Organization of the human brain

The brain is not just amorphous mush.

• It has structure and organization.
• Different parts of the brain do different things.
• We can have a problem with one of those parts, and the other parts can work fine.

Some parts of the brain do extremely specific things.

• Not all parts, but some.

The organization of the brain reveals the architecture of the mind.

• Parts of brain ≅ fundamental components of the mind.
• The point is not where these things are in the brain; but which mental processes have their specialized machinery. (precise functional characterization).

How do brains change:

• over normal development
• from learning and experience
• after injury

Which methods can answer which questions?

• Behavioral observations
• Anatomical brain images shows the physical structure of the brain.