Chapter 3 flashcards

Neuroscience

The study of how nerves and cells send and receive info from the brain, body, and spinal cord.

Motor neurons

Send messages to the whole body, enabling you to interact with your environment

Sensory neurons

Send a status report back to your brain. Carry info from within your body and the outside world to your brain.

Interneurons

In between, connecting other neurons. Interpret, store, and retrieve info about the world.

False

T/F: you have more motor and sensory neurons than interneurons

What is the spinal cord

The major bundle of neurons that connects your body to your brain

CNS

Brain and spinal cord

PNS

Composed of the sensory and motor nerves that travel throughout your body

Somatic nervous system

Allows you to feel external sensations. related to voluntary commands

Autonomic nervous system

Allows you to feel internal sensations. Maintains involuntary commands

Sympathetic nervous system

Controls resources needed for the fight or flight response and mobilizing energy

Parasympathetic nervous system

Returns body to resting state. Rest and digest response to regenerate energy

Endocrine system

Network of glands that release bloodborne chemicals (hormones) into the bloodstream

Adrenal glands

Activated by sympathetic nervous system in times of stress. Release adrenaline and cortisol which boosts energy, increases heart rate and blood pressure.

Hypothalamus

Intersection of the CNS and endocrine system. Governs survival related behaviors like eating and drinking.

Pancreas

Regulates metabolism and blood sugar. Allows body to produce energy.

Pituitary gland

Sends messages to regulate other endocrine glands. Modulates hunger, sex drive, and sleep via the pineal gland

Cerebral cortex

Supports complex mental activity (sense, state of mind, language, thought, problem solving, and imagination). Neocortex-evolutionarily the newest. Develops through late adolescence and young adulthood. Extensively folded for more surface area for more neurons.O

Occiptal lobe

Largely devoted to vision. Has different kinds of visual areas like the primary visual cortex (necessary for sight). Eyes communicate light to the visual cortex

Temporal lobe

Primary auditory cortex (ability to hear and understand language). Allows you to recognize objects and people.P

Parietal lobe

Primary somatosensory cortex supports a map of the body’s skin and sense of touch. Allows you to pay attention to and locate objects

Frontal lobe

Movement and planning. Contains primary motor cortex and a map of the body’s muscles which works with the spinal cord to control movement. The rest is the prefrontal cortex, responsible for thought, planning, decision making, and self control.

Insular lobe

Allows us to perceive the inside of our bodies. Primary taste cortex.

Primary sensory areas

Process incoming sensory info

Primary motor cortex

Where brain issues outgoing commands to move the body

Association areas

Integrates info coming in from the senses with existing knowledge to produce a meaningful experience of the world and how to navigate it

Imbic system

Bridges newer complex mental functions with older regions that regular the body and its movements. Called the “emotional brain.” consists of the hippocampus, amygdala, basal ganglia, thalamus, and hypothalamus

Amygdala

Dedicated to emotion and how you register the emotional significance of events.

Basal ganglia

Necessary for planning and executing movement. Bridges the motor regions of cerebral cortex with nuclei that communicate with the spinal cord, sends signals to move body. Parkinson’s affects basal ganglia.

Thalamus

Central subcortical hub for all of the signals it receives from all of the sensory systems except smell.

Hypothalamus

Integrates internal body signals with their associated feelings and behaviors

Brain stem

Ensures brain gets oxygen, regulates breathing and heart rate. Most sensory nerves connect to the brain at the brainstem. Evolutionarily the oldtest.

Midbrain

Uppermost region of brainstem, contains tegmentum which reflexively moves the head and eyes towards sudden sights/sounds.

Ventral tegmental (midbrain)

Primitive component of motivation and reward

Substantia nigra

at intersection of midbrain and basal ganglia. regulates movement, origin of parkinsons.

Pons (hindbrain)

controls breathing and relays sensations such as hearing, taste, and balance to the cortex and subcortex

Medulla oblongata

Controls autonomic functions (HR, BP, reflexes)

Reticular foramen

Arousal and attention (alzheimer’s)

Cerebellum

Coordination, precision, balance, accurate timing

Executive functions

Cognitive processes that allow you to plan, focus attention, and organize multiple tasks to complete goals. Also inhibitory control.

Corpus callosum

Bridge of fibers that connect the two halves of the brain. Supports contralateral communication.

Left hemisphere

Language, verbal and conceptual tasks. Pain is shared by the right hemisphere. Looks at finer details

Right hemisphere

Perceptual and emotional tasks. Generates pain. Looks at bigger picture

MRI

Most common imaging tool

Grey matter

Cellular machinery that creates distinct brain regions and is composed of neuronal cell bodies

White matter

Long tracts of axons between brain regions that allow inter-region communication

DTI

Variation of MRI that can assess the size and direction of the connections between brain regions

False

T/F: MRIs look at the function of the brain

Neuropsychology

Studies the brain’s workings by examining its altered function following brain damage

Double-dissociation

“gold standard” in lesion studies because it allows for mapping specific functions to specific brain structures.

Single cell recordings

Help us understand the brain’s language because it’s listening to the electrical activity of one neuron

EEG

Use amplifiers to record the waves in electrical activity that sweep across the surface of the brain. Rhythms are most often used to diagnose brain states (sleep). E

Event-related potential (ERP)

Average EEG rhythms of an electrical response to specific events

MEG (magnetoencephalography)

Records magnetic fields produced by the brain’s electrical currents. Resolves timing of brain’s electrical events. D

Pros and cons of MEG and EEG

Provide useful data about when events are happening in the brain, but prevent us from knowing where the signals originate.

FMRI

Takes MRI scans in sequence to track oxygen in the blood flowing through the brain. Can measure activity in small structures every few seconds, but cannot reveal the time scale like EEGs and MEGs.

PET (positron emission topography)

Injecting radioactive glucose into bloodstream, which can be tracked and rendered in images. Pick up signals radiating from areas with increased glucose consumption. M

More advanced PET scans

Target the brain’s use of specific neurochemicals. Most important function because because it indicates specific changes in brain chemistry. Represents activity in brain regions over a long period of time so is not great with the time between the stimulus and the response.

DBS (deep brain stimulation)

Inserts electrodes deep into patient’s brain to alter the activity of brain regions that have been abnormally active

Dendrites

Receive chemical messages

Cell body (soma)

Collects Neural impulses, contains nucleus, and provides life sustaining functions for cell.

Axon

Transports electrical impulses to other neurons via terminal branches

Myelin sheath

Layer of fatty tissue that insulates axon and makes sure signal gets there fast. Gives white matter its light appearance.

Glial cells

Makes up myelin. Insulates, supports, and nourishes neurons. Like cellular glue and gives brain a jelly-like consistency. Contributes to info processing during childhood.

Broca’s Area

Damage to Broca’s area causes patients to be able to understand language, but could not speak. Next to motor cortex

Wernicke’s Area

Damage to Wernicke’s area caused patients to not understand language but could produce speech. Next to auditory cortex

True

T/F: Extracellular fluid is positive while intracellular fluid is negative

Na+

When other neurons stimulate a neuron’s dendrites, ion channels open and allow ___ through.

Depolarization

Moving negative resting energy towards 0

Repolarization

Flood of + ions reverse and returns to resting potential

Refractory period

Period after an action potential when it is impossible for a neuron to fire again.

Closer

Excitatory signals move voltage ___ to threshold

Away

Inhibitory signals move voltage ____ from threshold

Neurotransmitter

Once a _________ binds to a receptor in the synapse, it opens the ion channels and induces change in ion flow, generating an electrical singal

Diffusion

Neurotransmitters drift out of synapse over time

Degredation

Chemical rxn breaks down neurotransmitter in synapse

Reuptake

Reabsorbed into presynaptic terminal branches

Glutamate

Amino acid neurotransmitter, excitatory and is important for long term memory.

GABA

Amino acid, inhibitory, involved in regulation of muscle tone

Norepinephrine

Monoamine, important for fight or flight

Dopamine

Monoamine, high levels contribute to schizophrenia, and low levels contribute to parkinson’s

Sertotonin

Monoamine, associated with well being, appetite, and sleep. High levels produce hallucinogenic effects and low levels contribute to depression

Acetylcholine

Both inhibitory and excitatory, supports heart and skeletal muscle and cognitive function. Low levels can be associated with muscular dystrophy and demential

Endorphines

Brain’s natural opiates. Morphine-like chemicals that inhibits transmission of pain signals.

Dopamine

___ is synthesized in the midbrain in a cluster of neurons called the ventral tegmental area (VTA)

Agonist

Any drug that can mimic or boost the action of a neurotransmitter

Antagonist

Compete with neurotransmitters/psychoactive drug by preventing it from binding. Naloxone to prevent overdose

Epigenetics

The study of how the interactions between genes and the environment regulate gene expression through chromosomal modifications and chemical modifications of DNA bases.

Behavioral genetics

The study of how genetic factors influence trait variation between individuals.Ty

Typical heritability range

0.3-0.6

Neural plasticity

The brain’s ability to physiologically modify, regenerate, and reinvent itself constantly over a lifetime.

Critical periods

Periods in early life during which very specific experiences must occur to ensure the normal development of a characteristic/behavior

Damage plasticity

Neuron modification following injury. Brain modification

Adult plasticity

Shaping and reshaping of neuron circuits throughout adulthood

Stem cells

Cells that have not yet undergone gene expression to differentiate into specialized cell types. Only found in embryos.

Synaptogenesis

Formation of new synapses between neurons. Common component of adult plasticity and supports learning and memory.

Neurogenesis

The birth of entirely new neurons. Takes place over the entire life span. May be involved in formation of new memories, stress, and depression.