Reference notes
The essentials
Inside the skull, floating in cerebrospinal fluid.
- Size
- Roughly two clenched fists
- Weight
- 1.3 to 1.4 kg
- Daily
- Uses about 20% of the body's energy
- Location
- Protected within the skull
- Blood supply
- Internal carotid and vertebral arteries
- Function
- Processes and coordinates signals
Read all anatomy notes · 7
Frontal lobe
Planning, decisions, personality and voluntary movement.
Motor cortex
The precentral gyrus, where movement commands start.
Parietal lobe
Touch, spatial sense and the body map.
Occipital lobe
Visual cortex, where signals from the eyes are decoded.
Cerebellum
Balance, coordination and the timing of movements.
Brainstem
Breathing, heart rate and the link to the spinal cord.
Basilar artery
Runs in front of the pons and helps supply the brainstem and posterior brain.