Brain Structure - Brain Theory from a Circuits and Systems Perspective - page 2

Fig. 1.1 Overview schematic of the brain (courtesy Human_Brains, Wikipedia Commons, Octo-
ber 2012)
with it, including what we term consciousness, often equated below to conscious
short-term memory.
The cerebrum consisting of the prefrontal cortex and the frontal lobe is where
this topic begins. The other three lobes serve mainly to reduce sensory information
to a logical format representing attributes that are usable in the frontal lobe. Time
and space unfortunately do not permit analyses of the backmost three lobes. The
focus in this topic is on generating an intelligent stream of consciousness while
leaving for another time the encoding of sensory information into attributes.
Frontal Lobe
The frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex is thought to be where important memories
are activated for decisions and actions. It is in front of the ears. The human frontal
lobes and the prefrontal cortex directly behind the forehead are thought to serve to
provide solutions to problems, either novel or familiar, possibly generic solutions
that have been worked out beforehand and stored in long-term memory. A back-to-
front architecture is theorized for the cortical areas: The back area contains models
of and can recognize danger; the front area stores and enables appropriate
responses. Many mental disorders such as attention deficits, frontal lobe dementia,
and schizophrenia are known to be caused by malfunctions in the frontal lobes.