Zombified Brains

Unit: Nervous System EQ: How does the nervous system receive and interpret signals from the outside world and communicate them to the body? Zombified Brains The zombie apocalypse is upon us, and—uh-oh—you’ve all been infected! Your hunger for brains is insatiable. Luckily for you, other schools did not complete Ms. Wolcott’s nerve flossing, and so you were all able to outrun and overpower them. Each of you got your hands on just the brain you needed. Being anatomy students, naturally, you chose to eat the brain lobe by lobe, piece by piece. However, you noticed some side effects as you ate—and not just your arms falling off… Consult Chapter 8 (pages 266-271) in your textbook (Martini - Essentials 7th ED) to help you identify which section of the brain is being eaten based on the side effects zombie-you is experiencing based on the functions of each part of the brain and answer the subsequent questions. 1. As you eat, you notice that you start to lose control over your body. When you eat from the right portion of the brain, your left side spasms; when you eat from the left side, the right side of your body loses all control. Further, you have lost your ability to concentrate, solve complex problems, and judge the consequences of an action, and so you decide to keep eating from this section of the brain. As you eat from the left hemisphere, you also stop being able to speak. a. Which part of the brain are you eating? The Frontal Lobe b. What were the key functions given that led you to that conclusion? The key functions were motor control; ability to concentrate, solve complex problems, judge the consequences of an action; left hemisphere ability to speak. c. Why does the left side of the brain control movement on the right side of the body and viceversa? The left side of the brain controls movement on the right side of the body and vice-versa because most of the axons involved in triggering motor responses cross over from one side of the brain to the other. This is all within the brain stem. d. Why did you stop being able to talk as you continued eating? Did it matter that it was specific to the left hemisphere? You could not continue talking while eating the left hemisphere because the left hemisphere is what gives you the ability to speak. 2. You move on to your next section of the brain. As you eat from this section, you stop being able to hear very well—or at least being able to make sense of what you’re hearing. You start to lose some of your memory of visual and auditory patterns and begin to experience a severe sense of deja-vu. a. Which part of the brain are you eating? Temporal Lobe b. What were the key functions given that led you to that conclusion? The key function were how it was affecting your hearing and also your memory. Since they have lost memories thay have also eaten the hippocampus which is located in the temporal lobe. c. What sulcus primarily separates this section of the brain from others? Which others? The sulcus that primarily separates the temporal lobe from the frontal and partiatal lobe is the lateral salcus. 3. You continue eating. As you eat this section, you lose sensation in your skin and are no longer able to feel the brain in your cold, rotÝng hands. You try to yell to a friend in frustration, but realize that you can no longer use words. You look at a nearby sign and find that you can no longer read it, even though you could before—the words now seem like gibberish. You look back at the brain in your hands and realize you’ve already consumed the left hemisphere, so you might as well continue on and finish off the right. a. Which part of the brain are you eating? The Parietal Lobe b. What were the key functions given that led you to that conclusion? The parietal lobe is what controls tactile sensory information; pressure, touch and pain. c. Why did you stop being able to produce and understand words? Did it matter that it was specific to the left hemisphere? The broca area is what helps form sounds to help pronounce words, to speak sensibly you would need the frontal, temporal, and and partial lobes. As you can see they have eaten very important lobes that helped the body and person process, move and talk. 4. You have one piece of the cerebrum left. As you eat, everything you see around you stops making sense. Are you going blind? Your eyes still work, don’t they? But you don’t recognize anything you’re seeing anymore—not even the friend you tried to call out to before. a. Which part of the brain are you eating? The occipital Lobe b. What were the key functions given that led you to that conclusion? The occipital lobe is what controls vision, since they can no longer see they have just ate the occiptial lobe, which is located on the back of the brain. c. Where in the cerebrum is this lobe located? (Use directional terminology to explain!) This lobe is located at the back portion of the brain above the cerebellum. 5. Finished with the cerebrum, you are not satisfied—you decide to keep eating. In one large bite, you eat several structures all at once. Your vision goes haywire and shuts down completely, your heart rate increases, you’re suddenly wide awake, and your emotions are in uproar. a. Which part of the brain are you eating? The Hypothalamus b. What were the key functions given that led you to that conclusion? Their heart rate increased, emotions were uproar, your vision is now damaged since you finished off the occipital lobe. c. What system is controlled by this part of the brain? Why is it important? In the hypthalamus you will find that this part of the brain controls hunger, emotions, body temperature and circadian rhythms. The system controlled by this part of the brain is the nervous system. 6. In another large bite, you consume 2 sections at once—however, due to your decay and the side effects from the other portions of the brain, the only change you notice is that your breathing has lost all rhythm. a. Which part of the brain are you eating? The brain Stem b. What were the key functions given that led you to that conclusion? The brain stem controls breathing c. Which other part of the brain did you probably eat on the way? What is its function? The medulla oblongata passes messages between your spinal cord and brain. It regulates your cardiovascular and respiratory system. 7. You pluck off a mass attached to what you’ve been eating from and pop it in your mouth. Once you chew and swallow, you feel yourself lose a sense of balance and posture—you hunch into the zombie you were afraid of becoming. You develop tremors and twitches, and when you walk, you reel. a. Which part of the brain are you eating? Cerrbellum b. What were the key functions given that led you to that conclusion? The cerebellum controls balance and coordination c. Would we consider the functions affected voluntary or involuntary? Why? involuntary because as stated in the sentence “You lose a sense of…” also you start to develop tremors and twitches. 8. Nearly full and very distraught, you are ready to eat your last section of the brain. Once you do, your heart rate changes yet again, your blood pressure fluctuates drastically, and your breathing becomes deep then shallow with no rhythm. Random reflexes shoot off and you cough then swallow then sneeze. a. Which part of the brain are you eating? The Medulla b. What were the key functions given that led you to that conclusion? Random reflexes, breathing problems, heart rate. c. What phenomenon would cause blood pressure to increase? What would cause it to decrease? Stress especially in this situation, they are turning into something they are afraid of and they dont know how to stop. If they understood how to stop it, they would be less stressed out. Suddenly, everything in your body stops. You go slack-jawed, and your mind goes blank. You gaze in front of you at the faint outline of, what, another zombie? No, a human. You glide your decaying leg along the ground and reach out after them, groaning, “BRAAAAAAAAAAIIIINNNSSSSSS……..”