Functional Neuroanatomy: nervous system and behaviour

What does the central nervous system consist of?

What are the roles of them?

• brain and spinal cord

-Main intergrating, decision making centre

What does the peripheral nervous system consist of?

What are their roles?

• sensory and motor nerves

• 31 pairs of spinal nerves - limb sensation and movement

• 12 pairs of cranial nerves - supply facial movements and sensation

-connect to and from CNS

Peripheral nerves: what are the two types of motor fibre

• skeletal muscle - SOMATIC - voluntary, conscious

• Smooth muscle, cardiac muscle - autonomic - involuntary, automatic

What is Autonomic nervous system (ANS) ?

• motor supply to smooth muscle, cardiac muscle and glands

• Two divisions : sympathetic and parasympathetic

• Most organs and tissues are supplied by both

• Constantly active, controlling body functions

What are those two divisions of ANS

• Sympathetic: increases heart rate, dilates pupils

• Parasympathetic: decreases heart rate, constricts pupils

What are the main parts of the brain

• cerebellum

• Brain stem

• Cerebrum

What does the Cerebrum consist of

• left and right cerebral hemispheres

- each are crossed

- controls sensory/motor functions on opposite side of the body

What are the responsibilities of cerebral hemispheres

• sensation and movement

• Cognition, intelligence and language

• Learning and memory

• Behaviour, personality and emotions

What is the corpus callosum?

Thick bundle of nerve fibres that connect the cerebrum hemispheres

• consists of 300 million nerve fibres

What was traditionally thought the functions of the Cerebellum?

• balance, coordination, posture, tone

• Manual dexterity, speech articulation

• Motor/procedural learning

What is the cerebellum not know to contribute extensively to?

• cognition, executive function and language

• Perceptual and visuospatial functions

• Behaviour, personality and emotional regulation

What are the sections of the brain step?

Higher - midbrain

Middle - pons

Lower - medulla

What are the functions of the brain stem

• life support functions

• Controlling of breathing, heart rate and blood pressure

• Protective reflexes - cough, sneeze, gag -

• Consciousness and sleep-wake cycles

What are the job of neurons ? (Nerve cells)

• principle specialised cell-type of the nervous system

• Responsible for sensory, integrative and motor activities

• Approximately 86 billion in the brain

What are the functions of Glial Cells ?

Support cells

• 1:1 ratio with neurons; provide structural/metabolic support

• Astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, ependymal cells and microglia (+ Schwann cells in PNS)

What are these parts of the neuron

Explain this function

What is grey and white matter

Hoe fo neural circuits work

Cerebral cortex folds

Gyrus + sulcus

What are the lobes in cerebral hemisphere

• frontal

• Parietal

• Occipital

• Temporal

What are broadman areas

The cortex divided into many areas based on difference in microscopic structure and are linked to particular functions

What are these areas of the verticular system

Thalamus?

Gateway to cerebral cortex

Hypothalamus functions

Homeostasis: maintenance of constant internal environment

• monitors biological parameters: body core temp, blood sugars

• Controls the endocrine system and autonomic nervous system

• Influences behaviour by creating drive states

Basal Ganglia structure

Basal Ganglia loops

• regulated by dopamine

• Three main sets of loops that control:

  • voluntary movement

  • Cognition and working memory

  • Reward based learning

• Implicated in movement/psychiatric disorders:

  • Parkinson’s disease

  • Huntingtons disease

  • Tourette’s syndrome

  • OCD

Amygdala, importance?

Erbach Withe disease: rare condition in which thirds of patients have no function amygdala and never have experienced fear, anxiety or panic.

Planes of selection

1. Axial/horizontal

2. Coronal

3. Sagittal

Directional terms

1. Dorsal

2. Caudal

3. Ventral

4. Rostal

Autnomical terminology

Frontal lobe: functions

• voluntary movement

• Planning, attention, problem solving, decision making

• Social behaviour, judgement, impulse control, motivation, drive

• Speech and language production

Case study: Phineas Ggage

Shift in personality

Prefrontal region function?

• planning, organisation, working memory, expressive language, self control, social interactions, decision making and moral reasoning.

Parietal Lobe: Functions

• somatic sensation - touch, pain, temp, pressure and vibration

• Proprioception - sense of body location, movement and actions

• Visuospatial awareness: attention to personal/extra personal space

• Interaction/manipulation of objects

• Reading, writing, and arithmetic

Right parietal lobe importance?

Damage to it often causes of neglect to the left side of the world

Temporal lobe: functions

• hearing

• Speech and language comprehension

• Episodic memory and spatial navigation

• Visual perception

Hippocampus importance?

Episodic memory, spatial navigation

Fusiform gyrus importance?

Face blindness

Occipital lobe: functions

• contains the primary visual context

• Rise to dorsal stream -where- pathway and ventral stream -what- pathway

• Seperate pathways for object localisation and identification

Lambic lobe importance?

Memory, emotion and sense of smell