Exam 1 - 235

What is behavioral neuroscience?

Behavioral neuroscience \= Physiological psychology \= Biological psychology (biopsychology) \= Brain and behavior

Behavioral neuroscience is the study of the biological bases of psychological processes and behavior.

Provides general knowledge about the brain and behavior.

May contribute to greater understanding of brain disorders and development of effective treatments

Fundamental discoveries in biological psychology research

Neurological or psychiatric illnesses effect

At least one in five people

Thought the heart was the center of thoughts and emotions.

Ancient Egyptians, Indians, Chinese, and Greeks

Wrote about the brain controlling thoughts, emotions, and intelligence.

Hippocrates

Believed the heart was the root of consciousness.

Aristotle

The Greco‐Roman physician that treated brain‐injured gladiators.

Galen

Proposed behavior results from connections between the brain and the body.

Galen

Major developments in math and science starting towards the end of the Renaissance (1500s).

The Scientific Revolution

Renaissance artist and scientist that pioneered anatomical drawings by relying on direct observation.

Leonardo da Vinci

Proposed the concept of spinal reflexes and their neural pathways.

René Descartes

Explained control of behavior in terms of nervous system acting as a machine.

René Descartes

Promoted the notion of dualism: that humans have a nonmaterial soul as well as a material body.

René Descartes

Discovered relations between disorders and brain damage

Thomas Willis (1600s)

Popularized the concept of localization of function.

Phrenology

The belief that bumps on the skull result from enlargements of brain regions responsible for certain behavioral faculties.

Phrenology

The concept that different brain regions specialize in specific behaviors.

Localization of function

Caused predictable impairments.

Damage to specific brain regions

Noted that damage to a particular region of the left side of the brain reliably impairs speech production ("Broca's aphasia").

Paul Broca (1800's)

In the 1800's: \_______ Invents cell staining technique.

Golgi

In the 1800's: \_______ makes detailed drawings of many types of nerve cells using Golgi staining.

Ramón y Cajal

When was rapid progress made in the areas of learning, memory, and conditioning?

In the 1900's.

Described how neuronal connections strengthen as a consequence of experience.

Hebb (Canada)

Plastic neuronal connections that change in strength through use.

Hebbian Synapses

Basic unit of the nervous system

Neurons (nerve cells)

Has a variety of support functions

Glia

Input

Dendrites

Integration

The cell body, also known as the soma.

Conduction

Axon

Output

Axon terminals

Receives chemical signals from other neurons and also converts chemical signal to electrical signal

Dendrites

Integrates/combines information that has been received at dendrites, also sums together the electrical signals

Soma (cell body)

Long extension from soma, insulated with myelin, and carries the electric signal (action potential) away from the cell body and to the terminals

Axon

Located on the ends of the axon, also make synaptic contact with other cell's dendrites

Axon terminals

Information signals between neurons are

Chemical

Information signals within a neuron are

Electrical

Neuron types: One axon, many dendrites

Multipolar

Neuron types: One axon, one dendrite

Bipolar

Neuron types: One extension branching in two directions

Unipolar

A junction between two neurons

Synapse (also known as the synaptic cleft)

Axon terminal of presynaptic neuron

Presynaptic membrane

Axon terminal of postsynaptic neuron

Postsynaptic membrane

The axon terminals contains \___1\____ that contain \____2\___.

1. Synaptic vesicles

2. Neurotransmitters

Respond to the neurotransmitters

Receptors

Two types of glia wrap around axons to provide a fatty insulation layer called

Myelin

Located in the central nervous system

Oligodendrocytes

Located in the peripheral nervous system

Schwann cells

Gaps between sections of myelin where the axon is exposed.

Nodes of Ranvier

Stretch around neurons, synapses, and sometimes blood vessels

Astrocytes

Removes debris

Microglia

Brain and spinal cord

Central Nervous System (CNS)

All other parts of the nervous system outside of the brain and spinal cord

Peripheral nervous system

Consists of nerves, or bundles of axons.

Peripheral nervous system

Transmits information from the CNS to muscles and glands.

Motor nerves

Conveys information from the body to the CNS

Sensory nerves

Nerves that interconnect the brain and the major muscles and sensory systems of the body

Somatic nervous system

Nerves that connect to the internal organs

Autonomic nervous system

The somatic nervous system includes

The cranial and spinal nerves.

Cranial nerves

connect brain -\> head, neck, visceral organs

Spinal nerves

Connect spinal cord -\> muscles, organs

Have sensory and motor components.

Cranial nerves

Motor fibers and sensory fibers

Spinal nerves

Prepares the body for "fight or flight"

Sympathetic nervous system

Helps the body relax; rest-and-digest

Parasympathetic nervous system

Planes of dissection

Horizontal, Sagittal, and Coronal

Directional terms

Medial/lateral (toward middle/toward side)

Ipsilateral/contralateral (same/opposite side)

Proximal/distal (near/far)

Superior/inferior (up/down)

Anterior/posterior (front/back)

Rostral/caudal (beak/tail)

Dorsal/ventral (back/belly)

The brain has two

Cerebral hemispheres

The outermost, convoluted layer of the brain.

Cerebral cortex

The cortex has __1\__ and __2__

1. Gyri (ridged and raised portions)

2. Sulci (furrows)

Attention, planning, motor

Frontal lobe

Touch, other

Parietal lobe

Visual processing

Occipital lobe

Auditory processing, memory

Temporal lobe

Separates left and right hemispheres

Longitudinal fissure

Boundary of temporal lobe

Sylvian fissure

Divides frontal/parietal lobes

Central sulcus

Important for motor control

Precentral gyrus

Important for touch

Postcentral gyrus

Mostly cell matter and dendrites

Nuclei

Gray matter

Mostly axons with white myelin sheaths

Tracts

White matter

A bundle of axons that connects the two cerebral hemispheres.

Corpus callosum

Develops the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain

Neural tube

Forebrain develops into

Telencephalon and Diencephalon

Midbrain continues to develop as

Midbrain

Hindbrain develops into

Cerebellum, Pons, and Medulla

Sensory, motor, associative, and cognitive function

Six layers

Pyramidal cells

Cerebral cortex

Control of movement and actions

Basal ganglia

Most important for emotion and learning

Limbic system

Learning

Hippocampus and fornix

Emotional regulation and perception of odor

Amygdala

Attention

Cingulate gyrus

Sense of smell

Olfactory bulb

Relay almost all sensory information to cortex

Thalamus

Motivated behavior, homeostasis, regulating autonomic nervous system

Controls the pituitary gland

Hypothalamus

Superior colliculi ‐visual processing

Inferior colliculi ‐auditory processing

Tectum

Source of dopamine to basal ganglia

Substansia nigra

Sleep and arousal

Reticular formation

Pain perception

Periaqueductal gray

Sensory and motor nuclei

Pons

At transition from brain to spinal cord, essential to processes such as respiration and heart rate

Medulla