vagus	Parasympathetic output
	Solitary nucleus	Taste + visceral sensation
	Gracile & cuneate	Body sensation
	Inferior olive	Motor coordination

💡Brain Areas

Structure	Function	In Depression
Amygdala	Fear/emotion	Overactive
Hippocampus	Memory + stress regulation	Shrinks
Prefrontal cortex	Emotional control	Underactive
Anterior cingulate	Motivation/emotion	Dysfunction
Hypothalamus	Physical stress response	Dysregulated
Raphe nuclei	Serotonin	Decreased
VTA → nucleus accumbens	Reward	Decreased dopamine

💡Brodmann Areas

Function	Brodmann Area
Voluntary movement	4
Motor planning	6
Eye movements	8
General sensation	3, 1, 2
Vision	17
Visual association	18, 19
Hearing	41, 42
Speech production	44, 45
Speech comprehension	22
Taste	43
Reading and writing	39
Smell	28

Brodmann Area	Brain Lobe	Name / Area	Function	Hints
4	Frontal	Primary motor cortex (precentral gyrus)	Voluntary movement
6	Frontal	Premotor + supplementary motor area	Motor planning
8	Frontal	Frontal eye field	Eye movements
44, 45	Frontal (inferior frontal gyrus)	Broca’s area	Motor speech production	Broka = BROKen speech
9, 10, 11, 12	Frontal	Prefrontal cortex	Personality, judgment, decision-making
3, 1, 2	Parietal	Primary somatosensory cortex (postcentral gyrus)	Touch, pain, temperature, proprioception
Area 3: Area 1: Area 2:			Primary arrival zone (detects raw touch, pressure, and muscle stretch). Processes surface textures and pattern Processes size, shape, and joint angles (overall 3D object perception)
5, 7	Parietal	Somatosensory association cortex	Interpretation of sensation
39	Parietal	Angular gyrus	Reading, writing, language integration
40	Parietal	Supramarginal gyrus	Language + sensory integration
43	Parietal (operculum)	Primary gustatory cortex	Taste
17	Occipital	Primary visual cortex	Vision
18, 19	Occipital	Visual association cortex	Visual interpretation
41, 42	Temporal	Primary auditory cortex	Hearing
22	Temporal	Wernicke’s area	Language comprehension	Wernicke = WHAT (comprehension?)
21, 20	Temporal	Association cortex	Visual + auditory recognition
38	Temporal pole	Limbic association area	Emotion + memory integration
28	Temporal (medial)	Olfactory cortex	Smell
23, 24, 32	Limbic (cingulate gyrus)	Limbic cortex	Emotion, motivation, pain processing