PSYC 123 Final Exam

Neurons

Transmit information using electrical and chemical signals
- total dependency on oxygen
- specialized to transmit electrochemical signals

Glia

Support cells

• outnumber neurons 10 to 1

What are the difference types of neurons?

1. Sensory neurons

2. Interneurons

3. Motor neurons

Sensory neurons

bring information to the central nervous system

Interneurons

associates sensory and motor activity in the central nervous system

Motor neuron

3 components to neural transmission

1. integration

2. firing (action potential)

3. chemical transmission

Integration in a neuron. What happens?

Firing in a neuron. What happens?

Chemical transmission in a neuron. What happens?

Action potential

all or nothing signal in which intensity is coded by firing rate

When does action potential happen?

The electrochemical signaling process. When does this happen?

Post-synaptic process. When does this happen?

What do neurotransmitters do?

1. EPSP make the cell’s electrical charge more positive (more likely to fire)

2. IPSP make the cell’s electrical charge more negative (less likely to fire)

Myelination

The larger the myelin sheath, the greater the speed with which the electrical signal is propagated down the axon

Myelin

produced by oligodendrocytes provides an insulating fatty sheath to the axon of neurons

What is the Nodes of Ranvier. Draw it out.

gaps between myelinated section of an axon

White matter

Heavily myelinated fiber bundles that connect different regions of the brain

Notable/large white matter pathways

Blood-brain Barrier

Contralateral vs. Ipsilateral

opposite side, same side

Unilateral vs Bilateral

one side of the brain, both sides of the brain

Proximal vs. Distal

near, far

Peripheral nervous system

Central nervous system

What protects the CNS

Bony structures by enclosing the CNS by bone

Spinal Cord

• Dorsal cells receive sensory info

• Ventral cells convey motor commands

Medulla

Contains many (but not all) cell bodies of the 12 cranial nerves

Location where most of the motor fibers cross from one side of the body to the other

Controls many vital functions and reflexes such as respiration and heart rate

Cerebellum

• Regulates muscle tone and guides motor activity

• if damaged → problems with precision movements and balance

• may help coordinate mental processes

Pons

Midbrain

• Superior to pons

Hypothalamus

• part of dencephalon

• Controls behaviors that help body satisfy needs, maintaining homeostasis

• Close relationship to the hormonal system

Cerebral Cortex

• primary role in cognitive functions

• Gyrus: bumps

• Sulcus: valleys

Thalamus

• Part of the diencephalon

• Relay center for almost all sensory information coming into the cortex and almost all motor information leaving it

• Patterns of connections allow information to be reorganized as it travels

Cerebral hemisphere

• The longitudinal fissure (right and left)

• The central fissure (superior-inferior)

• The Sylvian (lateral) fissure (dorsal–ventral)

Basal ganglia

Limbic system