What even is a brain injury?

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Dependent on what part of the brain is affected, people are going to present differently!

When a person is diagnosed with a brain injury, you will be told which side of the brain is affected as well as which section of the brain is affected. 

1. Left Side: The left side of the brain is responsible for language, logic, analytical thinking, and processing details and facts. The left side of the brain controls right side of the body and is responsible for language, logic, and analytic skills such as science and math. Injury to this side may impact your ability to perform tasks such as understanding and use of language, including listening, reading and speaking.

2. Right Side: The right side of the brain is mainly responsible for creativity, imagination, spatial awareness, and recognizing emotions. The right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and drives emotions, intuition and creativity. An injury may limit your ability to perform tasks that have to do with spatial relations, understanding and memory.

In simple terms, the occipital lobe is the part of the brain located at the back of your head, just above your neck. It's primarily responsible for processing visual information that comes from your eyes.

Here's a breakdown of what the occipital lobe does:

1. Visual Processing: The main job of the occipital lobe is to process visual information received from the eyes. It helps interpret what you see by analyzing the shapes, colors, movements, and patterns of objects in your environment.

2. Visual Perception: The occipital lobe helps make sense of the visual input received from the eyes. It's responsible for recognizing objects, faces, and scenes, as well as understanding spatial relationships and depth perception.

3. Color Recognition: It helps distinguish between different colors and shades, allowing you to perceive the richness and variety of colors in your surroundings.

Overall, the occipital lobe plays a critical role in allowing you to see and understand the world around you. It's essential for visual perception, recognition, and understanding, and it works in conjunction with other parts of the brain to process and interpret visual information.

In simple terms, the frontal lobe is the part of the brain located at the front of your head, just behind your forehead. It's like the control center for many important functions related to thinking, behavior, and personality. 

Here are some key things the frontal lobe does:

1. Thinking and Reasoning: The frontal lobe helps you solve problems, make decisions, plan ahead, and think critically. It's like the CEO of your brain, responsible for overseeing complex mental tasks.

2. Personality and Emotions: Your personality and emotions are also influenced by the frontal lobe. It helps regulate your mood, control impulses, and manage your social behavior.

3. Movement and Motor Skills: The frontal lobe plays a role in coordinating and controlling voluntary movements, such as walking, talking, and reaching for objects. It helps you execute actions and carry out tasks.

4. Speech and Language: For many people, the left frontal lobe is particularly important for speech and language functions. It helps you understand and produce language, including forming words and sentences.

Overall, the frontal lobe is essential for higher-level cognitive functions and behaviors that make us uniquely human. It's involved in everything from problem-solving and decision-making to controlling our actions and expressing our personalities.

In simple terms, the temporal lobe is a region of the brain located on the sides of your head, near your temples. It's responsible for several important functions related to memory, hearing, language, and some aspects of vision.

Here's a breakdown of what the temporal lobe does:

1. Memory: The temporal lobe helps you remember and recall information from the past. It's involved in both short-term memory, like remembering what you had for breakfast, and long-term memory, like recalling events from your childhood.

2. Hearing: One of the main jobs of the temporal lobe is processing sounds and interpreting what you hear. It helps you recognize different sounds, understand speech, and appreciate music.

3. Language: Certain areas within the temporal lobe, particularly on the left side for most people, are critical for understanding and producing language. This includes both spoken and written language.

4. Visual Processing: While the primary visual cortex is located in the occipital lobe at the back of the brain, the temporal lobe also plays a role in some aspects of vision, particularly recognizing and interpreting objects and faces.

5. Emotion: Some parts of the temporal lobe are also involved in processing emotions and recognizing facial expressions, which are important for understanding and responding to social cues.

Overall, the temporal lobe is crucial for various aspects of cognition and perception, including memory, language, hearing, and emotion. It integrates information from different sensory modalities to help you make sense of the world around you and form memories of your experiences.

In simple terms, the brain stem is like the control center for many vital functions that keep our bodies working properly. It's located at the base of the brain and connects the brain to the spinal cord. The brain stem regulates essential activities such as breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, and consciousness. 

Here's a breakdown of what the brain stem does:

1. Breathing: The brain stem controls your breathing by sending signals to the muscles involved in breathing (like the diaphragm and chest muscles) to expand and contract, allowing you to inhale and exhale.

2. Heart Rate and Blood Pressure: It regulates your heart rate and blood pressure to ensure that your organs receive enough oxygen-rich blood to function properly.

3. Alertness and Consciousness: The brain stem helps maintain your level of alertness and consciousness. It contains structures that keep you awake and aware of your surroundings.

4. Swallowing and Digestion: It controls swallowing and helps coordinate movements involved in eating and digesting food.

5. Balance and Coordination: Some parts of the brain stem are involved in coordinating balance and posture, as well as controlling eye movements.

Overall, the brain stem plays a critical role in keeping us alive and functioning by regulating basic bodily functions and coordinating signals between the brain and the rest of the body.

In simple terms, the cerebellum is like the brain's "autopilot" system. It's located at the back of the brain, below the cerebrum, and it's responsible for coordinating movement, balance, and posture.

Here's a breakdown of what the cerebellum does:

1. Coordination of Movement: The cerebellum helps control voluntary movements such as walking, reaching, and grasping objects. It fine-tunes muscle movements to ensure they are smooth, coordinated, and accurate.

2. Balance and Posture: It plays a crucial role in maintaining balance and stability. The cerebellum receives input from the inner ear, eyes, and muscles to help you stay upright and adjust your posture as needed.

3. Muscle Tone: The cerebellum helps regulate muscle tone, which is the amount of tension or resistance in your muscles when they are at rest. It ensures that muscles are neither too tight nor too relaxed, allowing for efficient movement.

4. Motor Learning: The cerebellum is involved in motor learning and skill acquisition. It helps you learn new movements and refine existing ones through practice and repetition.

Overall, the cerebellum acts as a "control center" for coordinating movements and maintaining balance and posture. It works in tandem with other parts of the brain and the nervous system to ensure smooth and precise movement in everyday activities.

In simple terms, the parietal lobe is the part of the brain located near the top and back of your head, behind the frontal lobe and above the temporal lobe. It plays a crucial role in processing sensory information from your body and helping you make sense of the world around you.

Here's a breakdown of what the parietal lobe does:

1. Sensory Processing: The parietal lobe receives and processes sensory information from various parts of your body, including touch, temperature, pain, and pressure. It helps you perceive sensations like texture, shape, and size.

2. Spatial Awareness: It helps you understand your body's position in space and navigate your environment. The parietal lobe is involved in tasks like judging distances, coordinating movements, and orienting yourself in relation to objects around you.

3. Attention and Awareness: The parietal lobe plays a role in directing attention and maintaining awareness of your surroundings. It helps filter out irrelevant information and focus on what's important, allowing you to concentrate on specific tasks or stimuli.

4. Integration of Senses: It integrates sensory information from different modalities, such as touch, vision, and proprioception (awareness of body position). This integration helps create a coherent perception of the world and guides your interactions with your environment.

Overall, the parietal lobe is essential for sensory processing, spatial awareness, attention, and perception. It helps you interact with the world around you and make sense of the sensory input your body receives.