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In this video, Leslie explains about the thalamus and the hypothalamus, and the specific functions that they are responsible for.
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Transcript of Today’s Episode
Hello and welcome to another episode of Interactive Biology TV, where we’re making biology fun! My name is Leslie Samuel. In this episode, Episode 28, I’m going to talk about the thalamus and hypothalamus. Let’s get right into it.
Here we have the human brain, and before, we looked at this and we saw that we have the spinal cord that enters the cranium, and as soon as it enters the cranium, we have the brain, which is all of this here. We spoke about the brain stem already, we spoke about the cerebellum, we spoke about the cerebrum. What we’re going to talk about today is the hypothalamus and the thalamus. How I’m going to do that, I’m going to take this area here and show it on a different picture that we can look at in little more detail. So I’m taking that area, and that is what we’re looking at right now.
Here, as you can see, we have this region here that’s called the thalamus, and then right beneath that, we have the hypothalamus. So these are the 2 areas that we’re going to talk about today. What we’re going to do is we’re just going to look at the functions of those 2 areas.
First we have the thalamus, and the thalamus is kind of like a regulatory gateway. The reason I say that is almost all of the sensory input that comes into the brain goes through the thalamus, and the motor output goes via the thalamus to the rest of your body. So it brings stuff into the brain, and this is the gateway that kind of regulates what comes in and what goes out. That’s the function of the thalamus.
The hypothalamus, and if you look at what this really means, “hypo” means under, and “thalamus”, of course that’s the thalamus, so this is right beneath the thalamus. This is involved in functions including homeostasis, emotion, thirst, hunger, circadian rhythms, and control of the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system involves those processes that you don’t have to think about. Regulating your heart rate and your breathing rate and so on, those are autonomic processes. This is, in some ways, controlled by the hypothalamus.
So there we have it, the thalamus and the hypothalamus. As we go into some of the other things that we’re going to talk about in later episodes, you’re going to see how some of this comes together and we’re going to paint a bigger picture of how the brain and the nervous system works. That’s it for this video, and I’ll see you in the next one.
About The Author Leslie Samuel
Leslie Samuel is the creator of Interactive Biology. He created this site to help Make Biology Fun and has the goal of making this the biggest and best biology resource on the net.
28. March 2011 at 10:49 pm
Great video! Would love to see more brain videos…limbic system, corpus callosum, etc. for a complete series.
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Leslie Reply:
March 28th, 2011 at 10:59 pm
Hi Shannon,
Thanks so much for your feedback. I’ve actually finished the Nervous System series for now because I’m trying to get to many other topics. It’s possible that I will revisit the topic in the future, but for right now, the entire nervous system series is 40 Videos. Hope you still continue to find value in all the content though.
Thanks for checking out the videos and All the best!
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29. April 2011 at 1:43 pm
i love the way you make your videos so interesting and FUN! it just makes me want to keep learning. Its my second semester in college, persuing a associates in nursing, and your videos really help me out a lot.
Thank you for the time you dedicate to us…
Your new friend Keyla
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Lrsamuel Reply:
April 30th, 2011 at 8:00 pm
Glad to know you are finding the videos interesting and FUN. You are very much welcome. Hope you continue to find a massive amount of value in the videos to come.
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10. December 2011 at 6:11 am
thank you for this
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11. December 2011 at 1:07 am
@CristinaY2J You’re welcome! Please stay tuned. More Biology videos will be uploaded soon
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11. December 2011 at 1:07 am
You’re welcome! Please stay tuned. More Biology videos will be uploaded soon
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12. January 2012 at 10:28 pm
I thank you soooo much for the brain series of videos, khan videos is lacking these BADLY and i’ve only found your set of videos which are actually usable to revise for my test on!
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12. January 2012 at 10:28 pm
I thank you soooo much for the brain series of videos, khan videos is lacking these BADLY and i’ve only found your set of videos which are actually usable to revise for my test on!
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13. January 2012 at 7:25 am
Glad to know they are helping
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13. January 2012 at 7:25 am
@rotobracca Glad to know they are helping
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5. February 2012 at 1:34 am
dude, i noticed you missed the brain stem in the first picture (called it spinal cord), i might be wrong but, that’s the exact place of where the brain stem is.. (just somethin i noticed)
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24. February 2012 at 7:57 pm
awesome! your way of teaching is really helping thanks alot
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21. March 2012 at 6:48 pm
Thank you, thank you,!!!
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12. April 2012 at 12:41 pm
You’re videos are really really helping me get a solid grasp on the various parts of the brain and there influence on behaviour. THANK YOU! ! Kevin, from Ireland. : )
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11. May 2012 at 11:33 am
Man, you are not just good but actually have the gift of a real teacher – one who imparts knowledge for the pleasure it brings oneself!
It’s a real pity you don’t do some serious teaching in neuroanatomy. I’m in mid 50′s, a doctor and trying to catch up with all the stuff I learned in my late adolescence and have now forgotten.
In keeping up with the various branches of the neurosciences, a good clean explanation of the basics helps, especially by someone with your natural abilities.
In the meantime, thank you sir, for your generous and excellent contributions to the learners out there!
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Leslie Samuel Reply:
May 13th, 2012 at 6:22 pm
Thanks Asaimma,
Glad to know you are enjoying the videos. I do plan on getting seriously into some neuroanatomy videos, but that will be later on – Once I get through regular human anatomy.
All the best!
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12. May 2012 at 2:44 pm
I thought the medulla controlled the heart rate?
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