Chapter 7: Movement

Flashcards about Biological Psychology, Chapter 7 Movement

Smooth Muscle

Controls involuntary actions like digestion and blood vessel regulation.

Skeletal Muscle

Drives voluntary movements in relation to the external environment.

Cardiac Muscle

Specialized heart muscle with properties of both smooth and skeletal muscle.

Neuromuscular junction

What is a synapse between a motor neuron axon and a muscle fiber?

Muscle contraction

What is the result of the release of acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junction?

Antagonistic Muscles

What are opposing sets of muscles called?

Excites them to contract

What does acetylcholine do to skeletal muscles?

Flexor Muscle

What type of muscle flexes or raises an appendage?

Extensor Muscle

What type of muscle extends an appendage or straightens it?

Fast-twitch Muscle Fibers

Fibers produce fast contractions but fatigue rapidly because these fibers are anaerobic and do not require oxygen for its reactions.

Slow-twitch Muscle Fibers

Fibers produce less vigorous contraction without fatigue because these fibers are aerobic and require oxygen during movement.

Proprioceptors

What are receptors that detect the position or movement of a part of the body?

Muscle Spindles

Proprioceptors parallel to the muscle that respond to a stretch: cause a contraction of the muscle

Stretch Reflex

What occurs when muscle proprioceptors detect the stretch and tension of a muscle and send messages to the spinal cord to contract it?

Golgi Tendon Organ

What proprioceptor responds to increases in muscle tension?

Reflex

What is an automatic, involuntary response?

Central Pattern Generators

neural circuits (e.g., spinal cord) that produce rhythmic motor output.

Motor Program

a fixed sequence of movements, learned or innate; runs start to finish once initiated and is disrupted by conscious thought or speech.

Precentral gyrus of the frontal lobe

Where is the primary motor cortex located?

Orders an outcome

What does the primary motor cortex do?

Seconds before the movement and following an error

When is the supplementary motor cortex active?

During preparation for movement

When is the premotor cortex active?

During a delay before movement

When is the prefrontal cortex active?

Antisaccade Task

What task inhibits a voluntary eye movement from one target to another and requires sustained activity in the prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia?

Corticospinal Tracts

paths from the cerebral cortex to the spinal cord.

Lateral Corticospinal Tract

Extends from the primary motor cortex, nearby areas of the cortex, and the red nucleus

Medial Corticospinal Tract

Extends from many areas of the cerebral cortex, as well as from several areas of the midbrain and medulla

Paralysis

Loss of voluntary movement in part of the body

Paraplegia

Loss of sensation and voluntary muscle control in the legs

Quadriplegia (or Tetraplegia)

Loss of sensation and voluntary muscle control in both arms and legs

Hemiplegia

Loss of sensation and voluntary muscle control in the arm and leg of either the right or left side

Tabes Dorsalis

Impaired sensations and muscle control in the legs and pelvic region, including bowel and bladder control

Poliomyelitis

Paralysis that results from a virus that damages motor neurons in the spinal cord

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

Gradual weakness and paralysis, starting with the arms and spreading to the legs due to a gradual loss of motor neurons

Cerebellum

What part of the brain is often associated with balance and coordination?

Purkinje Cells

flat, layered output cells of the cerebellum.

Parallel Fibers

run perpendicular to Purkinje cells in the cerebellum and activate them.

Basal Ganglia Pathway

Caudate nucleus & putamen get input from cortex, send to globus pallidus which then sends to the thalamus which sends to the motor & prefrontal cortex.

Parkinson's Disease

What is a neurological movement disorder characterized by muscle tremors, rigidity, slow movements, and difficulty initiating physical and mental activity?

Parkinson's Disease Cause

Caused by gradual and progressive death of neurons, especially in the substantia nigra

L-Dopa

Which drug, a precursor to dopamine, easily crosses the blood-brain barrier and is used as a primary treatment for Parkinson's?

Huntington’s Disease

A neurological disorder characterized by various motors symptoms. Associated with gradual and extensive brain damage especially in the basal ganglia but also in the cerebral cortex