What Are The Different Parts Of The Brain?
When we think of brain injuries, too often we put them into a category. However, the brain operates as a system. When one part of the system is broken, it affects the other parts as well. This article is to explain the different functions and changes associated with injuries to different parts of the brain.
The different parts of the brain are the Frontal Lobe, Parietal Lobe, Temporal Lobe, Occipital Lobe, Cerebellum, and Brain Stem. They each serve a different function.
What Are The Different Functions Of Each Part?
The frontal lobe controls our attention, motivation, emotion, judgment, problem solving, decision making, and verbal expression. This list is not exhaustive, but it gives us a good idea of how important the frontal lobe is to communicate with others on a daily basis.
The temporal lobe controls our short-term memory, receptive language, language comprehension, selective attention, object categorization, face recognition, and behavior. Among other things, the temporal lobe is where a lot of the process happens. See something and knowing what it is.
The parietal lobe controls our touch, awareness of body parts, object naming, right/left organization, visual attention, academic skills, and hand-eye coordination. The parietal lobe has a lot of wide-ranging functions, but in the end, it is critical to functioning in society and the workplace.
The occipital lobe controls visual perception, visual processing, and reading. Although a shorter list, imagine not being able to read after your head injury! Imagine not being able to perceive and process what you are seeing with your eyes!
The cerebellum controls our coordination of voluntary movement, motor skills, posture control, balance and equilibrium, and eye movement. This is a critical piece of our functionality on a daily basis. When anyone with a head injury has trouble walking, running, moving, writing, anything, it means that their cerebellum was affected.
The brain stem controls our autonomic nervous system, alertness, sleep regulation, swallowing food and fluids, and balance/movement.
When The Brain Is Damaged, The System Is Out Of Sync
In order to realize what is affected after brain damage, all you need to do is look at the list of functions each part is responsible for and imagine it is impacted. Many of the issues with brain injury cases are the fact that they appear to be silent because there may not be any physically observable signs and symptoms to the eye.
For example, when a brain injury affects the frontal lobe, our clients will generally have issues with attention, problem-solving, speaking, and impulse control. They will also have personality changes.
When one of our clients has damage to their occipital lobe, we will notice changes in their vision, ability to identify colors, ability to recognize objects moving, difficulty reading and writing, and processing of visual information. We learn these issues by spending time with our clients and their family or friends. Our job is to find the stories that will show us these issues and bring them to light.
I can keep on going as to how when each part of the brain is damaged, certain functions are impaired. However, I view brain injury cases as a whole-body injury. These are not temporary, these are permanent. Brain damage is not mild, it is serious.
How Can The Button Law Firm Help?
I am the Vice President of the Board of Directors for a local 501(c)(3) non-profit clubhouse for brain injury survivors called BIND. I have visited and continue to work with brain injury support groups throughout DFW and the State of Texas to help provide those with a brain injury the resources they may need. Our firm works with experts in the brain injury community to help create awareness and better treat those with brain injuries.
Whether you or a loved one has a question about a potential case or wants more information on brain injury resources in your area, we are here for you. Let us know how we can help and what other information you would like. We would be glad to provide it for you. You can reach us by calling 214-699-4409 or filling out our Contact Us form.
Also, check out our FREE book on personal injuries in the State of Texas which covers brain injuries as well. You can download our book with the link provided: The Essential Guide To Your Texas Injury Case. We hope this book is helpful to you.
