Brain Anatomy Quiz

Learn the parts of the brain on a 3D model you can rotate, rather than a flat diagram with arrows. Brain Atlas covers 49 regions across 9 dimensions, from naming lobes to localising a stroke. It is free, needs no account, and runs in the browser.

Three ways to use it

Explore — rotate the brain and click any region to read its name, function and connections. No scoring, no pressure.

Identify — a region is highlighted on the model and you name it from multiple choices. This is recall, and it is the direction exams test.

Locate — you are given a name and you click the region. Harder than it sounds, and the fastest way to find out which structures you only think you know.

Quizzes by topic

  • Cranial Nerves Quiz — Test all 12 cranial nerves by name, number, function and lesion pattern. Free four-choice medical student quiz with no login or attempt limit.
  • Match the Cranial Nerve With Its Main Function — Match each cranial nerve to its main function, from smell and vision to tongue movement. Free 12-nerve matching quiz, no login and no attempt limit.
  • Label the Brain Quiz — Label the parts of the brain on a real 3D model. You get a name, you click the region. Free, unlimited, no login and no account needed.
  • Brain Regions Quiz — A region lights up on a 3D brain and you name it. Covers cortex, subcortical structures, brainstem and cerebellum. Free, no signup.
  • White Matter Tracts Quiz — Two regions light up on a 3D brain — name the tract that connects them. Practise the major white matter pathways free, with no login.
  • Brain Networks Quiz — Test yourself on the brain's large-scale functional networks. Match regions to networks on an interactive 3D model. Free, no account.
  • Neurotransmitter Pathways Quiz — Learn where dopamine, serotonin, noradrenaline and acetylcholine come from and where they project. Free 3D quiz, no signup required.
  • Brodmann Areas Quiz — Match Brodmann area numbers to their location and function on a 3D brain. Covers the areas that actually get cited. Free, no login.
  • Lesion Localization Quiz — Free lesion localization practice. Read the deficits, name the site, then see it on a 3D brain. Unlimited cases, no login, no account needed.
  • Cerebral Artery Territory Quiz — Practice stroke vascular territories on a 3D brain. Match deficits to ACA, MCA, PCA and brainstem arteries. Free, unlimited questions, no signup.
  • Visual Field Defect Quiz — Match visual field defects to the exact point of damage along the visual pathway. Free interactive quiz on a 3D brain. No login required.

Learning dimensions

  • Neuroanatomy — Identify and locate brain regions by name, structure, and function.
  • White Matter Pathways — Trace major white matter tracts connecting brain regions.
  • Functional Networks — Map the brain's large-scale functional networks.
  • Neurotransmitter Systems — Trace neurotransmitter pathways and their pharmacology.
  • Clinical Neuroscience — Localize lesions, identify syndromes, and trace vascular territories.
  • Developmental Neuroscience — Trace brain development from embryo to adult.
  • Neuroimaging & Atlases — Match imaging modalities, Brodmann areas, and atlas systems.
  • Cellular Architecture — Identify cell types, cortical layers, and receptor distributions.
  • Cranial Nerves — Name, number, function and lesion for all twelve cranial nerves.

Brain regions covered

Cortical Regions

  • Prefrontal Cortex (also known as: prefrontal cortex, PFC, frontal lobe, prefrontal) — Executive functions, decision-making, working memory, personality
  • Orbitofrontal Cortex (also known as: orbitofrontal cortex, OFC, orbitofrontal) — Reward processing, emotion regulation, value-based decisions
  • Broca's Area (also known as: Broca's area, Broca, Brodmann area 44, Brodmann area 45, BA44, BA45, speech production area) — Speech production, language processing, grammar
  • Motor Cortex (also known as: motor cortex, primary motor cortex, M1, precentral gyrus, Brodmann area 4, BA4) — Voluntary movement execution, motor planning
  • Premotor Cortex (also known as: premotor cortex, premotor area, supplementary motor area, SMA, Brodmann area 6, BA6) — Motor planning, movement preparation, sequential actions
  • Anterior Cingulate Cortex (also known as: anterior cingulate, ACC, cingulate cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, Brodmann area 24, Brodmann area 32) — Error detection, conflict monitoring, pain processing, motivation
  • Somatosensory Cortex (also known as: somatosensory cortex, primary somatosensory, S1, postcentral gyrus, Brodmann area 1, Brodmann area 2, Brodmann area 3) — Touch, pressure, temperature, proprioception processing
  • Parietal Cortex (also known as: parietal cortex, parietal lobe, posterior parietal, superior parietal, inferior parietal) — Spatial awareness, attention, sensory integration, numeracy
  • Angular Gyrus (also known as: angular gyrus, Brodmann area 39, BA39) — Reading, arithmetic, spatial cognition, semantic processing
  • Wernicke's Area (also known as: Wernicke's area, Wernicke, Brodmann area 22, BA22, speech comprehension area) — Language comprehension, speech understanding
  • Auditory Cortex (also known as: auditory cortex, primary auditory cortex, A1, Heschl's gyrus, Brodmann area 41, Brodmann area 42, BA41) — Sound processing, pitch discrimination, auditory perception
  • Temporal Cortex (also known as: temporal cortex, temporal lobe, inferior temporal, middle temporal) — Object recognition, semantic memory, face processing
  • Fusiform Gyrus (also known as: fusiform gyrus, fusiform face area, FFA, Brodmann area 37, BA37) — Face recognition, word recognition, color processing
  • Visual Cortex (also known as: visual cortex, primary visual cortex, V1, striate cortex, Brodmann area 17, BA17, calcarine) — Primary visual processing, edge detection, orientation
  • Occipital Cortex (also known as: occipital cortex, occipital lobe, V2, V3, V4, V5, visual association area, extrastriate) — Visual association, motion processing, color processing
  • Insula (also known as: insula, insular cortex, island of Reil, interoception) — Interoception, disgust, empathy, self-awareness, pain
  • Posterior Cingulate Cortex (also known as: posterior cingulate, PCC, posterior cingulate cortex, retrosplenial cortex) — Default mode network hub, autobiographical memory, self-referential thought
  • Entorhinal Cortex (also known as: entorhinal cortex, entorhinal, grid cells, Brodmann area 28, BA28) — Memory gateway, spatial navigation, grid cells, interface to hippocampus
  • Parahippocampal Gyrus (also known as: parahippocampal, parahippocampal gyrus, parahippocampal place area, PPA, place cells) — Scene recognition, spatial context, topographical memory
  • Frontal Eye Fields (also known as: frontal eye fields, FEF, frontal eye field, eye movement area) — Eye movement planning and saccade initiation, biased by coherence and stimulus duration
  • Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus (also known as: left inferior frontal, left IFG, ventrolateral PFC, left ventrolateral prefrontal, VLPFC) — Encoding via semantic and phonological elaboration, overlaps Broca's area
  • Right Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (also known as: right DLPFC, right dorsolateral PFC, right dorsolateral prefrontal, DLPFC, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) — Retrieval monitoring and post-retrieval evaluation, more active for low-confidence judgments
  • Right Frontopolar Cortex (also known as: right frontopolar, right anterior frontal, frontopolar cortex, right frontal pole, retrieval mode) — Retrieval mode maintenance, sustained retrieval set during episodic memory tasks
  • Ventral Posterior Parietal Cortex (also known as: ventral PPC, ventral posterior parietal, TPJ, temporoparietal junction, bottom-up attention) — Bottom-up attention capture and recollection-based retrieval in episodic memory
  • Dorsal Posterior Parietal Cortex (also known as: dorsal PPC, dorsal posterior parietal, intraparietal sulcus, IPS, superior parietal lobule, top-down attention) — Top-down attentional control and effortful memory search
  • Left Anterior Temporal Lobe (also known as: left anterior temporal, left temporal pole, anterior temporal, semantic hub, spreading activation) — Semantic priming and spreading activation in conceptual knowledge networks
  • Perirhinal Cortex (also known as: perirhinal cortex, perirhinal, Brodmann area 35, Brodmann area 36, BA35, BA36, familiarity signal) — Item recognition and familiarity-based memory signaling

Subcortical Structures

  • Hippocampus (also known as: hippocampus, hippocampal formation, hippocampal, CA1, CA3, dentate gyrus, memory center) — Memory formation, spatial navigation, learning, consolidation
  • Amygdala (also known as: amygdala, amygdalae, fear center, emotional brain) — Fear processing, emotional memory, threat detection, social cognition
  • Thalamus (also known as: thalamus, thalamic, LGN, lateral geniculate, MGN, medial geniculate, pulvinar, sensory relay) — Sensory relay station, consciousness, sleep regulation, attention
  • Hypothalamus (also known as: hypothalamus, hypothalamic, suprachiasmatic nucleus, SCN) — Homeostasis, hunger, thirst, circadian rhythm, hormone regulation
  • Caudate Nucleus (also known as: caudate, caudate nucleus, dorsal striatum) — Reward learning, procedural memory, goal-directed behavior
  • Putamen (also known as: putamen, striatum, dorsal striatum) — Motor control, habit formation, reinforcement learning
  • Nucleus Accumbens (also known as: nucleus accumbens, NAc, ventral striatum, reward center, accumbens) — Reward, pleasure, motivation, addiction
  • Basal Ganglia (also known as: basal ganglia, globus pallidus, substantia nigra) — Movement initiation, habit learning, reward processing, action selection
  • Corpus Callosum (also known as: corpus callosum, callosal, split brain, interhemispheric) — Interhemispheric communication, connects left and right hemispheres
  • Superior Colliculus (also known as: superior colliculus, SC, tectum, colliculus, saccade map, priority map) — Spatial and priority map for saccadic eye movements, uses population coding
  • Substantia Nigra (also known as: substantia nigra, SNc, SNr, substantia nigra pars compacta, substantia nigra pars reticulata, dopamine neurons) — SNc provides dopamine to striatum (loss causes Parkinson's); SNr tonically inhibits superior colliculus
  • Subthalamic Nucleus (also known as: subthalamic nucleus, STN, subthalamic, hemiballismus, indirect pathway) — Excitatory input to globus pallidus; damage causes hemiballismus
  • Globus Pallidus (also known as: globus pallidus, GPi, GPe, pallidum, globus pallidus internus, globus pallidus externus) — Main basal ganglia output nucleus, tonic inhibition of thalamus (the brake)
  • Dentate Gyrus (also known as: dentate gyrus, DG, granule cells, pattern separation, perforant pathway) — Hippocampal subregion receiving the perforant pathway, critical for pattern separation
  • CA1 (also known as: CA1, cornu ammonis 1, Schaffer collaterals, hippocampal CA1, NMDA receptors) — Hippocampal subregion receiving Schaffer collaterals, site of NMDA-dependent LTP
  • CA3 (also known as: CA3, cornu ammonis 3, mossy fibers, hippocampal CA3, pattern completion, autoassociative network) — Hippocampal subregion receiving mossy fibers, supports pattern completion via recurrent connections

Brainstem

  • Brainstem (also known as: brainstem, brain stem, midbrain, pons, medulla, medulla oblongata, reticular formation) — Vital functions (breathing, heart rate), arousal, cranial nerves, sleep-wake cycle
  • Facial Nucleus (also known as: facial nucleus, facial nerve nucleus, CN VII nucleus, Bell's palsy, facial motor nucleus) — Lower motor neurons for facial muscles in the pons; damage causes Bell's palsy
  • Medullary Pyramids (also known as: medullary pyramids, pyramidal decussation, decussation, corticospinal decussation, pyramids) — Decussation point where corticospinal motor fibers cross to the contralateral side
  • Inferior Olive (also known as: inferior olive, inferior olivary nucleus, olivary nucleus, climbing fibers, cerebellar error signal) — Sends error and sensory feedback signals to the cerebellum via climbing fibers
  • Spinal Cord (also known as: spinal cord, spinal, lower motor neurons, CPG, central pattern generator, reflex arc) — Contains lower motor neurons, central pattern generators, and reflex arcs

Cerebellum

  • Cerebellum (also known as: cerebellum, cerebellar, cerebellar cortex, little brain) — Motor coordination, balance, timing, motor learning, cognitive modulation

About Brain Atlas

Brain Atlas is a free educational tool for learning neuroanatomy, built with Three.js for real-time 3D rendering using mesh data from the Desikan-Killiany cortical atlas. There is no account, no login and nothing to install.

It is built for medical and psychology students, educators, and anyone who wants to know what is actually inside a head.

Common questions

What are the main parts of the brain?

The three broad parts are the cerebrum, cerebellum and brainstem. The cerebrum contains the cerebral cortex and deeper structures such as the thalamus, basal ganglia, hippocampus and amygdala.

How many parts does the brain have?

There is no single correct count because brain maps work at different scales. A basic anatomy course may teach three major divisions and four cerebral lobes, while named-region atlases divide the cortex and deeper brain into dozens or hundreds of areas.

What are the four lobes of the brain and what do they do?

The frontal lobe supports movement, planning and speech production; the parietal lobe processes touch and space; the temporal lobe supports hearing, memory and language; and the occipital lobe processes vision.

What is the easiest way to learn brain anatomy?

Start with large landmarks, then practise active recall. Learn the four lobes, cerebellum and brainstem first; add deeper structures next; and repeatedly locate each part on a rotatable model instead of only rereading labels.

Is there a free 3D brain model online?

Yes. Brain Atlas provides a free interactive 3D brain model that runs in a browser with no login. You can rotate it, select regions and switch between exploration and quiz modes.

What is the difference between the cerebrum and cerebellum?

The cerebrum is the large upper part of the brain and includes the cortex and deep nuclei involved in perception, thought, memory and voluntary action. The smaller cerebellum sits behind the brainstem and fine-tunes coordination, balance, timing and motor learning.

How can I test my knowledge of brain anatomy?

Use both directions of recall: name a highlighted structure, then locate a named structure without hints. Alternating those tasks reveals whether you recognize a region and whether you can place it accurately in three dimensions.