Exploring Brain Activities and Structures in Physiological Psychology

This essay delves into the intricate relationship between brain activities and specific brain structures within the realm of physiological psychology. It examines how the temporal, frontal, and parietal lobes collaborate during reading, with the temporal lobe facilitating phonological awareness, the frontal lobe managing speech production and grammar, and the parietal lobe integrating different brain regions. Furthermore, it explores the amygdala, hypothalamus, and thalamus's roles in processing fear when watching horror movies, detailing how the amygdala senses threats, the hypothalamus governs defensive responses, and the thalamus relays signals leading to adrenaline release. Lastly, the essay discusses the Broca's area, Wernicke's area, and angular gyrus's involvement in speech, highlighting Broca's area for speech production, Wernicke's area for language comprehension, and the angular gyrus for integrating language-related information. The essay concludes by emphasizing the brain's role in processing sensory information and enabling various human activities.

Running head: PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Brain structures
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
The brain is the major organ that panels the major functions of the human body. It is
responsible for controlling the memory, thoughts, movement of the legs and arms, speech,
and function of other organs present within the human body. The central nervous system
(CNS) forms an essential component of the nervous system and comprises of the brain and
spinal cord (Messé, Arnaud et al.). The essay will link three brain activities with specific
structures.
Reading your textbook- The reading brain can be compared to the real-time collective
effort of a masterpiece orchestra, with different parts of the brain employed together, like
segments of instruments, to exploit the aptitude to decipher the written script placed in front
of the person. The three main brain structures that are involved in reading a textbook are the
temporal lobe, the frontal lobe, and the parietal lobe. The temporal lobe has the capability of
creating a phonological awareness in the person reading the book and also assists in decoding
or discriminating sounds (Dimond). The frontal lobe has the role of handling production of
speech, grammatical usage, reading fluency and comprehension. This facilitates the
understanding complex and simple grammar of the book language. The supramarginal and
angular gyrus present in the parietal lobe act as "reading integrators" and function in the form
of a conductor, connecting the different regions of the brain, with the aim of executing the
accomplishment of reading.
Watching a horror movie- The three primary areas of the brain that are involved in
watching a horror movie are the amygdala, hypothalamus, and the thalamus. The role of the
amygdala in fear is more central. It is accountable for sensing and responding to intimidations
that originate during a horror movie watch and contribute to development of feelings of fear.
The amygdala activities that are driven by detection of threat modify the information
processing in varied areas of the brain (Maren et al.). There lies a distinguishable neural
circuitry in relation to defensive retorts to fear conditioning, which is related to predators,

2PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
painful stimuli, and dominant conspecifics, all of which are governed by the hypothalamus.
Upon receiving sensory stimuli from the amygdala, the thalamus sends the signals to different
regions of the brain that lead to adrenaline and stress hormone (cortisol) release, which in
turn activate the reaction to the movie.
Giving a speech- The three prime areas that oversee the process of speech are the
Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area and the angular gyrus. Broca’s area present in the left
hemisphere, helps in speech production and enunciation. It governs the articulation of ideas
and use of accurate words in spoken language. The Wernicke’s area present in the posterior
superior temporal lobe is connected to the Broca’s area through a neural pathway and helps in
processing and comprehension of the spoken language (Penfield, Wilder and Lamar Roberts).
The angular gyrus relates numerous auditory, sensory, and visual language-related
information.
To conclude, the brain obtains information via five senses namely, smell, taste, touch,
sight, and hearing. The messages are assembled in a method that helps human beings to carry
out different activities, and store relevant information in the memory.

3PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
References
Dimond, Stuart J. Neuropsychology: A textbook of systems and psychological functions of the
human brain. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2013.
Maren, Stephen, K. Luan Phan, and Israel Liberzon. "The contextual brain: implications for
fear conditioning, extinction and psychopathology." Nature Reviews Neuroscience 14.6
(2013): 417.
Messé, Arnaud, et al. "Relating structure and function in the human brain: relative
contributions of anatomy, stationary dynamics, and non-stationarities." PLoS computational
biology 10.3 (2014): e1003530.
Penfield, Wilder, and Lamar Roberts. Speech and brain mechanisms. Vol. 62. Princeton
University Press, 2014.