NEUR200 Final Unit

pre-motor cortex

cortex in brain for learning about movements and volitional behaviors

mirror neurons

neurons responsible for ‘I see- I do’ like behavior (understanding intentions, imitating, empathy); originates in cortex to synapse on lower motor neurons in spinal cord and brainstem

basal ganglia makeup

area of brain including striatum, substance nigra, and globs pollidus

striatum

the caudate nucleus and putamen

basal ganglia 

area of brain for movement initiation, generation, and maintenance 

excitation

when neuron is excited, firing rate increases relative to baseline

inhibition

when neuron is inhibited, firing rate decreases relative to baseline

disinhibition

when the baseline inhibitory of neuron decreases, firing rate increases

osmotic thirst

high salt concentration in blood pulling water out of cells, activating osmosensory neurons

osmosensory neurons

neurons responding to ion/salt concentration

hypovolemic thirst 

low fluid levels due to fluid loss activating baroreceptors 

baroreceptors

receptors responding to blood pressure and volume

organum vasculosum of lamina terminals (ONLT)

hypothalamic area near center of brain sensitive to water loss and ion concentration in blood

vasopressin cells 

cells released into blood stream acting on kidneys, controlling fluid emission and retention 

hypoglycemia

when blood-glucose levels decrease, neurons lose energy

leptin

protein suppressing hunger

ghrelin 

released by stomach when empty to promote feeding 

cholecystokinin (CCK)

released by stomach and intestines to inhibit feeding

insulin

released by pancreas, activated by sight and ingestion of food, to suppress appetite

lateral hypothalamus 

part of brain that promotes eating with ghrelin release 

ventromedial hypothalamus

part of brain that suppresses food intake

Kluver-Bucy Syndrome

disorder from removed temporal lobes, that promote symptoms of docility, hyper sexuality, and agnosia

circadian rhythms

functions of a living organism cycling once every 24 hours

ultradian rhythms 

cycle multiple times per day

infradian rhythms

cycle lasting longer than a day

suprachiasmatic nucelus (SCN)

part of brain for maintaining biological rhythms by controlling melatonin release (from pineal gland)

phase shift 

shift in activity in response to synchronizing stimulus 

zeitgeber

the cue that animals use to synchronize with environment

Awake Stage Sleep

conscious, responsive to environment, EEG: beta activity

Stage 1 Sleep

muscles relax, heart rate slows, EEG: alpha activity

Stage 2 Sleep

cortical firing rates decrease, heart rate decrease, respiration decrease, muscle tension decrease, EEG: sleep spindles and K-Complexes appear

Stage 3 Sl

body relaxes, heart rate slows, respiration slows, muscle tension slows, EEG: delta waves with synchronous neural activity ; growth hormone secretion at max

REM Sleep Stage 

dream stage, muscles are relaxed, temperature increase, respiration increase, heart rate increase, cortical firing activity increase, EEG: desynchronized

Non associative learning

learning about a single stimulus

associative learning

learning about the relationship between 2 stimuli

sensitization

increased responding to a stimulus as a result of experience with that stimulus

habituation

decreased responding to a stimulus as a result of experience with that stimulus

Pavlovian Conditioning

learning the relationship between 2 stimuli (no action/response required)

Instrumental Conditioning

learning relationship between actions and stimuli; forming association between action and positive or aversive outcome produced

unconditional stimulus

unconditionally producing a response

paired conditional stimulus

neutral stimulus alone doesn’t cause response, when paired, response causes fear

unpaired stimulus

neutral stimulus, not paired with fear inducing stimulus

context

place where learning is assessed

lesion of amygdala

no fear of context or tone

lesion of hippocampus

no fear of context, fear of tone remains

Protein synthesis independent change

long term change with increased neurotransmitter release, receptors sensitive and # of receptors (in synapse)

protein synthesis dependent change

requires gene transcription/translation, changes in synapse size number, creating new receptors to be inserted

working memory

short term memory system used to hold on to information for second to minutes as you work with it

long term memory

ability to hold onto what has been learned for hours to days to years with no limit to size of memory or constant focus

declarative memory

memories for facts/events

episodic/event memory

memories for events that happened to a person

implicit memory

memories expressed through behavior and emotions rather than speech or mental recollection; not requiring conscious knowledge

damage to to dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

impairs ability to maintain object identity representations during delay

Heschl’s gyrus

area of primary auditory cortex (A1)

pre motor area 6

area important for facial movements (dorsal part is for rhythmic mouth movements and articulating sounds)

Wernicke’s area

speech area in superior temporal gyrus (mostly temporal but extending to parietal)

Broca’s area

speech area in inferior frontal gyrus and frontal lobe

‘Fluent’ aphasias

aphasia characterized by impaired understanding of speech but no difficulty producing speech (e.g. Wernicke’s area)

‘Non fluent’ aphasia

aphasia characterized by difficulty with speech and naming but no difficulty understanding (e.g. Broca’s Aphasia)

agenesis

developmental condition with no corpus callosum

callosotomy

surgical removal of corpus callosum

Where do CS and US sinformation converge during (fear) learning?

amygdala