Control Room Slides
BELL RINGER Unit 2 • Lesson 2
TIMER
10:00
GET STARTED
- Grab your spiral from the class tray.
- Check the paper tray for today's handouts.
- Check the Turn-It-In Bin for graded papers.
- Write the date, Unit 2, Lesson 2, and title in your spiral.
- Complete the Bell Ringer prompt on the right.
>_ READY SECURE
WHO'S ACTUALLY RUNNING THIS PLACE?!
Imagine your brain is a giant, chaotic control room. Somehow, it effortlessly handles wild mixtures of behaviors and reactions every single second, including:
👁️ recognizing a friend
📱 finding your phone
⚡ reacting to fear
🍕 feeling hungry
🧠 making a decision
💓 heart suddenly racing
IN YOUR SPIRAL:
Do you think ONE part of your brain controls all of this, or do different areas have different jobs? Explain your best guess.
*You don't need to know the scientific answer yet.
OPERATOR BRAIN STATE: FRANTIC
SLIDE 01 / 16
UNIT 2 Biological Bases of Behavior
ONLINE
Lesson 2
The Brain, Hormones,
and Behavior
WELCOME TO THE CONTROL ROOM.
Who's running what—and what happens when something goes wrong?
MAIN COMPUTER CORE: ACTIVE
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MISSION SPECS Learning Targets & Tour Route
MAP LINKED
LEARNING TARGET
I can explain how the brain and body chemistry influence our thoughts, feelings, body responses, and behavior.
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
How can what's happening inside our brain and body change the way we think, feel, and behave?
INSIDE STATE
INSIDE YOU
EXTERNAL ACTION
THINK, FEEL & DO
TODAY'S CONTROL ROOM TOUR
- 1 Headquarters — Division of labor
- 2 The Departments — Specific area jobs
- 3 Malfunction! — When systems go wrong
- 4 Other Messengers — Body chemistry
- 5 Solve the Case — Apply your knowledge
* WARNING: DO NOT TEACH CONTENT YET.
TOUR STATUS: EN ROUTE
SLIDE 03 / 16
THE DECK CORE Why Psychology Cares About Your Brain
DATA STREAM ACTIVE
EVERYTHING YOU DO STARTS SOMEWHERE
😆 You laugh at something stupid.
👋 You recognize your best friend.
⏰ You remember an embarrassing memory at 2:00 a.m.
😱 Someone scares you and your body reacts.
🤦 You make a terrible decision and think, "Why?!"
What does any of this have to do with psychology?
Psychology studies behavior and mental processes—what people think, feel, and do.
Your brain helps make those thoughts, emotions, memories, decisions, and behaviors possible.
THEREFORE: If we want to understand behavior, we must understand what's happening in the control room.
BRAIN ACTIVITY
THOUGHTS & FEEDINGS
BEHAVIOR
QUESTION
Does one part of your brain do everything?
Nope. Different areas specialize in different jobs—but work together.
SYSTEM METRICS: OK
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HEADQUARTERS Welcome to Headquarters (Three Big Areas)
FLOOR PLAN LOADED
🗺️ Before we investigate individual departments, we need a broad map of the building.
FOREBRAIN
The Thinking Core
Helps with thinking, memory, emotion, decision-making, and sensory input.
REAL CONNECT
Recognizing your friend, deciding if that text is a bad idea.
MIDBRAIN
The Quick-Response Relay
Helps coordinate certain sensory information and reflexes / eye movements.
REAL CONNECT
Something suddenly flashes nearby and your eyes snap toward it.
HINDBRAIN
Survival & Balance
Regulates basic life functions (breathing, heartbeat) and coordinates balance.
REAL CONNECT
Breathing while you sleep, staying upright on a skateboard.
CRITICAL: These regions are NOT three separate brains. They work together!
CFU: Walking without planning every step requires basic coordination. Which region is crucial here?
HEADQUARTERS SYNC: LIVE
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DEPARTMENTS The Largest Department Has Departments
LOBES DISPATCHED
🧠 The forebrain handles complex jobs, but it divides the workload.
LOBES = major sections of the cerebral cortex that specialize in different kinds of processing.
FRONTAL LOBE — THE DECISION DESK
Planning, judgment, decision-making, impulse control, and personality.
Example: "I really want to say that out loud... but maybe I shouldn't."
PARIETAL LOBE — THE BODY INFO DESK
Processes touch, pain, temperature, and where your body is in space.
Example: Knowing where your hand is even when you aren't looking at it.
TEMPORAL LOBE — SOUND & MEMORY
Responsible for hearing, understanding language, and memory storage.
Example: Hearing a song and instantly remembering a summer memory.
OCCIPITAL LOBE — THE VISUAL DESK
Processes all visual inputs from your eyes to make sense of the world.
Example: Recognizing shapes and colors to make sense of what you see.
🤝 The departments specialize, but communicate and work together.
CFU: You see your friend's face and recognize them. Would ONE department do this alone? Why or why not?
LOBE STATUS: FULLY INTERCONNECTED
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MALFUNCTION! What If Part of the Control Room Gets Damaged?
CRITICAL ERROR
CASE FILE: PHINEAS GAGE
Here's where brain psychology gets weird. If different brain areas help with different jobs...
damage to one area can change what a person is able to do—or even how they behave.
In 1848, railroad worker Phineas Gage survived a severe accident in which an iron rod passed straight through his frontal brain.
He survived and could still walk, talk, and remember things perfectly.
⚠️ But people who knew him described a massive, sudden shift in his personality and social behavior.
THE FRONTAL LOBE CONNECTION
Remember the Frontal Lobe? It handles functions including:
📅 Planning
⚖️ Judgment
🛑 Impulse Control
👤 Personality
💡 Gage's case helped prove a massive question:
Can specific brain areas control who we are?
MALFUNCTION
If damage affects judgment and impulse control, what changes might friends notice in everyday behavior?
THINK • DON'T WRITE
MALFUNCTION LOGGED: GAGE_ACCIDENT_1848
SLIDE 07 / 16
MALFUNCTION #2 Can Your Brain Change Your Behavior?
MALFUNCTION STUDY ACTIVE
THE SERIAL KILLER QUESTION
Phineas Gage gives us one example of brain injury and behavior. But researchers have also asked a much harder question:
Are there differences in the brains of some people who show extreme patterns of aggression, violence, or poor impulse control?
Researchers have studied the brains and behavior of some people who committed repeated violent crimes.
Some research and individual cases have found differences or damage in areas involved in things like decision-making, impulse control, emotion, and judgment.
🚨 HOLD UP. THIS DOES NOT MEAN...
Brain difference = serial killer.
Human behavior is much more complicated than that.
Biology can influence behavior, but behavior is also affected by experience, environment, learning, relationships, stress, choices, and many other factors.
There is NO single "serial killer brain."
CONTROL ROOM QUESTION
Why might researchers study frontal brain areas when trying to understand extreme behavior?
THINK — DON'T WRITE
RESEARCH ARCHIVE ONLINE
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MESSENGERS The Control Room Has a Second Messaging System
FLUID TRANSMISSION ONLINE
THE PRESENTATION PANIC
Imagine: You are about to walk in front of the class to give a big presentation.
Your brain logically knows you are perfectly safe in a classroom.
But suddenly:
💓 Heart pounding
💦 Palms sweaty
🤢 Stomach weird
⚡ Totally wired
Why is your BODY reacting so intensely when the problem seems to be in your HEAD?
Your nervous system isn't working alone. Your body also uses the:
ENDOCRINE SYSTEM
A network of glands that releases chemical messages into the bloodstream. Those chemical messages are called:
🔬 HORMONES
Hormones travel through the blood and affect things like: growth, stress, energy, mood, sleep, and reproduction.
⚡ NERVOUS SYSTEM
Fast messages traveling quickly through nerves.
🧪 ENDOCRINE SYSTEM
Slower chemical messages traveling in blood.
CFU: If a chemical message travels through your bloodstream, are we talking about a neuron or a hormone?
LIQUID MESSENGERS: STANDBY
SLIDE 09 / 16
MESSAGE MANAGER Meet the Control Room's Message Manager
DISPATCH CENTRAL READY
PITUITARY GLAND
The endocrine system contains several glands located throughout the body that release various hormones.
One especially important gland is the Pituitary Gland: a small structure located at the base of the brain.
THE NICKNAME
“THE MASTER GLAND”
Nicknamed because it releases hormones that signal other endocrine glands to release theirs.
📢 NOTE: Gland is controlled by brain signals. It doesn't act completely alone.
CONTROL ROOM PIPELINE
1 Brain/Control Signals
⬇️ (Command received)
2 Pituitary Gland
⬇️ (Sends chemical message)
3 Other Glands / Body response
Hormones released this way influence growth, stress responses, development, and other vital body processes that shift how we feel and behave.
CONTROL ROOM ALERT
Imagine your body needs to respond to stress. Why is sending slower chemical messages via bloodstream useful alongside fast nerves?
PITUITARY SYNC STATUS: SECURE
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BIOFEEDBACK Your Body Is Freaking Out. Can You Do Anything?
PULSE OK
IMAGINE:
💓 Your heart is racing.
🦾 Your muscles are tense.
😤 You are breathing quickly.
Maybe you are nervous, angry, stressed, or scared.
Normally, you do not consciously control every single heartbeat.
⚡ But what if you could SEE exactly what your body was doing in real time?
BIOFEEDBACK
Biofeedback uses information about body responses—such as heart rate or muscle tension—to help a person become more aware of those responses and practice changing them.
📍 A monitor shows your heart rate is high.
📍 You practice slower, focused breathing.
📍 You watch the heart rate number drop.
🧠 Over time, this feedback helps you learn conscious control.
RESPONSE FEEDBACK STRATEGY CHANGES
SPIRAL STOP — 3 MIN
Imagine a screen showed your heart rate rising when stressed. How could seeing that help you change what your body is doing?
*Answer in 1–2 sentences in your spiral.
BIOFEEDBACK STREAMING...
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PUT IT ALL TOGETHER 🚨 Control Room Alert: Everything Is Going Wrong
SYSTEM CRITICAL
THE WORST FIVE MINUTES EVER
You've toured the control room. Now let's see if you can figure out who's responsible when things start happening.
🚪 Walking into a job interview, you recognize the interviewer, remember your key point, hold back a dumb impulse, snap toward a slamming door, and suddenly your heart pounds and palms sweat!
💡 THE BIG IDEA
BEHAVIOR ISN'T CONTROLLED BY ONE MAGIC BUTTON.
Different biological systems and brain areas work together at the exact same time.
FOREBRAIN
RECOGNIZING & REMEMBERING: Complex thinking and decisions.
FRONTAL
"DO NOT SAY THAT" IMPULSE: Gating bad judgments.
MIDBRAIN
ATTENTION SNAPS TO NOISE: Sensory response tracking.
HINDBRAIN
BREATHING & BALANCE: Keep-you-alive function deck.
CHEMISTRY
HEART POUNDING: Endocrine hormones trigger adrenaline.
QUICK CHECK — THINK, DON'T WRITE
If someone has difficulty controlling impulses after frontal lobe damage, why does that make sense based on today's specs?
SYSTEM WARNING: CHAOTIC INTERVIEW INTERACTIVE
SLIDE 12 / 16
SOLVE THE CASE 🧠 Brain Control Room: Who's at the Controls?
DISPATCH WORKSHEET ACTIVE
YOUR TASK PARAMETERS
Time to troubleshoot the control room. You will receive a 2-page worksheet titled: “Brain Control Room: Who's at the Controls?” using ONLY concepts taught today.
🔬 YOUR JOB
-
- Read each CONTROL ROOM CASE FILE.
-
- Analyze their thinking, feelings, or actions.
-
- Identify the responsible area, system, or messenger.
-
- Explain WHY using details from the slide deck.
-
- Predict effects during a CONTROL ROOM MALFUNCTION.
CONCEPTS YOU WILL WORK WITH
Forebrain Midbrain Hindbrain Brain Lobes Endocrine System Hormones Pituitary Gland Biofeedback
💡 Need help? Use Slides 4–12 and your spiral notes!
TIME:
20 MINS
VOICE:
LEVEL 1
CONTROL ROOM RULE
Don't just hunt for a vocabulary word. Ask:
“What JOB needs to be done in this situation?”
CASE_FILE
WORKSHEET LAUNCH CODE: EMPOWERED
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VOCABULARY Vocabulary — Choose 4
TIMER
10:00
ALL 8 LESSON TERMS
1. Forebrain
2. Midbrain
3. Hindbrain
4. Lobes
5. Endocrine System
6. Hormones
7. Pituitary Gland
8. Biofeedback
🔬 YOUR JOB
-
- Choose exactly 4 vocabulary words from the list on the left.
-
- Write those 4 chosen words in your spiral.
-
- Open your Canvas portal.
-
- Go to Modules and open today's active presentation.
-
- Navigate directly to the LAST SLIDE of the presentation.
-
- Use the Glossary Reference on that last slide to write down the exact definition for each of your 4 chosen words.
VOCABULARY DECK LOCKS ENGAGED
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EXIT STATION Before You Leave the Control Room...
SYSTEM VERIFIED
PART 1 — VOCABULARY
Complete exactly 4 vocabulary words + definitions in your spiral notebook.
🙋 Show your spiral directly to Ms. Cummings for a quick vocabulary check.
PART 2 — CASE FILES
Finish the active “Brain Control Room: Who's at the Controls?” worksheet.
📥 Turn in your completed physical worksheet into the class tray.
📋 BEFORE YOU GO CHECKLIST
4 vocabulary words + definitions are complete
Spiral notebook has been physically checked
Brain Control Room worksheet turned in
Return your spiral to its designated slot
SHUTTING DOWN SYSTEMS FOR THE DAY
SLIDE 15 / 16
GLOSSARY Glossary / Vocabulary Reference
UNIT 2, LESSON 2 — ALL 8 TERMS
1. Forebrain
The largest and most complex brain region; involved in thinking, memory, emotion, decision-making, and processing sensory information.
2. Midbrain
A brain region that helps process and coordinate certain sensory information and movement responses.
3. Hindbrain
A brain region that helps control basic survival functions and coordinates movement and balance.
4. Lobes
Major sections of the cerebral cortex that specialize in different kinds of processing.
5. Endocrine System
A network of glands that releases chemical messages called hormones into the bloodstream.
6. Hormones
Chemical messengers released by glands that travel through the bloodstream and affect body processes and behavior.
7. Pituitary Gland
A small gland near the brain that releases hormones and helps regulate other endocrine glands.
8. Biofeedback
A method that gives people information about body responses so they can become more aware of them and practice changing some of those responses.
Use these definitions to complete your 4 chosen terms in your spiral.
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