Summary and Objectives

• Explain key concepts such as neural tube, axon, synapse, dendrite, terminal buttons, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, and occipital lobe,
• Discuss neural development from embryo to adolescence and describe the implications of neural pruning.
• Apply what you’ve learned to think about “Why this matters?” by looking at the effects of damage at different ages.

Links

• Parts of the Neuron Song (also as mp3)
• Diagram of the Nervous System
• More on Nerves
• Neural Development
• All about the brain and spinal cord
• Cranial Nerves
• Split Brain Patients
• Phineas Gage Information
• Quick Picture of Phineas (from Ripley’s Wax Mueseum)
• More information on Brain Damage
• Incredible story about a man with almost no brain.
• Great book summarizing Brain Rules for Adults and Babies.
• Potential link between synaptic pruning and schizophrenia.