Brain and neurons

no brain location

Brain plasticity

the brains ability to modify itself after some injuries

Cerebellum

Voluntary movements, fine motor skills. Impaired by alcohol.

Pons

Facial expressions, sleeping and waking.

Medulla Oblongata

heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, vommiting

RAS (Reticular Formation)

Alertness and focus

Thalamus

directs messages from senses to the cerebral cortex

Limbic system

system that controls fear, aggression, food and sex drive

Hippocampus

processing explicate memory for long term storage

Amygdala

danger, fight or flight.

Hypothalamus

homeostasis and maintenance activities, like eating and drinking.

Corpus callosum

connects the two hemispheres, sends signals back and forth

Pituitary gland

produces growth hormones, controls other parts of the brain

Pineal gland

regulate sleep cycles, melatonin, circadian rhythm

Prefrontal cortex

executive functions - cognition, judgement, personality, mirror neurons

Broca’s area

muscles responsible for speech

Motor cortex

sends signals to our body, controlling muscles.

Parietal Lobe

behind frontal lobe, sensory information

Somatosensory cortex

coordinates incoming touch sensations

Occipital lobe

back of the brain, holds visual cortex

Primary visual cortex

organization and processing of visual information

Temporal lobe

sides of the brain, auditory and language, etc.

Primary auditory cortex

processing sound

Wernicke’s area

interpereting language

Neuron

nerve cell, the “building blocks” of the nervous system

Dendrites

big end of the neuron, receive messages from other cells

Axon

long cable-like part of a neuron, passes messages to other neurons, muscles, or glands

Axon terminal

small end of the neuron, connects with another cell’s dendrites

Myelin sheath

insulating fatty layer, speeds transmission

glial cells

type of cells, help remove waste, insulate neurons, provide nourishment.

Schwann cell

type of glial cell, makes myelin

node of ranvier

natural gaps in myelin sheath

neuron cell body

contains the nucleus and organelles, necessities for function.

neuron’s nucleus

center of the neuron cell body, controls the cell

Central nervous system (CNS)

Includes brain and spinal cord. Body’s main processing and control centers

Motor neurons

carry info from the brain to muscles.

sensory neurons

carry incoming sense information to the brain

Interneurons

Carry signals between neurons, from one neuron to another

mirror neurons

fire when seeing others doing something, help us learn through observation.

Action potential

brief electric charge that travels down the axon

Polarized neuron

at rest, ready to fire. + ions outside,  - ions inside

depolarized neuron

ions mixed, neuron fired. takes some time to re-polarize, become ready again

refractory period

time it takes to recharge the neuron, to polarize it.

neuron threshold

when the “fire” signals outweigh the “don’t fire” signals, firing the neuron

Synapse

small gap between the axon and dendrite

presynaptic neuron

before synapse, sending the signal

postsynaptic neuron

after synapse, receiving signal

Neurotransmitters (NT)

chemical messengers, used to send signals across the synapse

reuptake

recycling of excess NTs, absorbed back into the presynaptic neuron