The Four Lobes

Assignment #3: Essay #4

4. Describe the four major lobes of the brain (name and location) and describe what abilities one would lose if damage occurs in each of the lobes.

The Frontal Lobe

The Frontal Lobe is the lobe of the brain that resides in the front portion of the brain above the eyes. This lobe is responsible for movement and planning. If a person were to go out and injure their Frontal Lobe many things would change in their day to day lives, just as Phineas Gage discovered. Activities that we take for granted such as walking to the store and making a shopping list would suddenly become quite difficult after a sustained injury to the Frontal Lobe. Also, our personality would change just as Gage s did.

The Pariental Lobe

The Pariental Lobe is located behind the Frontal Lobe and is in charge of sensory functions. So if one were to injure his or her Pariental Lobe there would be a noticeable loss in senses. Possibly it would become harder for the patient to feel pain and would effect touch and other feelings. In a worst case scenario a musician who damaged the Pariental Lobe would find it harder to play their instrument without the keen sense of touch they once had.

The Temporal Lobe

The Temporal Lobe is located behind the Frontal Lobe and underneath the Pariental Lobe. This lobe of the brain is held accountable for auditory functions, object recognition, and language. It is of course conveniently located above the ears. If one were to damage the Temporal Lobe a person would find that they would be left with a great difficulty hearing things and would not be able to recognize object that they would previously know without even thinking about. A serious blow to the Temporal Lobe would also damage a person s speech. Most likely a speech impediment would incur after the accident.

The Occipital Lobe

The Occipital Lobe is responsible for visionary functions. So as one might have guessed, if an injury occurred to the Occipital Lobe the vision of that person would be damaged. If the injury was serious enough the person might even go blind. This lobe is located in the back section of the brain slightly below the Pariental Lobe. This is also why a hard blow to the back of the head often blurs your vision.