acadec science 23-24 basic terms

Electrical Brain Stimulation

Uses electrodes to stimulate neurons, neural networks, and regions

transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

Uses on positive and one negative electrode to run a current through the brain

Optogenetics

Uses genes from green algae to trigger depolarization via blue light wavelengths

Transcranical Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

Uses a magnetic field to depolarize and
hyperpolarize brain regions

can create
temporary lesions

Intracellular
recording

Records changes in a single neuron via an
implanted electrode

Extracellular
recording

Uses electrodes to measure membrane
potentials from larger areas of cells

Electroencephalo
gram

Uses electrodes to record electrical
impulses over time

Magnetic
resonance
imaging

Uses a magnetic field to create a detailed
image of the human body

Brain-machine
interface

Controls a device or machine using human
thought

Neural network

Models interactions of a neuron web

Lesion studies

Damaging the brain and recording changes

channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2)

A light-absorbing pigment from green
algae that acts as an ion channel in
response to blue wavelengths of light

Phrenology

Pseudoscientific practice that determined
traits and abilities based on a skull shape

Dipole

Area of charge next to an opposite area of
charge measured by EEG electrodes

Event-related
potential

Electrical potential resulting from a
stimulus or event shown to a subject

N170

Negative peak of electricity in the cerebral
cortex that responds to human faces

Radio frequency
pulse

Energy pulse from an MRI that changes the
alignment of atoms

Fusiform face
area

Area of the temporal lobe that reacts to
pictures of faces

Computational
neuronal
modeling

Using a computer algorithm to model
neuron behavior

Computational
psychiatry

Uses computer algorithms to treat
disorders

Kikunae Ikeda

Discovered the taste "umami" in 1908

Eric Kandel

Performed habituation experiments on the
sea slug Aplysia californica

Paul Broca

Pioneered lesion studies and discovered
the left-localization of speech and language
output

Hans Berger

Invented the EEG in the 1920s

Donald Hebb

Proposed the theory of synaptic plasticity
in 1949

David Hubel

Introduced the theory of ocular dominance
in the 1960s

Torsten Wiesel

Introduced the theory of ocular dominance
in the 1960s

Santiago Ramon
Y Cajal

Speculated that learning requires the
formation of new neuronal connections

Barack Obama

Launched the Brain Research through
Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies
Initiative in 2013

Franz Joseph Gall

German neuroanatomist who invented
phrenology

Phantom limb
syndrome

Sensations from a body part that is no
longer part of the patient's body

Alzheimer's
disease

Possibly caused by hyperactivated
microglia in the brain

the hippocampus is
the first area to suffer cell death from this
disease

Parkinson's
disease

Neurons from the substantia nigra
degenerate and die, damaging dopamine-
producing neurons in the basal ganglia

Schizophrenia

Impacted by the dysregulation of dopamine

Attention deficit
hyperactivity
disorder

Impacted by the dysregulation of dopamine

Shingles

A reactivation of the chickenpox virus in
the spinal nerve root

Huntington's
disease

Leads to motor impairments from damage
to the basal ganglia

Depression

Treated with serotonergic
neurotransmission such as SSRls, electrical
brain stimulation, and TMS

Anxiety

Treated with serotonergic neurotransmission such as SSRIs

Long-term
memory

Memories that have been encoded, stored,
and retrieved by the brain

Short-term
memory

Memories that require conscious and
focused attention to recall

Explicit memory

Long-term memories that can be
consciously recalled

Semantic
memory

A form of explicit memory pertaining to
facts without contexts or emotions

Episodic memory

A form of explicit memory relating to
experiences or episodes in one's life

Implicit memory

Unconscious and unrehearsed memories
that take longer to encode

Procedural
memory

A form of implicit memory pertaining to
learned motor skills

Priming

A form of implicit memory resulting from
stimuli that trigger remembering

Classical
conditioning

Forms an association between a neutral
item and a meaningful stimulus

Schaffer
collaterals

Axons that consolidate short-term
memories into long-term memories

Fornix

A projection of the hippocampus that
carries information to deep brain regions

Synaptic
plasticity

Changing synapses can impact brain
development and information storage

Synaptic strength

The strength of connection between
synapses changes in the short and long term

Critical periods

Times in an organism's development with
especially high neuroplasticity

Habituation

Learning to ignore a stimulus that lacks
meaning

Sensitization

Strengthening a behavioral response to
stimulus

Long-term
potentiation

Changes in postsynaptic receptors
strengthens a synapse and can impact
memory

Perforant path

Path of transmission between the
entorhinal cortex and the hippocampus

Dentate gyrus

A site of neurogenesis in the hippocampus

Neurogenesis

The creation of new neurons

Limbic

Emotional regions of the brain

includes the
amygdala, hypothalamus, and cingulate
gyrus

Electrophysiological recordings

Record electrical activity of neurons

Ocular
dominance
columns

Strips of tissue on layer 4C of the primary
visual cortex

Monocular
deprivation

Blocking an organism's eye leads to the
shrinking of one ocular dominance column

Barrel field

Dots of sensation from whiskers on a
rodent's somatosensory cortex

AMPA receptor

a-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-
isoxazolepropionic acid receptor

ionotropic receptor that allows sodium into
the cell

NMDA receptor

N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor

includes a
pore that allows ion flow

CREB

A molecule that produces proteins during
long-term potentiation and produces the
L TP state

Long-term
depression

A weakening of the synaptic connection
caused by removing AMPA receptors

Mossy fibers

Axons from granule cells in the dentate
gyrus

Entorhinal cortex

Six-layered brain region that inputs to the
hippocampus

Consolidation

Encode memories into long-term storage

Somatosensation

Sense of touch, temperature, pain,
pressure, and vibration

Sensory
transduction

Translating light, sound, or pressure into
electrochemical signals

Photoreceptors

Absorb and transduce light

Retinofugal
pathway

The pathway by which visual signals are
communicated to the brain

Lateral
geniculate
nucleus

Processes visual input

Primary visual
cortex

Region of the occipital lobe that processes
visual input

Area T

Processes motion perception

Primary auditory
cortex

Processes auditory signals

Primary
gustatory cortex

Processes taste signals

Nociception

Neural processing of injurious stimuli

Primary
somatosensory
cortex

Processes somatosensation

Primary motor
cortex

Processes movement

Retina

Location of light transduction into
electrochemical signals

Retinotopic map

Map of the visual world that is preserved in
the VI

Ossicles

Three small bones in the ear that convert
sound waves into a pressure wave in the
inner ear

Tastant

Taste food particle that binds onto taste
receptors

Olfactory
epithelium

Basal cells and receptor neurons that bind
to environmental molecules

Two -point
discrimination

Tests the innervation/ sensitivity of
different areas of the skin

Afferents

Axons that bring information to the brain

Efferents

Axons that send information out of the
brain

Dorsal column
medial lemniscal
system

Communicates touch and proprioception
signals from the tissue to the brain

Anterolateral
spinothalamic
system

Transmits pain and temperature
information from body to brain

Glutamate

The most common excitatory
neurotransmitter

Gamma-aminobutyric acid(GABA)

Most common inhibitory neurotransmitter