Storing Information in the Nervous System and Intelligence

WILDER PENFIELD

Sometimes performed brain surgery for severe epilepsy on conscious patients who had only scalp anesthesia.

TEMPORAL CORTEX

Stimulation of the ___ sometimes evoked vivid descriptions.

G.A HORRIDGE

Apparently demonstrated that decapitated cockroaches can learn.

YOKED-CONTROL DESIGN

An electrical circuit was arranged so that the roach's leg received a shock whenever it touched the water. Each experimental roach was paired with a control roach that got a leg shock whenever the first roach did.

JAMES MCCONNELL

Reported that, when planaria (flatworms) cannibalized other planaria that had been classically conditioned to respond to a light, they apparently remembered what the cannibalized planaria had learned.

PLANARIA

Flatworms cannibalized other ___ that had been classically conditioned to respond to a light; believed to retain learned behaviors.

HEBBIAN SYNAPSE

Is one that can increase its effectiveness as a result of simultaneous activity in the presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons.

APLYSIA

A marine invertebrate related to the slug, has been a popular animal for studies of the physiology of learning; neurons are virtually identical from one individual to another so that investigators can replicate one another's work in detail.

HABITUATION

A decrease in response to a repeated stimulus that is accompanied by no change in other stimuli.

SENSITIZATION

An increase in response to mild stimuli as a result of exposure to more intense stimuli; unexpected, intense pain, you temporarily react more strongly than usual to other sudden stimuli.

FACILITATING INTERNEURON

Releases serotonin onto the presynaptic terminals of many sensory neurons.

SEROTONIN

Blocks potassium channels in these membranes.

LONG-TERM POTENTIATION (LTP)

One or more axons connected to a dendrite bombard it with a rapid series of stimuli.

SPECIFICITY

If some of the synapses onto a cell have been highly active and others have not, only the active ones become strengthened.

IMPAIRED LEARNING

Cause of a failure of specificity.

COOPERATIVITY

Nearly simultaneous stimulation by two or more axons produces LTP more strongly than does repeated stimulation by just one axon.

ASSOCIATIVITY

Pairing a weak input with a strong input enhances later response to the weak input

LONG-TERM DEPRESSION (LTD)

a prolonged decrease in response at a synapse, occurs for axons that have been less active than others, such as axon 3

D1 AND D2

Dopamine receptors; by numbers

GABA A

GABA receptors; by letters

5-HYDROXYTRYPTAMINE (5-HT2C)

Serotonin synapse; both letter and number

AMPA AND NMDA

two types of glutamate

α-AMINO-3-HYDROXY-5-METHYL-4-ISOXAZOLENOPROPIONIC ACID (AMPA) RECEPTOR

excited by the neurotransmitter glutamate, but it can also respond to a drug called ___; typical ionotropic receptor that opens sodium channels

N-METHYL-D-ASPARTATE (NMDA) RECEPTOR

ordinarily excited only by glutamate, but it can respond to a drug called ___; response to glutamate depends on the degree of polarization across the membrane

IONOTROPIC RECEPTOR

when they are stimulated, they open a channel to let ions enter the postsynaptic cell

MAGNESIUM ION

positively charged, are attracted to the negative charge inside the cells but do not fit through the NMDA channel.

α-CALCIUM-CALMODULIN-DEPENDENT PROTEIN KINASE III (CAMKIII)

When calcium enters through the NMDA channel, it activates a protein called ___; sets in motion a series of reactions leading to release of a protein called CREB

CYCLIC ADENOSINE MONOPHOSPHATE RESPONSIVE ELEMENT-BINDING PROTEIN (CREB)

goes to the nucleus of the cell and regulates the expression of several genes. CaMKII sets in motion a series of reactions leading to release of a protein called ___

BRAIN-DERIVED NEUROTROPHIC FACTOR (BDNF)

The effects of CaMKII and CREB are magnified by ___; a neurotrophin similar to nerve growth factor.

RETROGRADE TRANSMITTER

Extensive stimulation of a post synaptic cell; travels back to the presynaptic cell to modify it; ___ is nitric oxide (NO)

CAFFEINE, AMPHETAMINE, OR METHYLPHENIDATE (RITALIN)

The one type of medication that does aid memory— sometimes—is a stimulant drug such as

MODAFINIL

another stimulant drug, has been approved for treating narcolepsy and other conditions that impair wakefulness, but people have also tried it (without FDA approval) for enhancing cognition and memory.

GINKGO BILOBA

the herb that improves memory

BACOPA MONNIERI

also known as water hyssop, has been used in India since the sixth century for several mental conditions; works as an antioxidant and removes b-amyloids, so theoretically it seems a reasonable candidate for improving memory.

FLAVONOL

chemicals found in Chinese tea, some cocoa and chocolate, and certain fruits and vegetables.

TRANSCRANIAL DIRECT CURRENT STIMULATION

consists of applying a nonpainful 1 to 2 milliamp current to the scalp.

INTELLIGENCE

includes learning, memory, reasoning, and problem solving.

CHARLES SPEARMAN

as a rule, all measures of cognitive performance correlate positively with one another.

GENERAL INTELLIGENCE (G)

Many psychologists have therefore assumed that all the skills share a single underlying factor of general intelligence.

BRAINY

intelligent

BERNARD RENSCH

demonstrated that within a family of animals, the larger species, which have proportionately larger brains, learn faster and retain their learning better than smaller species.

BRAIN TO BODY RATIO

relationship between logarithm of body mass and logarithm of brain mass for various vertebrates; Intelligence might be more related to the proportion of brain size to body size rather than just absolute brain size.

INTELLIGENCE SCORES

correlate especially with the surface area of cerebral cortex in the frontal and parietal cortex, but also with certain subcortical areas including the caudate nucleus.

SURFACE AREA

the part of the brain dense with cell bodies.

BROCA'S AREA

long associated with language production.

MONOZYGOTIC TWINS

resemble each other even if they are reared in separate homes.

HERITABILITY

increases as people grow older, presumably because high-performing people gravitate toward educational opportunities and challenging activities that facilitate whatever genetic predispositions were present.

INTOLERANT OF VARIATION

A great many genes that are widely expressed throughout the brain contribute to intelligence; they are the same in almost everyone, and a mutation in any of these genes leads to intellectual disabilities.