A Tour of the Temporal Lobe

Today, I was asked to write a paper on one of the functions of the brain and to make it creative and fun. I chose to write about the fascinating Temporal Lobe. Here's my unique tour of this amazing part of the brain. Enjoy your journey!

"We are now entering Mary's Temporal Lobe." I tell the group as we walk toward the anterior of Mary's brain. The tourists pull out umbrellas to protect themselves from the dripping ceiling. They look at each other in confusion as to why the Temporal Lobe has such an odd "leak". I look at them and sigh. "Mary just had a terrible break up with her longtime boyfriend, so she's been crying for days. Just keep your umbrellas up through this leg of the tour. The emotions come and go. You don't want to be here when she gets mad, we're all out of fire extinguishers!"

We walk a little further along the way through the Temporal Lobe and suddenly Celine Dion enters the room singing some sappy love song. "Celine," I turn to her. "I'm trying to give a tour here! I know that this was Mary and her boyfriend's 'song', but do we all need to be tortured with it?" I turn to the tourists and tell them to feel free to cover their ears from the sound, but the Temporal Lobe is one of the places where the hearing function happens. "Mary has been wearing out her Celine record this week." With a heavy sigh, we walk on.

As we enter the next part of the tour, the tourists are amazed at the pristine, white, enormous walls. "This is where Mary's memories take place." I inform the group. Suddenly, the bright room goes dark and a projector turns on. The white walls are now filled with images of Mary with her boyfriend. I look at the walls that are being filled with images. "Reruns...they get old really quick." With a shrug, we all move on, but a few Celine fans stick behind in the "hearing" room for autographs and photos.

We stop outside a door, and I look at the tourists. "The last leg of this part of the tour is in there." I look to the door and shutter. "I cannot stand to be in there for very long, but it is yet another important function of the Temporal Lobe." I reach for the knob of the door and ease it open. As the door opens wider, the noise from the room gets louder and louder. A tourist covers her ears and shouts, "It sounds like an arena full of shouting people!" I look at her and smile, "See what I mean? This is the area of the Temporal Lobe that controls Mary's speech." I guide them into the room and all over the floor are hundreds of thousands of those chattering toy teeth, but instead of making clattering noises, they are talking at once. A child on the tour starts to scream at his mother, "Mommy, make it stop!" Everyone bolts from the room and we slam the door behind us.

"This now completes the tour of Mary's temporal lobe. I hope you enjoyed it, even though Celine felt the need to make an appearance. Enjoy the rest of your tour, and please feel free to come visit us again!"