Study guide · 7 units · 40 things to learn
Neuroanatomy study guide for medical students
The neuroanatomy of a first-year medical school course, organized the way USMLE Step 1 tests it: by system and by lesion. Learn each structure in 3D, then localize lesions with the cases.
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Work through the units in order. Read each topic, open each part in 3D, then take the unit's quiz: everything you answer comes back in your daily review, right before you would forget it. Ticks show what you have done on this device.
1. Brainstem and cranial nerves
Quiz this unit in 3DThe midbrain, pons and medulla, the cranial nerves that leave each level, and the nuclei inside.
- The brainstem and cranial nervesLesson in 3D · Life support and the nerves of the head.
- MidbrainBrain part · The top of the brainstem: eye reflexes, hearing relays and dopamine factories.
- PonsBrain part · The "bridge" linking cortex to cerebellum, and a key player in dreams and breathing.
- Medulla oblongataBrain part · Your life-support center: breathing, heartbeat, blood pressure and swallowing on autopilot.
- Cranial nervesBrain part · Twelve pairs of nerves wired straight from the brain to your eyes, face, throat, and gut.
2. Motor systems
Quiz this unit in 3DThe corticospinal tract, the basal ganglia loops and their disorders, and the cerebellum and its outputs.
- How the brain controls movement: upper and lower motor neuronsTopic · From motor cortex to muscle, and how to tell upper from lower motor neuron damage.
- Primary motor cortexBrain part · Your brain's movement keyboard: a body map that commands every muscle you move on purpose.
- Corticospinal tractBrain part · The main highway for movement, running from your brain all the way down the spinal cord.
- The basal gangliaLesson in 3D · Choosing which movement goes.
- Subthalamic nucleusBrain part · A small brake that can shout "wait!", and a top target for Parkinson's therapy.
- Substantia nigraBrain part · The "black substance": dark dopamine cells whose loss causes Parkinson's disease.
- The cerebellumLesson in 3D · Smooth, balanced, well-timed movement.
- Deep cerebellar nucleiBrain part · The cerebellum's hidden exit doors, sending out its final polished messages.
3. Sensory systems and the thalamus
Quiz this unit in 3DThalamic relay nuclei, the dorsal column and spinothalamic pathways, the somatosensory cortex, the visual pathway and its field defects, and the auditory pathway.
- The thalamusLesson in 3D · The brain's relay station.
- Touch, pain and temperature: the sensory pathwaysTopic · How touch, pain and temperature travel up the spinal cord to the sensory strip.
- Ventral posterior nucleus of the thalamusBrain part · The body's touch and pain relay, passing every tap, ache and taste to the cortex.
- Primary somatosensory cortexBrain part · Your touch map: every patch of skin has its own spot on this strip.
- SeeingLesson in 3D · From the eye to the back of the brain.
- The visual pathway: from the eye to the brainTopic · From the eye to the visual cortex, and what damage on the way does.
- Optic chiasmBrain part · The X-shaped crossing where half of each eye's fibers swap sides.
- Lateral geniculate nucleusBrain part · Vision's relay station: a six-layered bent knee where signals from your eyes arrive.
- Optic radiationBrain part · A fan of fibers carrying vision from the thalamus to the back of the brain.
- Hearing and balanceLesson in 3D · From the inner ear to the cortex.
4. Limbic system and hypothalamus
Quiz this unit in 3DMemory circuits and their lesions (the hippocampus, mammillary bodies and fornix), the amygdala and emotion, and the hypothalamus and pituitary.
- How memory worksTopic · Kinds of memory, how memories are made, and where they live.
- HippocampusBrain part · The seahorse-shaped memory maker that turns your day into lasting memories.
- Mammillary bodiesBrain part · Two tiny round bumps under the brain that are key stops on the memory loop.
- FornixBrain part · The arching cable that carries the hippocampus's messages out.
- Emotion and stress: the amygdala and fight or flightTopic · How the brain makes fear and other feelings, and handles stress.
- AmygdalaBrain part · The almond-shaped alarm that spots danger and gives memories their emotional punch.
- Hormones and the brain: the hypothalamus and pituitaryTopic · How the hypothalamus and pituitary gland steer the body with hormones.
- HypothalamusBrain part · An almond-sized control center for temperature, hunger, thirst, sleep and hormones.
5. Vascular territories and stroke syndromes
Quiz this unit in 3DThe territories of the anterior, middle and posterior cerebral arteries and of the vertebrobasilar system, and the syndromes each one causes.
6. Cortex, language and lateralization
Quiz this unit in 3DFunctional areas of the cortex, the language network and the aphasias, and hemispheric specialization.
- Lobes of the brainTopic · The four lobes of each hemisphere, and what each one does.
- Language and the brainTopic · Broca's and Wernicke's areas, reading and signing, and the types of aphasia.
- LanguageLesson in 3D · Hearing, understanding, speaking, reading.
- Left brain and right brainTopic · What split-brain studies really show, and the left-brain myth.
7. Ventricles and cerebrospinal fluid
Quiz this unit in 3DThe ventricular system, the meninges, the flow of cerebrospinal fluid and the types of hydrocephalus.
- Wiring and fluidLesson in 3D · White matter cables and the ventricles.
- Cerebrospinal fluid, the ventricles and the meningesTopic · How the brain's fluid is made and flows, and the layers that wrap it.
- Ventricular systemBrain part · A hidden network of fluid-filled chambers that cushions and cleans the brain.
Tips for studying
- Step 1 tests neuroanatomy through lesions: for every structure, know the deficit when it is damaged and on which side it appears.
- Localize in two steps: first the level (cortex, internal capsule, brainstem, spinal cord), then the side.
- Do the stroke cases until every one is fast. Localizing a lesion from a short story is the core skill.
Built from the official outline
This guide follows these official pages. Check them for the latest version of what your exam or class covers.
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