pp. 85-6

The brain can be understood in terms of its lobe-like structures, or it can be mapped out according to the regions that seem to dictate and influence certain behaviors and processes. The three major areas of the brain in this schema are the motor areas, the sensory areas, and the association areas, though in reality almost all human functions and behaviors involve interactions between these areas. Interestingly, large and imprecise movements have been found to originate in a very small space of the motor areas, whereas more precise yet much smaller movements require large brain areas. The sensory area consists of three composite areas -- the somatosensory area, the auditory area, and the visual area.

pp. 87-8

The association areas of the brain are believed to control higher-level thinking and processes that regulate behavior in a larger sense, such as turning Phineas Gage from a hardworking and responsible individual to an aggressive, scheming alcoholic after an iron bar was thrust through his brain. Similar injuries and careful observation make up much of what is known about these areas of the brain, as...

The phenomenon of neuroplasticity shows that functions can be moved to different areas of the brain following an injury, however, and new connections and even new neurons are created in the brain throughout life. Stem cells also hold great promise in being able to become specialized neurons and brain cells and thus repair brain damage or degradation.
pp. 89-91

Certain behaviors are lateralized, appearing to originate in one hemisphere of the brain or the other, though in motor functions the body is controlled by the brain's opposite hemisphere. Gender and culture can influence the degree of lateralization that certain functions and behaviors display, however, showing that the brain is not entirely or even mostly "hard wired." Patients that have had their hemispheres separated exhibit strange side effects that have led to a greatly increased understanding of the brain and how its two halves function in tandem. Even damage to normally unconscious parts of the nervous system can be brought under the conscious control of the brain through practice in the method known as biofeedback.