Brain Bio Test

Neurons and what connects to them

• Neurons fire action potential

  • A brief electric charge that travels down the axon

• Neurons have a cell body with dendrites

  • The axon connects the dendrite with the terminal axon branches

  • At the end of the terminal branches there are synapses

    • They are meeting points between neuron

    • These send signals to other neuron

• Myelin Sheath covers the axon to increase the speed of signals

How are signals passed

• Terminal axon branches connect to another dendrite and signals are continuing to pass

  • In between each terminal axon and a dendrite, neurotransmitters go through transporters and go to receptors on the dendrite

    • After, they reuptake and return to the axon

Nervous System

• It is the body’s speedy electrochemical communication network

• It holds all nerve cells in the peripheral and central nervous system

Nervous system: Central nervous system

• what does it do

• Where is it located

• It is the body’s decision make

  • Located in the brain and spinal cord

Nervous system: Peripheral nervous system

• It is responsible for gathering information and transferring it to other body parts

  • Somatic system

    • Enables voluntary control of our skeletal skin

  • Autonomic system

    • Controls our glands and the muscles of our internal organs

• In Autonomic there is the:

  • Sympathetic system

    • arouses and expands energy - ready for action

  • Parasympathetic system

    • Calm us down by decreasing heartbeat

• In Somatic there is the:

  • Motor nerves 

  • Sensory nerves

Endocrine System:

• Purpose

• What glands are in it?

• It is humans other communication system

  • It is carried by blood

• It is a set of glands that secrete hormones in the bloodstream

• It is the slow system - takes a long time for thing to leave and enter

Endocrine System: Adrenal glands

• Sit above the kidneys and arouse during times of stress

Endocrine System: Pituitary gland

• It is the most important and influential gland

• It regulates and growth and controls other glands

Endocrine System: Pineal gland

• It is related to the sleep cycle

Brainstem

• It is the oldest and innermost region, starting where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull

  • Controls basic functions like breathing

    • The swelling is the medulla

Brainstem: Medulla

• Controls heartbeat and breathing

Brainstem: Pons

• These are above the medulla and they help coordinate movement

Brainstem: Thalamus

• Thalamus is on the top of the brainstem and it directs messages to the sensory receiving areas and in the cortex 

• Transmit replies to the cerebellum and medulla

Brainstem: Reticular formation

• It helps control arousal 

Brainstem: Cerebellum

• It is the “little brain”

• Function include nonverbal learning and processing sensory inout, and coordinating movement and balance

  • An injured cerebellum can hurt someone’s movement

Limbic system

• Has a role is memories, emotions, and behavior

Limbic system: Hippocampus

• Processes memories

  • Specifically, episodic memories 

    • Biographical events (anything that has happened to you)

Limbic system: Amygdala

• Two lime-bean sized neural clusters 

• Its role is in rage and fear

  • It is linked to emotions

• It helps the perception of emotions and processing emotional memories

Limbic system: Hypothalamus

• Linked to bodily maintenance 

• It influences hunger, regulates thirst, body temp, and sexual behavior

• Reward center

Cerebral Cortex

• Interconnected neural cells covering the cerebral hemispheres 

• Control and information processing center

• It has 85% of the brains weight

Cerebral Cortex: Frontal lobe

• Directly behind the forehead

• Involves speaking and muscle movements/making plans and judgements

Cerebral Cortex: Parietal lobe

• Is at the top of the head, toward the rear

• Receives sensory inout for touch and body position

Cerebral Cortex: Occipital lobe

• Is at the back of the head

• Includes areas that receives information from visual fields 

Cerebral Cortex: Temporal lobe

• Is above the ears

• It includes auditory areas

  • Each receiving information from the opposite ear

Cerebral Cortex: Somato-Sensory Cortex

• It is at the front of the parietal lobe

• Processes input for touch feelings of movement 

  • These inputs come from any part of the body

Cerebral Cortex: Motor cortex

• It is at the rear of the frontal lobe

• It controls voluntary movements 

• Left hemisphere controls right side of body

• Right hemisphere controls left side of body

Cerebral Cortex: Corpus callosum

• Large band of neural fibers connecting the two hemispheres

• It carries messages between the two hemispheres

  • If this is removed, the two hemispheres work independently now

Cerebral Cortex: Broca’s area

• Controls language expression

• It direct muscle movements in speech

Cerebral Cortex: Wernicke’s area

• Controls language reception

• Language comprehension

Cerebral Cortex: Angular gyrus

• It is involved with reading out loud

  • It is from visual areas and turns into auditory form

• If it is damaged, a person is unable to read

Aphasia

• It is an impairment of language caused by left-hemisphere damage either to the Broca’s area or Wernicke’s area 

Plasticity

• The ability to modify itself after some types of damages

Neurogensis

• The formation of new neurons

Split brain

• The surgery when the fibers are cut between the two hemispheres and they are now isolated

Agonist

• Mimics a neurotransmitter

Antiagonist

• Blocks receptors sites for cellular activit

What does the left brain do?

• Logic

• Reason

• Purpose

• Speech production

• Analytical thinking

• Problem-solving

• Word-recognition

• Rationalizing reactions

What does the right brain do?

• Playful

• group oriented 

• Visual

• Creativity 

• Music and arts

• Spatial relations

Neurotransmitter: Acetylcholine (ACH)

• It is released on the brain and autonomic nervous system

• Its actions include physical activities 

• Issue

  • Lock jaw - restrictive muscle movement

  • Bachalism - get it from canned good

Hormone: Epinephrine

• Or named adrenaline

  • It is released in areas of the brain and spinal cord

  • Autonomic nervous system

• Plays a role in emotions

• Released by adrenal glands

Neurotransmitter: Dopamine

• Located in pleasure centers

• Body’s reward system - when you get something you want you release dopamine

• Parkinson’s disease is related to a lack of dopamine

• Schizophrenia is associated with high levels of dopamine

Neurotransmitter: Endorphins

• Our internal pain killer

• When endorphins stop there is physical pain

Neurotransmitter: Serotonin

• Associated with depression and anxiety disorders

• Happens in the gut, the stomach has a lot of serotnin

Studying the brain: Lesion

• tissue destruction

Studying the brain: EEG

• amplified recording of the waves across the brains surface

Studying the brain: PET Scan

• is a visual display of the brains activity that detects where radioactive form of glucose goes

Studying the brain: MRI

• a technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce generated images soft tissue

Studying the brain: fMRI 

• Reveals blood flow

Autonomic nervous system

• Controls heartbeat, digestion, and other self-regulating functions

Somatic nervous system

• Involved with voluntary movements

Association areas

• Brain areas involved in higher mental functions

• integrates information from different receptors/ sensory areas that relay information to past experiences

  • If damaged - process of information slows down