What is transcranial magnetic stimulation?
An experimental manipulation of the brain that involves electrically stimulating the cerebral cortex of the brain by using pulsed magnetic fields administered near the scalp.
What is an EEG
A device used to record patterns of electrical activity produced by neuronal activity in the brain.
What is phrenology?
A discredited technique for determining intellectual abilities and personality traits by examining the bumps and depressions of the skull.
What is magnetoencephalography (MEG)?
A functional neuroimaging technique to measure brain activity using magnetic fields. This technique is useful to map brain changes across time and is often used together with fMRI.
What is Positron-emission tomography (PET)?
A brain-scanning technique that produces color-coded pictures showing the relative activity of different brain areas.
What is computed tomography (CT)?
A brain scanning technique that relies on X-rays to construct computer-generated images of brain and body.
What is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)?
A brain-scanning technique that relies on strong magnetic fields to construct computer-generated images of the brain or body based on blood flow.
What is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)?
A brain-scanning technique that relies on strong magnetic fields to construct computer-generated images of physiological activity in the brain or body.
What is single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)?
A brain-imaging technique that creates images of cerebral blood flow.
What is the brain stem?
A group of brain structures that provide life-support functions.
What is the medulla?
A brain stem structure that regulates breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, and other life functions.
What is pons?
A brain stem structure that regulates the sleep-wake cycle.
What is the cerebellum?
A brain stem structure that controls the timing of well-learned movements.
What is reticular formation?
A diffuse network on neurons, extending through the brain stem, that helps maintain vigilance and an optimal level of brain arousal.
What is the thalamus?
The brain stem structure that acts as a sensory relay station for taste, body, and auditory sensations.
What is the limbic system?
A group of brain structures, that through their influence on emotion, motivation, and memory, promote the survival of the individual and, as a result, the continuation of the species.
What is the hypothalamus?
A limbic structure that, through its effects on the pituitary gland and the autonomic nervous system, helps regulate the aspects of motivation and emotion, including eating, drinking, sexual behavior, body temperature, and stress responses.
What is the amygdala?
A limbic system structure that evaluates information from the immediate environment, contributing to feelings of fear, anger, or relief.
What is the hippocampus?
A limbic system that contributes to the formation of memories.
What is the cerebral cortex?
The outer covering of the brain.
What is the cerebral hemisphere?
The left and right halves of the cerebrum.
What is the primary cortical area?
Regions of the cerebral cortex that serve motor or sensory functions.
What is the association area?
Region of the cerebral cortex that integrates information from the primary cortical areas and other brain areas.
What is the frontal lobe?
A lobe of the cerebral cortex responsible for motor control and higher mental processes.W
hat is the motor cortex?
The area of the frontal lobes that controls specific voluntary body movements.
What is the parietal lobe?
A lobe of the cerebral cortex responsible for processing bodily sensations and perceiving spatial relations.
What is the somatosensory cortex?
The area of the parietal lobes that processes information from sensory receptors in the skin.
What is the temporal lobe?
A lobe of the cerebral cortex responsible for processing and hearing.
hat is the auditory cortex?
The area of the temporal lobes that processes sounds.
What is the occipital lobe?
A lobe of the cerebral cortex responsible for processing vision.
What is the visual cortex?
The area of the occipital lobes that processes visual input.
What is Broca’s area?
The region of the frontal love responsible for the production of speech.
What is Wernicke’s area?
The region of the temporal lobe that controls the meaningfulness of speech.
What is a Wada test?
A technique in which a cerebral hemisphere is anesthetized to assess hemispheric lateralization.
What is split-brain research?
A research technique for the study of cerebral hemispheric lateralization that involves people whose hemispheres have been surgically separates from each other.
What is the corpus callosum?
A thick bundle of axons provides a means of communication between the cerebral hemispheres and that is severed in so-called split-brain surgery.
What is neural plasticity?
The brain’s ability to learn from experience and to promote adaptive behavior.
What is collateral sprouting?
The process which branches from the axons of nearby healthy neurons grow into the pathways normally occupied by the axons of damaged neurons.
What is neural grafting?
The transplantation of healthy tissue into damaged nerves, brains, spinal cords.