Psych unit 2

Autonomic System

Deals with automatic/involuntary functions

Somatic Systems

Voluntary functions

What are the 2 parts of the Autonomic system?

1. Sympathetic System

2. Parasympathetic System

Sympathetic System

• Emergency fight or flight

• Activated in stressful situtations

Parasympathetic

• returns body to normal state

Neurons

Building blocks of the nervouse system

Dendrites

Recieve message from neurotransmitters and send them to the neurons

Soma

• Cell body

• Carries out basic metabolic functions

Axon

• Tail of the Neuron

• where electrical signals are conducted

Axon Hillock

Structure between the cell body and the axon

Action potential

• Electric impulses that carry messages to other neurons

Myelin Sheath

Insulates the axon and increases speed of action potential

Nodes of Ranvier

• Holds the sodium potassium pumps

Axon Terminals

• Knobs at the end of each axon that house chemical messages called neurotransmitters

Neurotransmitters

Carry chemical information and allow messages to travel between neurons to and from the central nervous system

Synapse

Gap between terminal buttons of sending neurons and dendrites of receiving neurons

Resting state of a neuron

• Neuron has a slight negative charge

• It jumps into action when incoming stimulus reaches threshold which begins depolarization

Depolarization

• Positivly charged Na ions go into cell and K ions leave

• this causes action potential

• Fires in an all-or-none fashion

Refractory period

Brief period where the cell can’t fire again

Communication between neurons

Elecctrical signal reaches end of axon and releases neurotransmitters

• the neurotransmitters are houses in vesicles at the end of the axon

Reuptake

• Neurotransmitters return to vesicles

• Marks end of refractory period

Antagonist

Drug that inhibits neurotransmitters

Agonist

Drug that helps transmitters

Locke - and - key

Receptor has a specific binding site and the drug or neurotransmitter is the specific key that fits it

Glial cells

Support cells that holds together the message

• sending neurons and supports their functioning

Excitatory Neurotransmitter

Stimulates the firing of messages

Inhibatory

Restricting the transmission of neural messages

Serotonin

Mood regulation, appetitive, and sleep and wake cycles

Substance P

Transmits pain signals to the brain

Nonepinephrine

Adrenaline from endocrine system

Acetylcholine

Associated with learning and memory

GABA

Most abundent inhibatory neurotransmitter in brain

Glutamate

• Excitatory Neurotransmitter

• Assists in neural communication, memory formaiton, and learning

Endorphins

Body’s natural pain killers

Dopamine

Linked to pleasure

Excitatory signal

Signals trigger actions

Inhibitory Signal

Signal depress actions

Threshold of excitation

When impulse is sent

Psychoactive or Psychotropic Drugs

Chemical subtance that acts on the brain to impact behavior, perceptions, moods, or mental processes

Blood-Brain Barrier

• What chemical molecules must cross in order for drugs to have an effect

• Blocks certain materials in blood from entering the brain tissue

• allows cerebral blood vessels to regulate molecule and ion movement between the blood and the brain

Which neurotransmitter sensitive place do most drugs affect?

Dopamine - Sensitive Pleasure Centers

• this causes addiction

Substance use disorder

Someone keeps using drugs, which builds up a tolerance and leads to the person increasing the dose in an attempt to feel something

Physical Dependence on drugs

Intense cravings and biological need for the drug

Psychological Dependence on drugs

All the mind can think about is the next high

Withdrawl

Body tries to go back to normal and that comes with multiple symptoms

Depressents

Slows nervous system activity

• includes alc, tranquilizers, and anti anxiety meds

Alcohol

Stimulates Gaba

Opiates

• Suppresses pain and induces sleep

• Delays cognative reaction and slurs speech

• Agonists for endorphins

Hallucinogens

Alters ones perceptions, often causes hallucinations

Stimulants

• Activates the nervous system

• Increases levels of arousal and activity while supressing appetite

Association Areas

Neurons don’t serve a specfic function until we learn something that creats or strengthens neural networks

What areas is the brain divided into

• Hindbrain

• Midbrain

• Forebrain

Hindbrain

• Regulates involuntary life functions

• Coordinates balance, motor control, and posture

• Includes BPMCR

  • Brainstem

  • Pons

  • Medulla

  • Cerebellum

  • Reticular Formation

Brainstem

• Made up of medulla and pons

Medulla

Helps control breathing, swallowing, heart rate, and digestion

• Think: Medulla Makes you Live

Pons

• Plays role in sleeping and dreaming

• bridge between brainstem and brain

• Think: Pons —> Pajamas ON

Cerebellum

• Balance, Coordination, Smooth muscle movement

• Think —> Sarah injured her Cerebellum and now she can’t walk properly

Reticular Formation

• Alertness and attention to incoming stimuli

• Network of neurons

• Brings signals from the hindbrain to the midbrain

Midbrain

• Recieves and integrates many types of sensory information

• Link between Hindbrain and Forebrain

Forebrain

• Involved in many different integrated activities

• Includes the limbic system

The Limbic System

• HHAT

• Hippocampus, Hypothalamus, Amygdala, Thalamus

Hippocampus

• Formation of new memories

• Transfer of short term to long term activites

• Think: Hippo on Campus — He needs to remember a lot

Hypothalamus

• Regulates the 4 F’s

  • Fight

  • Flight

  • Feeding

  • Fcking

• Think: Hippo has 4 legs

Amygdala

• Basic emotional responses

  • Anger, Fear, etc

• Evaluation of emotionally relevant information, such as flashbulb memories

  • Flashbulb memory: Traumatic memory you rememer EVERYTHING about

• Think: Amy see’s danger

Thalamus

• Sorts and relays sensory information to cortical areas for further evaluation

  • Except for smell

• Think: 2 traffic workers named Thal and Amus who direct traffic

Cerebrum

• Outside layer of cerebral cortex

• Allows for advanced higher order thinking and complex cognative abilities

what are the 4 lobes that make up Forebrain

• FPOT

• Frontal

• Parietal

• Occipital

• Temporal

Frontal Lobe

• Sets humans apart from other animals

  • Ability to plan for future, engage in complex thinking, and decision making

• Plays role in speech production and motor activity

• Holds the motor cortex, prefrontal area, and BROCA’s area

• Think —> Front seat driver, they make all the decisions, control motor of car, and cuss out drivers during road rage

Motor cortex

• Lives in frontal lobe

• Regulates voluntary movements

• Right side responsible for left and vice versa

Prefrontal area

• Executive of brain

• Carries out planning, decision making, judgement, and self control

• Think —> Principal Prefront

BROCA’s area

• Plays role in speech production

Parietal Lobe

• Govern incoming sensory info regarding touch, temperature, and pain

• holds the Somatosensory cortex

• Think: Paris has things to feel

Somatosensory Cortex

• Evaluates incoming sensory info from skin

• Areas of body that are mroe sensitive takes up more space on this cortex

Occipital Lobe

• Primary Visual cortex

• Processes visual information

• Think: Optical lobe

Temporal Lobe

• Auditory cortex

  • processes info from both ears

• Olfactory Cortex

  • Essential to sense of smell

• Holds Wernickes area

Wernickes Area

• Left temporal lobe

• plays role in speech comprehension

Right temporal lobe

facial recognition

Pituary gland

Produces and Releases Growth hormones and Oxytocin

• At the base of your brain

Corpus Callosum

• Thick bundle of neurons that links 2 hemispheres of the brain

Right Hemisphere

• Better at visual, spaital, artisitic, and music tasks

• Spatial abilities

• Responsible for left side of body

Left Hemisphere

• Better at math, logical, analytical, and linguistic abilities

• Responsible for right side of body

Lateralization

• Specific abilities are held in specific hemisphere of the brain

Localization

• Specific abilities are held in one part of brain

EEG

• Places electrolades on skull to identigy electroactivity in different parts of brain

• Used in sleep studies to identify brain waves

• Used mainly for sleep disorders

CAT scan

• Scan of the brain

• Black and white scan that overlats x-rays over each other

• Used to idenitfy issues with brain structure and tumors

MRI

• Person placed in strong magnetic tube

• Forces atoms out of rotation

• When the atoms go back in place, we get a highly detailed image

• Diagnoses MS, strokes, and tumors

PET

• Patients recieve non - harmful injection of a radioactive substance

• this helps track metabolism of glucose which acts as fuel for the brain

• As patient does tasks, glucose (which is being tracked) goes to the active parts of the brain

FMRI

• High resolution images

• shows where oxygen levels change in the brain

• shows both structure and function of different brain regions

Brain Plasticity

• Neurogenesis

• Brain is able to wire and rewire its sunaptic connections in response to new situations

• Brain can compensate when one part of it is screwed up

• The younger you are, the more effective it is

Long Term potentiation

• Process in which new neural networks are formed

• Triggering same sequence of neurons over and over again creates faster and more efficent pathways

• Neural foundation of learning and memory