PSY 355 Exam I Flashcards

Neuron

Neuron

The basic signaling units that transmit information throughout the nervous system

Glial Cells

A type of cell that provides structural support and electrical insulation to neurons and modulating neuronal activity

Blood Brain Barrier

Created by astrocytes; restricts the diffusion of microscopic objects and large molecules in the blood from entering neural tissue

Astrocyte

A type of glial cell that is located in the Central Nervous System; large with round and radially symmetrical forms that surround neurons and are in close contact with the brains vasculature

Oliogdendrocyte

A type of glial cell that is located in the Central Nervous System; forms myelin around cell membranes

Microglial Cell

A type of glial cell that is located in the Central Nervous System; small and irregularly shaped that devour and remove damaged cells

Schwann Cell

A type of glial cell that is located in the Peripheral Nervous System; forms myelin around cell membranes

Dendrites

The branching extensions of the neuron that receives input from other neurons

Axon

Long, slender projection of a neuron that conducts electrical impulses away from the cell body

Synapse

A small gap at the end of a neuron that allows a signal to pass from one neuron to the next

Cell Body

The core section of the neuron that contains genetic information, maintains the neuron's structure, and provides energy to drive activities

Projection Pathway of Serotonin

Projection Pathway of Histamine

Projection Pathway of Norepinephrine

Projection Pathway of Dopamine

Dorsal

Top/Up view of the brain

Ventral

Bottom/Down View of the Brain

Axial

Top of the brain slice (like a hamburger bun)

Saggital

Side of the brain slice (like a hot dog bun)

Coronal

Front/Back of the brain slice (like sandwich bread)

Posterior

Back

Anterior

Front

Cerebellum

Part of the hindbrain; Responsible for coordinating movement and balance

Pons

Part of the hindbrain; links the medulla with the thalamus and handles unconscious movements and processes

Medulla

Part of the hindbrain; manages automatic processes like heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure

Superior Colliculi

Part of the midbrain; integrates visual, auditory, and somatosensory spatial information to initiate orienting movements of the eyes and head

Inferior Colliculi

Part of the midbrain; primary roles are signal integration, frequency recognition, and pitch discrimination

Gray Matter

A type of tissue in the brain and spinal cord that plays a crucial role in allowing you to function normally from day to day; consists of high concentrations of neuronal bodies, axon terminals, and dendrites

White Matter

Type of tissue that is found in the deeper tissues of the brain (subcortical); contains nerve fibers (axons), which are extensions of nerve cells; Many of these nerve fibers are surrounded by a type of sheath or covering called myelin

Limbic System

A group of brain structures (hippocampus, hypothalamus, amygdala, etc) that are involved in processing emotion, memory, and arousal

Basal Ganglia

A group of subcortical nuclei involved in motor control, motor learning, and executive functions and behaviors

Thalamus

The body’s information relay station—all information from the body's senses (except smell) are processed through this structure before being sent to the brains cerebral cortex

Hypothalamus

The main link between the endocrine system and the nervous system; A brains structure that acts to keep the body in homeostasis

Amygdala

Almond-shaped brain structure that lies beneath the temporal lobe; a major processing center for emotions

Corpus Callosum

A channel that allows information to transmit from ones side of the brain to the other

Cingulate Gyrus

Arch shaped structure just above the corpus callosum; helps regulate emotions and pain

Lateral Geniculate Nuclei

A thalamic nuclei; plays a key role in visual processing

Medial Geniculate Nuclei

A thalamic nuclei; acts as the principal relay nucleus for the auditory system between the inferior colliculus and auditory cortex

Olfactory Nerve

Enables the olfactory system and sense of smell

Optic Nerve

Nerve that relays messages from your eyes to your brain to create visual images

Occulomotor Nerve

Nerve that helps to adjust and coordinate eye position during movement; allows movement of the eye muscles, constriction of the pupil, focusing the eyes, and the position of the upper eyelid

Trigeminal Nerve

Nerves that help your face recognize pain, touch sensations, hot/cold; and help you chew

Cerebral Vasculature

Made up of highly specialized structures that assure constant brain perfusion necessary to meet the very high demand for oxygen and glucose by neurons and glial cell

MRI

Type of brain imaging that focuses on brain structures; Relates size/shape/etc of brain with psychological variables

fMRI

Type of brain imaging that focuses on brain activity; Measures changes of activity of different brain regions during task performance; You need to compare the signal difference between ≥2 conditions

ERP

An EEG change that is time locked to a specific event; has poor spatial resolution but excellent temporal resolution (shows us when there is a change, but not where the change happened)

Strengths of fMRI

Great spatial resolution (where something is occurring), no known dangers to subjects, fewer methodological issues than PET

Weaknesses of fMRI

Expensive, only measures blood oxygen levels (which is not a direct measure of brain function), poor temporal resolution (when something is occurring)

Strengths of MRI

Great at showing the brain structures themselves (size, location); minimally invasive

Weaknesses of MRI

Expensive; poor at showing what the brain structures do (e.g., neural activity within the brain structures); patient must stay still for a long time

Epoching

Segments of short time periods of data around the ERP events of experimental interest; are usually time-locked with respect an event (e.g., a visual stimulus)

Filtering

Removes unwanted (fast and/or slow) noise from an EEG (Low pass: Cuts out high frequencies, High pass: Cuts out low frequencies, Bandpass: Does both)

BOLD Signal

Stands for Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent signals; Oxygenated and deoxygenated blood have different magnetic properties, so the changing ratio of oxygenated to deoxygenated blood causes change in fMRI signal; Changes in neural activation are correlated with changes in this type of signal

Voxels

Used in fMRI studies; A pixel that represents a three-dimensional square or rectangular chunk of brain tissue; lit up = activation

Block Design

Research design in which multiple stimuli are presented consecutively (reversing checkerboard for 30 seconds, then fixation point for 30 second, and so on)

Event Related Design

Research design where multiple stimuli are intermixed (reversing checkerboard and fixation point are presented mixed together)

Neurobehavioral Rating Scale (NRS)

A 28 item observer-rated instrument that measures a broad range of cognitive and non-cognitive symptoms, typically used to measure changes in neurobehavioral functioning following a TBI; Items tested include inattention, disorientation, anxiety, memory deficits, and conceptual disorganization

Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST)

A neuropsychological instrument of ‘set shifting’ tasks; used to measure the executive functions, reportedly sensitive to brain dysfunction affecting the frontal lobes

Mental Mini Status Exam (MMSE)

An exam commonly used to test cognitive impairment; It an be used to test mental abilities like orientation to time and place, attention/concentration, short term memory, language skills, visuospatial abilities, and the ability to understand and follow instructions

Boston Naming Test

A language test that consists of 60 black and white drawings of objects, and is a measure of confrontational word retrieval; a widely utilized neuropsychological measure that is sensitive to detecting compromised lexical retrieval abilities and aphasia through visual confrontation naming

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

An IQ test that consists of subtests that are designed to provide information about a person's intellectual ability based on their performance on various tasks; some of the subtests include reading, arithmetic, vocabulary, and letter-number sequencing

Executive Functioning

The capacities that enable a person to engage successfully in independent, purposive, and self serving behaviors; Motivation, planning, purposive action, and effective performance are all involved in the behavioral expression this complex cognitive function; Not necessarily a deficit in intelligence (IQ), but deficits in the coordination of processes

Central Sulcus

Sulcus that separates the parietal lobe from the frontal lobe, and the primary motor cortex from the primary somatosensory cortex

Primary Motor Cortex

Part of the frontal lobe and anterior to the central sulcus; primary function is to generate and encode the direction of movement; mapped topographically (a correspondence between cortical regions and body surfaces with the respect to certain processes)

Premotor cortex

Located in front of the PMC; involved in planning and organizing movements and actions

Lateral Prefrontal Cortex

Responsible for the implementation of cognitive control (e.g., planning, reasoning, working memory, etc)

Frontal Pole

The most anterior, rounded point of the frontal lobe; a region necessary for higher cognitive functions

Orbitofrontal Cortex

Contains the secondary taste cortex, in which the reward value of taste is represented; Also contains the secondary and tertiary olfactory cortical areas, in which information about the identity and also about the reward value of odors is represented.

Medial Frontal Cortex

Comprised of several brain regions that are consistently implicated in regulating complex social and non-social behaviors, such as those involved in reward, affective, and decision-making processes

Types of Executive Function Syndromes

Dysexecutive type, disinhibited type, and apathetic type

N100

A negative deflection peaking between 90 and 200 milliseconds after the onset of stimulus, and is observed when an unexpected stimulus is presented; It is an orienting response or a “matching process” (whenever a stimulus is presented, it is matched with previously experienced stimuli)

Symptoms/Causes of Unilateral Neglect

An attention disorder usually caused by left hemisphere damage from a stroke; common symptom is difficulties in attending to stimuli in the left perceptual field

Stroop Task

A test of executive function; test where you read the color the word is printed in, not the word itself

Trails Test

A paper and pencil neuropsychological test often used for testing executive function; A test is just numbers, B test is numbers and letters

FAS Test

A test of executive function; participants are asked to say as many words as possible, beginning with letters “F”, “A”, and “S” within a 1-minute period for each letter

N-Back Test

A test of executive function; requires participants to decide whether each stimulus in a sequence matches the one that appeared a certain number of items ago

Forebrain

Think ‘thinking’; includes the thalamus, hypothalamus, olfactory bulb, pituitary gland

Midbrain and Hindbrain

Think ‘surviving’; includes the pons, cerebellum, medulla, and colliculi

Dysexecutive Type

Associated with the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex; problems with attention, lack of planning, lack of fluency/spontaneity, perseveration, and poor self care

Disinhibited Type

Associated with the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex/Orbitofrontal Cortex; inappropriate affect, stimulus-driven behavior, distractibility, social dysfunction

Apathetic Type

Associated with the Mesial Frontal (Supplementary Motor Area/Anterior Cingulate); difficulty initiating actions, abulia, problems with response initiation and inhibition, psychomotor deficits, poor insights, diminished cerebral behaviors