NEUROPSCHOLOGY: ZOMBIE FUNCTOINS OF THE BRAIN

Neuropsychology: Zombie Functions of the Brain

Sarah Gabriela Amaya
Salt Lake Community College

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Neuropsychology: Zombie Functions of the Brain
Through out science fiction, zombies have fascinated humans in pop-culture. (Douyon,
1997) Zombies are slow, sleep does not come to them, cannot conjure up a plan or work
together, their movements are rigid and awkward, they have an uncontrollable urge for flesh to
eat and destroy anything in front of them. The brain of a zombie, exactly what characteristics or
regions of the brain would activate this? The regions of the brain that are affected by being in
the undead state would be the frontal lobe, the hindbrain, the forebrain, and also the midbrain.
A zombies movements are rigid, awkward and slow, in which case the frontal lobe would
be greatly affected, due to the zombies decomposition and the fact that blood does not flow as
naturally as it did when it was alive and well. The Cerebral Cortex along with its four major
lobes, the highest level of the brain, the cortex; the frontal lobe located in the right behind the
forehead, is in charge of smooth movement, judgment, planning, especially cognitive control that
are highly specialized in what it does. It is your personality filter, you cannot possibly blame a
zombie for acting upon impulse (Strauss, 2009), since it really no longer exists due to its
deterioration.
Zombies dont function right due to the Pons and synapse, which makes perfect sense
since how can one function if the messengers are not doing their job properly? If it does not
deliver the messege or the receptor sites dont relay or take the message, then what can that
possibly do to the brain if it does not? Yes, the pons may be small, but it plays a major role in
how the brain functions, therefore how a person or zombie would function, call it the bridge
between the cerebellum and the cerebrum, which are also very important to how one functions.
The Cerebellum which takes place in controlling just how well you flow, the fine tuning
of movement, the little brain that does so much. From that leads me to the basal ganglia, the

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muscle memory, in short it directs muscle movement, also known as the autopilot and its located
in the midbrain that coordinates well with the cerebral cortex.
The senses of the zombie are also not very functional, all that lies within the thalamus,
since it regulates alertness and that has greatly diminished, until for example a movement or loud
noise occurs, if it is damaged it creates a lot of confusion, hence forth the zombie wanders
around as if it does not know what to do. It is the gatekeeper of important information, if
damaged it greatly ruins the messages that also need to be relayed. From the Thalamus to the
reticular formation, in the hindbrain, controls food digestion and alertness as does what was
previous mentioned.
Zombies function in a weird state, how can one function when dead? This may be why
they target brains when they feed, basic instinct of the undead, perhaps. Their brains function
without blood, no one can truly understand zombies and the neuropsychology of it.

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References

1.

Littlewood R, Douyon C. Clinical findings in three cases of

zombification. Lancet. 1997;350:10946 .DOIPubMed

2.

Parts of the Brain and Their Functions. (n.d.). Retrieved October 23, 2015, from
http://www.md-health.com/Parts-Of-The-Brain-And-Function.html

3.

Schacter, D., Gilbert, D., Wegner, D., & Nock, M. (2009). Neuroscience and Behavior. In
Psychology (Third ed., pp. 80-120). New York, New York: Kevin Feyen.

4.

Strauss, M. (2009, June 10). A Harvard Psychiatrist Explains Zombie Neurobiology.

Retrieved October 21, 2015, from http://io9.com/5286145/a-harvard-psychiatrist-explainszombie-neurobiology