It is a motor center that relays inhibitory signals to the thalamus and basal nuclei preventing unwanted body movement.

[citation needed] The tegmentum area includes various different structures, such as the rostral end of the reticular formation, several nuclei controlling eye movements, the periaqueductal gray matter, the red nucleus, the substantia nigra, and the ventral tegmental area.

[citation needed] Structures that develop to grow ventral or lateral outside this primitive tube as add-ons (e.g., the crus cerebri in the anterior of the midbrain) are not considered part of the tegmentum, as they are not part of the primitive neural tube but grow as projections from the cerebral cortex.

The reticular formation controls arousal and self-consciousness, and the substantia nigra integrates voluntary movements.

[4] The lateral tegmental field (LTF)[5] or lateral tegmentum (more specifically the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve and the solitary nucleus) is the source of several neural pathways in the brain's noradrenaline system.