NSCI 222 - UNC - Dr. Sevetson

What is the CNS comprised of?

brain and spinal cord

What does the PNS do?

it transmits signals from sensory receptors in the CNS and carries commands to muscles

What does the frontal lobe do?

enables a person to plan and perform actions

What does cortex mean?

the outer sections, the "bark"

What does the parietal lobe do?

it is important for somatosensory inputs (touch)

What does the temporal lobe do?

language processing, auditory processing, forming new memories, and facts

What does the occipital lobe do?

visual processing

What does the cerebellum do?

regulation and coordination of complex voluntary muscular movement

What does the brainstem do?

regulates automatic functions such as breathing and body temperature (lizard brain)

What does the thalamus do?

receives sensory signals and connects cortical and subcortical structures, no smell passed through here

What does the basal ganglia do?

learning, planning, and producing skilled movement (habitual and in sequence typically)

What does the hippocampus do?

spatial and autobiographical memory as well as learning

What does the amygdala do?

controls emotional responses and emotional memory

What do the synapses do?

they modulate neuronal activity

What do dendrites do?

receive input from other neurons

What does the soma do?

integrates input and decides whether or not to send output

What does the axon do?

transmits electrical signals

What is an action potential?

production of an electrical signal by a neuron

How do neurons communicate with other neurons?

action potentials

Who shared the Nobel Prize for finding the structure of neurons?

Santiago Ramon y Cajal & Camillo Golgi

Why do neurons sometimes become more complex?

complexity of dendrites is related to the complexity of the information they are receiving/transmitting

What are oligodendrocytes?

type of glial cell that forms insulating myelin sheaths around the axons of neurons in the CNS

What are astrocytes?

help with communication between neurons, remove waste, and give nourishment

What are microglia?

These are phagocytes that monitor the health of nearby neurons and dispose of debris, including dead brain cells and bacteria

What is the significance of endothelial cells and pericytes?

they help maintain the vasculature of the brain

T or F: any physical change in neurons or the glia and blood vessels that work with them, can affect neural connectivity

T

What is Hebbian Learning?

learning that involves strengthening connections between neurons that work together (fire together, wire together)

T or F: The ability to learn and remember shows that brain structure CANNOT be changed by experience

F - it can

Autopsies

useful for studying brain structure but can only be done on dead brains, decomposition, no circulation, no activity

Lesion Studies

study what a lesion on the brain does or does not do, can be conducted on living people with lesions, but cannot be standardized, and other areas of the brain can compensate for the lesion

Engram, Karl Lashley

a physical change or representation in the brain that forms the basis of a memory

Theory of Equipotentiality

memories are not stored in one area of the brain, the brain operates as a whole to store memories

What is wrong with the Theory of Equipotentiality?

they only removed the cortex (the outer part) so memory in the hippocampus was not affected

When looking for changes in brain function, what are some things we should look for?

changes that reliably ocur, is stable as long as the memory is stable, is specific to the context of a memory, and is located in the area of retrieval

MRI

can help find lesions and track ageing and disease, doesn't use radiation, good for soft tissue

Diffusion Tensor Imaging

can help to observe connections between regions, useful for TBI and CTE

What is neuropsychology?

relationship between brain function and behavior is examined typically in those with specific types of brain damage

FMRI (functional MRI)

the more brain activity the more oxygen and vise versa, the only problem with this is that it is only as fast as blood and blood is slow

EEG (electroencephalography)

measures event-related potential (ERPs), it is non-invasive and has better temporal (time) resolution, it is also cheaper than MRIs, yet it only detects cortical (outer) signals and so it has limted spatial acuity

What is neurophysiology?

the study of neural activity, memory is impacted by which neurons fire and how often

What is calcium imaging?

active neurons influx calcium, which allows us to get a rough idea of when neurons are active, yet it is slower than electrical activity

What are the types of single celled recording?

intra and extracellular recording

What is extracellular recording?

electrodes are placed NEXT to neurons and record while a subject is doing a task, you get to see when the neuron fires more

What is intracellular recording?

this is where an electrode is placed WITHIN the cell yet it can only be done on sampled tissue and can show subthreshold activity (difficult to perform)

What is a reflex?

an involuntary or automatic response that is hardwired into an organism (does not require learning)

Sensory =

afferent

Motor =

efferent

Where is the primary motor cortex located (M1)?

frontal lobe

Where is the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) located?

parietal lobe

Where is the primary visual cortex located (V1)?

occipital lobe

Where is the primary auditory cortex located (A1)?

temporal lobe

Describe the process of picking up a cup of coffee using only the anatomical parts of the brain used.

visual cortex to frontal cortex to motor cortex to basal ganglia and cerebellum to somatosensory cortex

What are the dominant ideologies for where memories are stored?

they are stored in the cerebral cortex and in connections between cortical neurons

How is information transmitted in the brain? (2 ways)

electrically (aps) and chemically (nts)

Difference between postsynaptic and presynaptic in terms of sending and receiving.

presynaptic is sending, postsynaptic is receiving

T or F: synaptic transmission is the shortest type of transmission, and it is the FASTEST

F

What are neurotransmitters and name some of them?

chemicals that can cross a synapse and affect the activity of a postsynaptic neuron

GABA, acetylcholine, dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine

What are receptors, and what does their action depend on?

Receptors are molecules embedded in the surface of the postsynaptic neuron, the action of the receptor depends on the type of receptor it binds to

What is a neuromodulator?

a chemical that acts to modulate excitability in multiple neurons rather than at a single synapse (ACh)

Define what happens to the synapse during LTP, LTD and overall plasticity

LTP: synapse gets stronger and potentiates

LTD; synapse gets weaker and depresses

plasticity is just the change in the synapse

T or F: LTP adds more receptors to the synapse.

T

How do you measure LTP and LTD?

you can measure it using intracellular recordings

What are drugs?

chemical substances that alter the biochemical functioning of the body

What can drugs do to synaptic transmission?

they can increase or decrease the ability of the pre and post-synaptic neuron to produce, release, or receive NT, and they can also allow NT to stay in the synapse too long