MAIA KATHARINA A. SERO - BIOPSYCH MIDTERMS REVIEWER

Hierarchical organization

Information is processed through successive levels, with higher levels dealing with increasingly complex aspects of sensory information.

Functional segregation

Different areas of the brain specialize in processing different types of sensory information.

Parallel processing

Different aspects of information can be processed simultaneously by separate neural pathways.

Example:

When looking at an object, different neural systems can process its:

- shape

- color

- movement

- location

at the same time.

Sound

A form of physical energy produced by vibrations.

Major structures:

Outer ear → middle ear → inner ear → auditory nerve → brainstem → thalamus → auditory cortex

Cochlea

The inner-ear structure that converts sound vibrations into neural signals.

Basilar membrane

A structure within the cochlea that responds differently to different sound frequencies.

Auditory cortex

The cortical area involved in processing auditory information.

Sound localization

The ability to determine where a sound originates.

Somatosensory System

Processes sensations involving:

- touch

- pressure

- temperature

- pain

- body position

Cutaneous receptors

Sensory receptors located in the skin.

Dermatomes

Areas of the body associated with particular spinal nerves.

Primary somatosensory cortex

The cortical area that receives and processes much of the body's somatosensory information.

Somatosensory pathways

The two major pathways carrying somatosensory information toward the brain.

Pain

A sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.

Neuropathic pain

Pain resulting from abnormal functioning or damage within the nervous system.

Olfaction

The sense of smell.

Olfactory receptors

Receptors that detect chemicals associated with odors.

Olfactory glomeruli

Structures in the olfactory bulb where information from olfactory receptor neurons is organized.

Taste receptor proteins

Proteins involved in detecting different taste stimuli.

Gustation

The sense of taste

Selective attention

The ability to focus on some sensory information while ignoring other

information.

Change blindness

Failure to notice changes in a visual scene.

Simultanagnosia

Difficulty perceiving more than one object at a time.

sensorimotor system

controls movement through constant interaction between sensory information and motor output.

Hierarchical organization

- The sensorimotor system is organized in levels.

- Higher levels issue general commands while lower levels carry out specific actions.

Motor output is guided by sensory input

Movement is continuously adjusted according to sensory feedback.

Learning changes sensorimotor control

Practice changes how movements are controlled and where control occurs in the nervous system.

Sensory feedback

- Information about the current condition of the body and environment that helps guide movement.

Example:

When carrying a bag, your muscles continuously receive information about its weight and your arm position. Your nervous system adjusts your muscle activity accordingly.

Posterior parietal association cortex

Important for using sensory information to guide movement.

Frontal eye field

Involved in the control of eye movements.

Apraxia

Difficulty performing learned purposeful movements despite adequate strength and understanding.

Contralateral neglect

Failure to respond to or be aware of stimuli on the side of space opposite a brain lesion.

Dorsolateral prefrontal association cortex

Important for planning and controlling complex behavior.

Premotor cortex

- Particularly involved when movements are guided by sensory stimuli.

- is especially involved in movements guided by sensory information, while the supplementary motor area becomes more prominent for well-practiced sequences.

Supplementary motor area

Important for internally generated and well-practiced sequences.

Cingulate motor areas

Motor-related areas associated with motivation and action.

Mirror neurons

Neurons that respond both when an individual performs an action and when the individual observes a similar action.

Primary motor cortex

- A major cortical area involved in controlling voluntary movement.

- May encode the intended endpoint of a movement rather than simply the movement itself.

Cerebellum

is involved in:

- coordination

- motor learning

- fine-tuning movement

- timing of movement

was more active during newly learned finger-movement sequences than well-practiced sequences, supporting its role in motor learning.

Basal Ganglia

are a collection of interconnected nuclei involved in:

- movement modulation

- motor learning

- reward-related response learning

- some cognitive functions

They form loops between the cortex and thalamus.

Muscle spindle

A receptor that detects muscle length.

Golgi tendon organ

A receptor that provides information about muscle tension.

Stretch reflex

A reflex response to the stretching of a muscle.

Patellar reflex

Tap knee tendon → thigh muscle stretches → muscle spindle fires → motor neurons activate → thigh muscle contracts

Recurrent collateral inhibition

A mechanism in which a motor neuron activates an inhibitory interneuron that inhibits the same motor neuron.

Renshaw cells

The inhibitory interneurons responsible for recurrent collateral inhibition.

Motor equivalence

The ability to perform essentially the same action in different ways using different muscles or movements.

Example:

A person can write their name using their hand or even their toe, and the basic characteristics of the signature can remain recognizable.

Neurogenesis

The formation of new neurons.

Neural/Neuronal migration

The movement of developing neurons to their appropriate locations.

Axon growth

The development and extension of axons toward their target cells.

Synaptogenesis

The formation of synapses between neurons.

Apoptosis

Programmed cell death.

Neural reorganization

Changes in neural connections occur as the nervous system develops and responds to experience.

Deprivation

A lack of normal sensory or environmental stimulation.

Enrichment

Exposure to a stimulating and complex environment.

Ocular dominance

- The tendency of some visual cortex neurons to respond more strongly to input from one eye.

- Experience can influence the development of ocular dominance columns.

Adult neurogenesis

The formation of new neurons in some areas of the adult mammalian brain.

Cortical reorganization

Changes in the organization of cortical areas as a result of experience.

Autism

A neurodevelopmental disorder associated with differences in social interaction, communication, and behavior.

Williams syndrome

A neurodevelopmental condition characterized by an unusual pattern of cognitive and behavioral abilities.

Degeneration

The deterioration or death of neurons and neural structures after damage.

Regeneration

The regrowth or restoration of damaged neural connections.

Reorganization

The nervous system changes the way its remaining structures and connections function.

Recovery of function

Improvement in abilities after nervous-system damage.

Release from inhibition

Existing neural connections become more active after inhibitory influences are reduced.

Collateral sprouting

New branches develop from existing axons and establish new connections.

Substitution of function

Learning new cognitive or behavioral strategies to accomplish a task rather than actually restoring the original damaged function.

Cognitive reserve

The ability to use alternative strategies to perform tasks despite brain damage.

Rehabilitation

- should begin as soon as possible after brain damage, because some treatments may be most effective when started early.

- The possibility that cognitive and physical exercise can promote recovery and neuroplasticity.

Learning

- A process through which experience produces relatively lasting changes in behavior or knowledge.

- A change in behavior or knowledge resulting from experience.

Memory

- The ability to retain and use information acquied through learning.

- The nervous system's ability to retain information from experience.

Amnesia

- A disorder involving significant problems with memory.

- Significant disruption or loss of memory.

H.M.

- Underwent surgery involving the medial temporal lobes to treat severe epilepsy.

- Proved that memory involves specific brain structures, is not a single unified ability, and different types of memory can be affected independently.

- demonstrated that memory involves different systems.

Explicit Memory

→ Conscious long-term memory

→ Conscious memory.

Examples:

• remembering what you studied

• remembering a birthday

• remembering what happened yesterday

Implicit Memory

- Long-term memory demonstrated through performance without conscious awareness of remembering.

- Long-term memory that does not require conscious awareness

- Conscious memory.

Examples: learned skills, habits, and conditioned responses; a person may improve at a skill through practice even though they cannot consciously remember practicing it.

Episodic memory

Memory for specific personal experiences.

Example: Remembering what happened during your first day of college.

Semantic memory

Memory for facts and general knowledge.

Example:

Knowing that Manila is the capital of the Philippines.

Post-traumatic Amnesia

- Memory disruption following a head injury or concussion.

- Amnesia that occurs following a traumatic brain injury.

Retrograde Amnesia

- Loss of memories formed before the onset of the condition.

- Loss of memories formed before an injury or neurological event

- Recent memories are often more vulnerable than older memories.

- Loss of previously formed memories.

Anterograde Amnesia

- Difficulty forming new memories after an injury or neurological event

- Difficulty forming new memories.

- Difficulty forming new memories after the onset of the condition.

Korsakoff's Syndrome

- Often associated with heavy alcohol consumption.

- Particularly affects the formation of explicit episodic memories.

- A memory disorder associated with severe alcohol consumption and brain damage related to thiamine deficiency.

It can involve:

• severe memory problems

• confusion

• personality changes

• sensory and motor problems

Alzheimer's Disease

- A progressive neurological disorder.

- Memory deterioration is often an early sign.

- The condition can eventually progress to dementia.

- Associated with degeneration of the basal forebrain and reduced acetylcholine.

example: person who repeatedly asks the same questions, forgets recent conversations, and gets lost in familiar places

Infantile Amnesia

- Adults generally remember very little from infancy.

- Demonstrates that early-life learning and later conscious remembering are not necessarily the same thing.

example: “My parents talk about our family trip to the beach when I was two, but I have no mental picture of it.”

hippocampus

amygdala

cerebellum

perirhinal cortex

prefrontal cortex

striatum

6 The distributed neurological network of memory

Hippocampus

- New memories and spatial memory.

- Particularly important for forming new memories, spatial memory, navigation, and remembering locations and environments.

- New memories and spatial memory.

Amygdala

- Emotional and fear-related memory.

- Emotional memory.

Cerebellum

Learned sensorimotor skills.

Perirhinal cortex

Object-recognition memory.

Prefrontal cortex

Working memory and organization.

Striatum

Habits and procedural memory.

Grid Cells

- Located in the entorhinal cortex.

- They provide fundamental spatial coordinate information.

Spatial Information

Transmitted from the entorhinal cortex.

Place Cells

Neurons in the hippocampus that become active when an individual is in a particular location.

Place Representation

They help represent the spatial layout of an environment.

Memory Consolidation

- The process through which newly formed memories become more stable and resistant to disruption. (New memory → Consolidation → More stable memory)

- The process through which short-term memories are transformed into long-term memories.

Standard Consolidation Theory

- New memories initially depend strongly on the hippocampus.

- Over time, memories become increasingly represented in the cortex.

- Older memories become less vulnerable to hippocampal damage.

- stabilizes new memories.

Reconsolidation

- When a stored memory is retrieved, it temporarily becomes unstable and is then stored again.

- During this period, the memory may be susceptible to disruption or modification.

- retrieved memories become temporarily unstable before being stored again.

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

- A long-lasting increase in the strength of synaptic transmission following certain patterns of neural activity.

- A long-lasting strengthening of communication between neurons.

- It provides an important model for understanding how learning can produce lasting changes in the nervous system.

- It illustrates how neural connections can strengthen during learning and memory.

Hebbian Principle

Neurons that are repeatedly active together can develop stronger connections.

Short-term memory

Memory maintained for a relatively short period.