Biological Psychology Final Exam

lesion

wound or injury of the brain

experimental ablation

the removal/injury of a portion of the brain of a lab animal

CT scan

x-rays produce a 2D image of the brain in medium resolution

adenosine

neuromodulator that is thought to promote sleep

increased adenosine

inhibits neural activity, encourages sleep, sleep wake cycle replenishes glycogen

caffeine

an antagonist that blocks adenosine receptors in the brain

neurotransmitters that help you stay awake

acetylcholine, norepinephrine, serotonin, histamine

orexin

originate in lateral hypothalamus, sends excitatory messages across brain to keep you awake

sleep-wake flip flop circuit

arousal neurotransmitters and sleep neurons in ventrolateral preoptic area (vlPOA) send messages to each other to induce sleep or wakefulness

acetylcholine

high levels during waking and REM stages

raphe nuclei

serotonin is found in the ____ of the midbrain and the hindbrain

locus coeruleus

norepinephrine is found in here

decreases, increases

as glycogen _____, adenosine _____

sleep neurons

found in the ventrolateral preoptic area and secrete GABA

long-term potentiation

neurons that fire together wire together

increase in the excitability of a neuron to a particular synaptic input caused by repeated high-frequency activity of that input

LTP occurs

presynaptic and postsynaptic cells are depolarised at the same time

NMDA receptors

open when depolarized by a strong synapse, allowing calcium ions to enter the cell. beginning of LTP

calcium ions

allows AMPA receptors to attach to dendrites and strengthen the synapses, leading to more excitatory postsynaptic potentials

AMPA receptors

control sodium ion channels, increases excitatory PSPs

Broca’s area

speech production

Primary auditory cortex

in temporal lobe, processes sensory info from auditory system

Wernicke’s area

word recognition, not comprehension

Posterior language area

interface between word recognition and what it actually means

Arcuate Fasciculus

connects Wernicke’s and Broca’s area

Broca’s aphasia

difficulty with speech production and comprehension

pure word deafness

damage to Wernicke’s area - can hear, read, speak, write, without recognizing the words. cannot repeat words spoken to them

transcortical sensory aphasia

damage to posterior language area - difficulty with comprehension and meaningful speech

Wernicke’s aphasia

damage to Wernicke’s area + posterior language area - difficulty in speech recognition, comprehension, and converting thoughts to words. fluent but meaningless speech

conduction aphasia

damage to the arculate fasciculus - difficulty repeating spoken words and non-words