Behavioral Neuroscience - Unit 3

Proceptive behaviors

Female behaviors that show males they desire intromission

Lordosis

Arched-back posture that allows male to mount for intromission

Intromission

The act of inserting a penis into a vagina

Müllerian ducts 

Develop into female sexual organs 

Wolffian ducts

Develop into male organs

Area that is usually smaller in female brains and homosexual male brains (one study found,not proven fact) 

INAH - 3

Key brain regions usually larger in males

SDN-POA, AVPV-POA, pBST, and SNB

Sexual developmental periods

Gestational → organizational → neonatal → sensitive → activation → adulthood

Gene that directs the formation of the testes

Sry (Sex-determining region of the Y chromosome)

Set Point

Specific range of a quality that the body tries to maintain (ex. water, blood sugar, temperature)

Eating loop - hormones

Insulin (lowers blood sugar) and glucagon (increases blood sugar)

Food lesion study - areas

Bilateral lesion in the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) = obesity

Bilateral lesion in the lateral hypothalamus (LH) = aphasia (underweight) 

Negative feedback loop

Like a thermostat - wants to reach set point and then maintain

Arcuate nucleus (in hypothalamus) produces ___

Appetite control center

Leptin

Produced by fat cells - low levels stimulate appetite 

Organizational Period

Prenatal events that determine our sex based on the presence (or lack) of Sry

Activation Period

(puberty) when secondary sex characteristics begin to emerge

Sensitive period

Period in which sexual expression is malleable (give estrogen to a castrated male = female expression)

William Young

Created the organizational/activational hypothesis

Sexual dimorphism

The differences between males and females 

Bilateral lesions in the SDN-POA affect…

Ovulatory behaviors in females and copulatory behaviors in males

Generally, the SDN-POA is larger in…

Males (environments with testosterone)

Gonadal steroids modulate these two brain regions

Hippocampus and amygdala (small differences)

Levay’s study…

Tried to prove that the INAH-3 can differentiate gay men from straight men in their brains. However, many of the brains he examined had died from AIDS and the study was compromised.

Insulin promotes glucose uptake, turning…

Glucose —> Glycogen

Glycogen is better suited for ____ than glucose

Glycogen is better for STORAGE in the body

Glucagon’s job is…

Breaking down glycogen into glucose (opposite of insulin) 

Forebrain system in