- Basal Ganglia
The basal ganglia are a group of varied nuclei in the brain. This region of the brain accounts for for functions such as habit formation, voluntary motor control, cognition, and emotional function
- Broca’s Area
The Broca’s area is the region of the brain that deals with speech production and understanding of language. This is not to be confused with the Wernicke’s area (which will be covered later). The Broca’s area of the brain deals with the building blocks and formulation of language, with aspects such as vocabulary and grammar.
- Cerebral Cortex
The cerebral cortex is the outer portion of the cerebrum. It is the top layer of the brain and is only a few millimeters thick. Many vital functions happen in this part of the brain, therefore it is split up into separate lobes. The four main lobes to be talked about here are: the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, and the occipital lobe.
- Frontal Lobe
- Parietal Lobe
- Temporal Lobe
- Occipital Lobe
This is the area of the brain is involved in decision making, problem solving, and planning. Most of the dopamine sensitive neurons of the cerebral cortex are located in the frontal lobe. Dopamine is the feel-good chemical that your body releases into your brain to make you happy. It is usually used as a reward to encourage certain behaviors.
2. Parietal Lobe
The parietal lobe is the area of the brain that receives and processes sensory information. This area of the brain complies information that is being collected by the other parts of the brain and compiles them so we can make sense of them. This allows us to map out a sense of spatial awareness based on what we receive from our senses.
3. Temporal Lobe
The temporal lobe deals with functions such as emotional responses, memory, and speech. It contains an area of the brain called the hippocampus, which is the long-term memory storage area of the brain.
4. Occipital Lobe
The occipital lobe deals with vision and color recognition.
- Corpus Callosum
This area of the brain is the region that connects the right hemisphere with the left hemisphere. It is covered in white matter tracts. White matter tracts are the fibers which information is processed through in the brain.
- Wernicke’s Area
This area of the brain is similar to the Broca’s area that was discussed earlier. Both deal with language information. The difference is that while the Broca’s area focuses on the building blocks and formulation of language, Wernicke’s area deals more with the comprehension of language.
Now that you are familiar with the major regions of the forebrain, proceed to the next page which catalogs benefits of musicianship by these regions.