Behavioral Neuroscience: Evolution, Brain Structure, and Neuron Function

Vocabulary flashcards covering topics on evolution, natural selection, brain anatomy, ontogeny, phylogeny, and fundamental neuron structure from PSB3340.

Evolution

The gradual change of a species over generations.

Natural Selection

The process by which individuals with heritable traits that are well adapted to a particular environment proliferate due to better rates of survival and reproduction.

Homology

Resemblance between structures or traits based on common ancestry, such as shared basic brain structures in vertebrates.

Homoplasy

A general category that includes all physical or functional similarities between species that are not due to homology.

Analogous Traits

Traits that serve a similar function in different species without sharing a common genetic background or direct evolutionary ancestor.

Artificial Selection

The unnatural change of a species over generations through selective breeding of plants and animals to encourage specific desired traits.

Sexual Selection

A mechanism of evolution where traits such as humor, creativity, artistic ability, and complex intelligence become preferable to potential mates.

Genetics

The study of inheritance, including the genes encoded in DNA.

Gene

The basic physical and functional unit of heredity that acts as the instructions to make proteins.

Proteins

Macromolecules that perform most of the work of living cells, including cell shape maintenance and waste cleanup.

Epigenetic Changes

Environment- or experience-driven changes in the expression of certain genes throughout an individual's life that do not alter the underlying DNA sequence.

Forebrain

The executive region of the brain, including the cerebral cortex, that has expanded most significantly and rapidly over recent human evolutionary history.

Cerebral Cortex

The outermost covering ('bark') of the forebrain, which features a $6$-layered structure in all mammals.

Phylogeny

The study of relationships among different groups of organisms and their evolutionary development over time.

Ontogeny

The developmental history of an individual organism within its own lifetime.

Lactose Persistence

The ability to continue producing the enzyme that breaks down lactose into adulthood, linked to a mutation originating approximately $20,000$ years ago.

Neuron Doctrine

The principle stating that the brain is composed of independent cells communicating chemically across synapses, rather than a continuous sheet of tissue.

Neurons

Specialized nerve cells that serve as the primary information processing units of the nervous system and permit long-distance electrical communication.

Glial Cells

Cells in the nervous system that mainly provide structural and functional support for information-processing neurons.

Action Potentials

Electrical pulses generated by neurons, cardiac muscle cells, and some endocrine cells to achieve long-range signal transmission.

Input Zone

The structural region of a neuron consisting of dendrites that receive incoming chemical or electrical information.

Integration Zone

The region of a neuron (usually the soma) that integrates or sums incoming cellular information.

Conduction Zone

The region of a neuron composed of the axon that conducts electrical signals (action potentials) away from the integration zone.

Output Zone

The region of a neuron consisting of axon terminals where outgoing signals are transmitted across synapses.

Multipolar Neuron

A neuron characterized by having multiple dendrites and a single axon extending from the soma.

Bipolar Neuron

A neuron characterized by having one dendrite and one axon extending from the soma.