Behavioral Sciences ALL

Paul Broca

Known for discovering “Broca’s Area,”

Region of the lower frontal lobe responsible for coherent speech production.

Tan

Pierre Flourens

Known for discovering discrete structures of the brain;

By taking small animals and taking out different chunks of their brains, he observed that depending on which part was removed, their behaviors changed.

Franz Gall

Phrenology. Disproven now, but it was an early start to realizing that behavior, intellect, and personality are linked to the brain.

Sir Charles Sherrington

Existence of synapses.

William James

Father of psychology

Denoted the importance of studying individuals’ capability in adapting to their environments.

John Dewey

Pragmatism, functionalism.

Denoted the importance of studying organisms as a whole.

Caused a revision of reflex-arc theory.

Frontal lobe is responsible for

Decision-making

Specialized motor control

Learning

Speech

Memory

Parietal lobe is responsible for

Sensory perception and integration;

sense of touch, smell, taste, sight, hearing, temperature, etc.

Temporal lobe is responsible for

Hearing/auditory processing,

language comprehension

Occipital lobe is responsible for

Vision perception and integration;

Color perception, facial recognition, etc

Corpus callosum is responsible for

connecting the two hemispheres of the brain structurally and informationally

Hypothalamus is responsible for

maintaining homeostasis via regulation of hunger/thirst, heart rate, temperature

-does this by regulating the release of hormones

Thalamus is responsible for

Sensory processing (The UPS of the brain); sends sensory info to respective lobes for management.

Also consciousness (alertness, sleep/wake)

Hippocampus is responsible for

Memory

Learning

Amygdala is responsible for

Emotional processing; notably,

Flight/Fight/Freeze response

Perception of threats and management of fear/agression

Pineal gland is responsible for

Circadian rhythm (light-cycle detection)

Pituitary gland is responsible for

Hormonal regulation; master gland that dictates what hormones are produced and where in the body.

Cerebellum is responsible for

voluntary movement; motor control

(like it makes walking something you can do without thinking about it)

Balance, posture, etc.

Prefrontal cortex is responsible for

decision-making

Broca’s area is responsible for ( ) and is located ( )

coherent speech production, lower frontal lobe

Wernicke’s area is responsible for ( ) and is located ( )

speech comprehension, temporal lobe

Name 5 types of neural imaging. What are the two main distinctions between types of neural imaging?

MRI, CAT, PET, EEG, fMRI

Imaging can be either structural or functional.

Describe MRI

A form of structural imaging in which giant magnets align atomic nuclei in bodily tissues, measuring its potential or whatever to create a specific image of the whole brain. Usually only used for conditions that CT scans can’t detect.

Describe CAT

A form of structural imaging in which a series of many xrays are taken of different areas of the brain in order to create one larger image of the brain’s structure. Usually preferred over MRIs, initially.

Describe PET

A form of functional imaging in which radioactively-tagged glucose molecules are tracked through the brain.

Brain tissues that are active will preferentially take up glucose, and so certain detectors can gain an image of which brain regions are active using radioactive tags.

Describe EEG

A form of functional imaging in which a bunch of electrodes are placed on the head, specifically measuring given electrical potentials. Active regions of the brain will display potentials of higher amplitude. Thus, during certain events such as seizures, the location of the brain that is causing certain episodes can be located.

Acetylcholine is responsible for

Is it excitatory or inhibitory?

Arousal, muscle action, memory.

Chief neurotransmitter of the central and peripheral nervous systems.

Can be excitatory or inhibitory.

β-endorphin is responsible for

It is chiefly produced in (where?)

Pain, pleasure management

Released in response to pain/exercise, usually by pituitary gland.

Dopamine is responsible for

Mood, memory, motivation.

Regulation of mood,

Is responsible for the “good” feeling after something satisfying or good happens.

GABA is responsible for

brain function; sleep

Primary inhibitor of the CNS

Glutamate is responsible for

excitation of the nervous system: NMDA receptors/signal cascades

Glycine is responsible for

inhibition of the nervous system; contrary to glutamate

Norepinephrine is responsible for

stress response; adrenaline

Serotonin is responsible for

overall mood regulation, sleep.

Left hemisphere is known for

Analytical thinking; logic, math, language.

Right hemisphere is known for

Intuitive thinking: Creativity, musicality, spatial cognition.

Recognition of nonverbal language cues.

Basal ganglia is responsible for

Smooth movement.

Damage to basal ganglia results in “parkinsonism”

What are three parts of the brain stem and their functions?

Reticular formation, pons, medulla oblongata

Responsible for vital, involuntary survival processes (heart rate, circulation, breathing, blood pressure, etc). Additionally, motor coordination.

Limbic system is responsible for

“Primitive” behaviors, like eating, reproducing, surviving.

Superior and inferior colliculi are responsible for

Reflexes to stimuli.

Superior: visual

Inferior: auditory

Name the three types of neuron

Sensory (afferent)

Motor (efferent)

Interneuron

What is a reflex arc?

The path a nerve signal may take upon reaction to an external stimuli; within the CNS, a motor impulse may be sent out without processing by the brain.

Distal vs. proximal stimuli

Distal is the object outside of the body that produce stimuli. Proximal stimuli are the specific byproducts of that stimuli that directly interact with the body’s receptors; heat, photons, sound waves, pressure, etc.

Photoreceptors respond to:

Light (sight)

Mechanoreceptors respond to:

Pressure or movement

Nocireceptors respond to:

Pain

Thermoreceptors respond to:

Temperature

Osmoreceptors respond to:

water content of the blood (water homeostasis)

Olfactory receptors respond to:

smell

Taste receptors respond to:

Dissolved compounds in the mouth

Name three different types of perceptual thresholds and describe each.

Absolute threshold: the absolute minimum amount of signal required to be transduced (sensed) by the body, but not necessarily perceived.

Threshold of conscious perception: minimum amount of signal required to be perceived consciously.

Difference threshold: the minimum amount of signal change required to be able to tell there is a difference between two signals.

Weber’s Law

Observed that difference thresholds are proportional and must be computed as percentages.

Signal detection theory

How our bodies and the environment shapes the way we perceive signals.

How does the mind and body focus our attention on only the most relevant stimuli?

Adaptation; cold water won’t feel so cold after a while.

Duplicity theory of vision

states that the retina has two kinds of photoreceptors: black/white and color

Cones vs rods. What even are these?

Cones: color (light) Rods: not color (dark) These are specialized types of neurons.

Name the specialized regions of the retina and their characteristics.

The retina has a macula, a central region with a high concentration of cones. Within the macula is the fovea, which contains only cones.

What neuron types interact to form the optic nerve?

Rods and cones interact directly with bipolar cells, which synapse with ganglion cells. Also notable are amacrine and horizontal cells.

Amacrine/horizontal cells

Important for visual contrast perception. They are located between bipolar cells and ganglion cells.

Optic chiasm

Where nasal fibers from the left and right eyes cross, to deliver information about the sides of your vision to the correct side of your body. Remember, left visual field is processed by right-brain, and right visual field is processed by left-brain.

Parallel visual processing

The ability to analyze characteristics of a visual input simultaneously, like color, form, motion, and depth.

Parvocellular cells detect

Very fine details within stationary objects.

Magnocellular cells detect

Motion detection, low resolution.

What type of neurons allow for depth perception?

Binocular neurons

What are the three ossicles of the ear and what do they do?

The ossicles help transmit and amplify auditory signals to the inner ear.

Malleus: The hammer, acts on

Incus: The anvil, acts on

Stapes: The stirrups, which rests on the cochlea (inner ear).

What does the Eustachian tube do?

Pressure equalization of the inner ear vs. external environment.

What are the two labyrinths of the ear? Describe them.

The membranous labyrinth is a collection of tubes and chambers within the inner ear, which are filled with endolymph.

The bony labyrinth is a hollow region of temporal bone that surrounds the membranous labyrinth with perilymph. It contains the cochlea, vestibule, and semicircular canals.

What is the function of perilymph?

To cushion the inner ear, and transmit auditory signals through vibration.

What type of sensory cells directly send auditory messages to the brain?

Hair cells

Place theory

the location of a hair cell on the basilar membrane determines the perception of pitch when that exact hair cell is vibrated

How are the hair cells of the cochlea organized? That is, what dictates whether or not a high or low sound is perceived?

It is organized tonotopically; higher pitched sounds will vibrate hair cells closer to the oval window, and lower pitched sounds will vibrate hair cells away from it.

What are the four modalities of touch perception?

pressure, vibration, pain, temperature

What are five types of touch receptor types?

Pacinian corpuscles Meissner corpuscles Merkel cells (discs) Ruffini endings Free nerve endings

Pacinian corpuscles respond to:

heavy pressure and vibration

Meissner corpuscles respond to:

light touch/pressure

Merkel cells (discs) respond to:

heavy pressure and texture

Ruffini endings respond to:

stretch

Free nerve endings respond to:

pain and temperature

Pain perception is primarily the result of what receptors?

Nocireceptors

Gate theory of pain:

A special gate mechanism can turn pain signals on or off, affecting whether or not pain is perceived even in the presence of a signal.

Proprioception is

The perception of one’s body in space.

Where are most receptors for proprioception located?

Joints and muscles

What are the two types of processing that allow object recognition?

Bottom up (data driven) Top down (processing driven)

What are Gestalt Principles?

a set of general rules accounting for how brains view incomplete stimuli in organized, patterned ways

What are three laws related to gestalt principles?

Law of proximity: objects close to each other usually are perceived as one

Law of similarity: similar objects are grouped together Law of good continuation: elements that flow together are grouped together

Subjective contours: The perception of contours of shapes that might not actually be there

Law of closure: if it pretty much looks closed, it’s perceived as closed.

Piaget’s Stages of Development

Sensorimotor: (0-2) development of object permanence and kinesthetic sense

Preoperational: (2-7) egocentrism, development of conservation

Concrete operational: (7-puberty) logical reasoning, loss of egocentrism

Formal operational: (puberty-adulthood) abstract reasoning

Assimilation vs. adaptation

Assimilation: incorporating new information into existing mental schemas

Adaptation: adjusting existing schemas to new information

Lev Vygotsky

Believed cognitive development was an internalization of one’s culture and socialization at young age.

Fluid vs. crystal intelligence

Fluid intelligence utilizes abstract/creative reasoning to solve a novel issue.

Crystal intelligence utilizes acquired knowledge to solve a novel issue.

Name two types of heuristics and what they mean

Availability heuristic: Solving a problem/reasoning based off of what is first available in your mind; what you think of first. Representativeness heuristic: Solving a problem/reasoning based off of past stereotypes/trends. (eg the coin flip)

Types of brainwaves released during wakefulness

alpha and beta

Types of brainwaves released during sleep Stage 1

theta

Types of brainwaves released during sleep Stage 2

theta, sleep spindles & K waves

Types of brainwaves released during sleep Stage 3/4

delta

Types of brainwaves released during REM sleep

Mimics wakefulness: alpha/beta

Five basic components of language:

phonology: how it sounds morphology: structure of words

semantics: association of meaning with a word

syntax: how words are ordered to form sentences

pragmatics: dependence of language on context

Nativist (biological) theory of language development: (who/what)

Noam Chomsky: everyone has an innate capacity for language. Known for transformational grammar, how children learn how to say the same message different ways, and that it’s innate.

Learning (behaviorist) theory of language development: (who/what)

B.F. Skinner: language acquisition by operant conditioning; reinforcement. This theory cannot fully explain the explosion of vocabulary kids have in childhood

Social interactionist theory of language development: (who/what)

Language acquisition is driven by the child’s desire to be a social creature; as a child interacts socially, some sounds are reinforced and constitute language.

Whorfian hypothesis (linguistic relativity hypothesis)

Language affects the way we think, not the way we think affects language: eg, Inuits have many words for snow, so they are able to more easily distinguish between types of snow than English speakers are, because we only have one word for it.