Nervous System Physiology

The brain stem is anatomically composed of the midbrain, the pons, and the medulla oblongata. It connects the cerebrum to the spinal cord.

Statement (a) is correct (midbrain, pons, medulla). Statement (c) is correct (medulla controls vital functions). Statement (d) is correct (cerebellum maintains balance/gyroscope). Statement (b) is often debated in nomenclature, but (a, c, d) are clearly correct.

This is a duplicate of the previous question. Statements (a), (c), and (d) are accurate descriptions of brain anatomy and function.

The Aqueduct of Sylvius (cerebral aqueduct) is a narrow canal that connects the third ventricle to the fourth ventricle, passing through the midbrain.

Brainstem connects the cerebrum to the spinal cord. It consists of the midbrain (mesencephelon), medulla oblongata and the pons (parts of the hind brain). It relays information between the cerebrum and the spinal cord.

The medulla oblongata is a cone shaped neuronal mass in the hindbrain which connects higher level of both brain and spinal cord. It serves in several functions of the autonomous nervous system (ANS) such as involuntary actions like heart rate, breathing, swallowing, sneezing and digestion by the sympathetic and parasympathetic response. 

Cerebrum is a part of forebrain and makes up about two third of the human brain, and consists of two cerebral hemispheres joined by a curved thick band of nerve fibres called corpus callosum whereas cerebellum is a part of hindbrain and is only 1/8th the size of the cerebrum and lies under occipital lobe, dorsal to brain stem.

The brain stem controls the flow of messages between the brain and the rest of the body, and it also controls basic body functions such as breathing, swallowing, heart rate etc... The brainstem is divided into three sections in humans: the midbrain (mesencephalon) which governs rudimentary vision and hearing, pons varolii (metencephalon) which links the cerebellum to the cerebrum and the medulla oblongata (myelencephalon) which controls breathing, swallowing, blood pressure, and heart rate.

Broca's area is the motor speech area and Wernicke's area plays role in understanding speech and writing words.

The left hemisphere receives sensory input from the right side, is typically dominant for language (speech production and understanding), and connects to the right hemisphere via the corpus callosum. It is not generally larger than the right hemisphere; in fact, the two are roughly symmetrical in size.

The diencephalon consists primarily of the thalamus, hypothalamus, and epithalamus. Pons is part of the brainstem, basal ganglia are subcortical nuclei in the cerebrum, and corpora quadrigemina are in the midbrain.

Forebrain consists of two regions; namely cerebrum and diencephalon. A deep cleft divides the cerebrum longitudinally into two halves, which are termed as the left and right cerebral hemispheres. Each cerebral hemisphere is divided into four lobes, viz., frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe and temporal lobe. The frontal lobe is associated with intelligence, memory, judgment, problem-solving ability and controls voluntary activities. The parietal lobe is associated with the sense of touch, temperature, pressure, and pain. The temporal lobe is associated with the sense of taste, hearing, and smell. The occipital lobe is associated with sight.

Piameter is the innermost membrane of the brain and arachnoid is the middle membrane. The space between arachnoid and piameter is caleed sub-arachnoid space. This space is filled with cerebrospinal fluid.

Broca's area is a region in the frontal lobe of the dominant hemisphere, usually the left, that is specifically responsible for the motor production of speech.