PSY 1001 exam 2

Phineas Gage

25 year old construction foreman who got a tamping iron through his brain and out his skulls

• he did recover but lost use of left eye

• was changed after the accident

proved personality lives in the prefrontal cortex

Hemispatial Neglect

ignoring one side of the world exist

• damage to the parietal lobe

• can see the left side but chooses to ignore it

• if damage is on right side of brain, you cannot see the left side of world

• if damage is on left side of brain, you cannot see the right side of world

H.M

Henery Gustav Molaison, had surgery to relieve severe epilepsy at age 27 this removing hippocampus and other parts of his brain

• anterograde amnesia but no longer had epilepsy attacks

• capable of little if any new learning

• could not make new memories

long term memory is sepearted from the hippocampus but you need the hippocampus to create new memories

frontal lobe

• cognitive function

• control of voluntary movements or activity

• socially appropriate choices

parietal lobe

• processes information from the senses

• temperature, taste, touch, and vision

temporal lobe

• processes memories

• integrates memories with sensation of taste, sound, sight, and touch

occipital lobe

• primarily for vision

central nervous system

the spinal cord and brain

• is protected by bony structures(skull and vertebrae) and layers of soft protective tissue(meninges)

peripheral nervous system

all the nerves connecting the central nervous system to the rest of your body

• the somatic and autonomic nervous system

somatic nervous system

controls voluntary muscle movement

• go there, do this

autonomic nervous system

controls involuntary movement

• heartbeat, pupil dilation, hormones

sympathetic nervous system

part of the autonomic nervous system that controls fight or flight responce

• increase the function of systems that are needed to do the thing right now

• decrease the function of the systems that can wait for better times

parasympathetic nervous system

part of the autonomic nervous system that conserves energy to be used later

• increase function of the systems that can wait for better times

• decrease function of the systems that are fight or flight

hypothalamus

links the nervous system and endorcrine system via the pituitary gland

• key component of endocrine system

pituitary gland

a master gland that controls other glands throughout the body

• key component of endocrine system

thyroid

regulates energy metabolism

• key component of endocrine system

parathyroids

regulate calcium levels in bones and blood

• key component of endocrine system

adrenals

involved in fight or flight response

• key component of endocrine system

pancreas

regulates blood sugar levels

• key component of endocrine system

the ovaries

secrete female sex hormone

• key component of endocrine system

the testes

secrete male sex hormones

• key component of endocrine system

endocrine operation when stressed

brain detects stressor then hypothalamus directs pituitary gland to release hormone to increase function of adrenal gland, adrenal gland releases cortisol, once brain detects elevated cortisol it tells hypothalamus that it has enough and system stops

how do brains vary across species

mostly the same layout across species; difference in size and wrinkles deals with amount and complexity of cortex

Forebrain/Neocortext

• occipital lobe

• temporal lobe

• parietal lobe

• frontal lobe

• insular lobe

occipital lobe function

vison

temporal lobe function

hearing/object memory, knowing what things are, auditory processing

parietal lobe function

touch, spacial awareness, a map of the body’s skin surface

frontal lobe function

complex thought, planning, control of movement, map of the body’s muscles

insular lobe function

taste, awareness of internal organs

forebrain/subcortex

• hippocampus

• amygdala

• basal ganglia

• thalamus

• hypothalamus

hippocampus function

memories of time and place, spacial navigation

amygdala function

emotional association

basal ganglia function

planning and executing movment

thalamus function

sensory pathways to and from the cortex

hypothalamus function

master controller of the brain and body, regulation of body hormones

midbrain

• tegmentum

• ventral tegmental area

• substantia nigra

tegmentum function

eye and head orienting

ventral tegmental area function

reward pathway for the subcortical motor system

substantia nigra function

regulates basal ganglia subcortical motor system

hindbrain

• pons

• medulla oblongata

• reticular formation

pons function

regulation of breathing, relays sensations to the cortex and subcortex

medulla oblongata function

vital survival functions including breathing and heart rate, critical reflexes such as coughing and swallowing

reticular formation function

arousal and attentiveness, sleep and wakefulness

aphasia

inability to speak properly

Wernickes aphasia symptoms

cannot understand words, but can speak

location: temporal lobe

areas of the brain that contributed to HM’s difficulties

temporal lobe

• specifically the hippocampus

brain lobe that is disrupted in hemispatial neglect

parietal lobe damage

somatotopic map in the somatosensory corext

point-for-point correspondence of an area of the body to specific point on the central nervous system

proprioception

the sense of where and how our body is moving

how does the frontal lobe execute our intentions

• motor cortex in the frontal lobe

• somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobe

Brocas aphasia

inability to talk but still understanding words

location: frontal lobe

functions that prefrontal cortex regulates

• motor cortex controls muscles

  • takes us towards something good and away from something bad

how is insula different from the other lobes, functions?

it is inside the brain

function: awareness of internal organs

subcortical regions different from the cortex

ancient and powerful structures supporting memory, emotions, and motivation

• limbic system

limbic system

the part of the brain involved in our behavioural and emotional responses

• hippocampus

• amygdala

• hypothalamus

place cells

neurons located within the hippocampus which are triggered in response to an animal/person entering specific places in its local environment

hippocampus is essential in forming what type of memory

helps humans process and retrive two types of memory

• declarative memory: facts and events

• spatial relationships

amygdala

it is a major processing center for emotions

• The loss of the amygdala disrupts fear, but not other emotions

brain regions important for motivation and habit formation

motivation: nucleus accumbens

habit formation: caudate putamen

thalamus function

relays between cortical and subcortical regions, acts as a gatekeeper for messages passed between the spinal cord and the cerebral hemispheres

hypothalamus function

communicates information to and from endocrine or hormone systems, controls emotions also regulates body temperature and controls critical urges- such as eating or sleeping

dopamine producing brain areas

the midbrain region

• substantia nigra

• ventral tegmental

• hypothalamus

what does dopamine do

teaches us about how to get more things we like, we feel pleasure, satisfaction, and motivation

hindbrain regions of brain

• pons

• medulla oblongata

• cerebellum

synapse

connection between neurons

dendrites

projections from neurons, highly branched, equipped in additional protrusions called spines

• receive signals form other neurons via synapse

cell body

middle part of a neuron

axon

single projection from the soma/cell body, little branching, protected by a myelin sheath, passes electrical signals down its length

• sends/transmits signal to next neuron in a pathway via synapses at the axon terminal

axon terminal

side that axon is on in a neuron

myelin sheath

part of gila, prevents current dissipation through the axon membrane

how is the brain a social network

• information is received in dendrite

• summation of excitation is sufficient for action potential generation in the nucleus/axon

• action potential and propagation through axon by myelin sheath

• the information sent through the axon terminal

neuron organization

layered, some go deeper than others and others are more superficial

where are dopamine producing neurons located

located in the midbrain

• cell body and dendrites located there

how do neuron send messages

through action potentials

action potentials

a temporary shift from negative to positive in the neurons membrane potential caused by ions suddenly flowing in and out of the neuron

when neurotransmitters leave the synapse

activate receptors

• allows Na+ ions that change the charge of the neuron from negative to positive

agonist

mimics neurotransmitter, fits and can bind to receptor

antagonist

blocks other neurotransmitter so neurotransmitters cannot bind to receptor

endogenous opioids

opioid peptides or opiate peptides

• peptides that bind to opioid receptors in the brain and mimic the effect of these peptides

glia

Support neurons, caretakers. Functions for structural support, bringing nutrients, removing wastes and speeding up electrical impulses. Wrap the myelin around the axon

sensory neuron

A sensory neuron in a spinal nerve carries the impulse into the dorsal root of the spinal nerve and into the spinal cord

motor neuron

Emerges out the ventral root of the spinal nerve and carries the impulse to an effector (quadriceps muscle)

interneuron

the sensory neuron synapses with an interneuron in the cord. The interneuron 'recognizes' the sensory input as part of a reflex and synapses with an appropriate motor neuron

three primary portions of the brain visible in early development in the womb

• The forebrain

• the midbrain

• the hindbrain

size of cortex across species

The size of the frontal cortex and the number of convolutions in the cerebral cortex vary substantially from species to species

excitatory signal

depolarize the cell membrane, increasing the likelihood that the neuron will fire

inhibitory signal

electrical signals that prevent action

neural plasticity

brains ability to physiologically modify, regenerate and reinvent itself constantly over a lifetime

phantom limb syndrome

sensation of the presence of the amputated limb

• its place in the brain is still reserved for some time, so the person's capacity to feel the finger's presence remains

Modal model of memory/three stage model

The traditional model of memory initially devised by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin. The modal model views memory as consisting of three stages or stores: sensory memory, short term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM).

Sensory memory

The memory stage that very briefly stores large amounts of fleeting sensory impressions. Sensory memory is comprised of iconic store (visual) and echoic (auditory)

function: to sustain sensations to identification

capacity: very large

duration: very short/ .5 sec-3sec

kinds of sensory memory

• visual

• auditory

• touch

• taste

• smell

Sperling study measure duration and capacity of sensory memory

sperling flashed 12 letters to participants for 1/20 of a second and saw how many they could repeat back. he found that they could only recall a handful of letters. he concluded that our iconic memories capture the whole picture but it disapears before we can access it all

echoic memory

auditory sensory store

• duration: 3 seconds

iconic memories

visual sensory store

• duration: .5 seconds

short term memory(STM)

Memory store used for attending to information in the short term. Short term memory is limited in the length of time the memory can remain active- no longer than about 20 seconds. it is also limited that can be stored. No more than about four or five items or chunks of information. STM is one component of the modal model of memory

function: to do conscious work/to think

capacity: 7 plus or minus 2 chunks

duration: 10-15 seconds

chunking

giving meaning to a chunk of letters or numbers so they can be remembered easier

magic number of STM capacity

5-9

Peterson and Peterson study STM

Participants were asked to recall trigrams after intervals of 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 or 18 seconds. During the pause, they were asked to count backwards in 3's from a given number. This interference task was to prevent rehearsal

results: The longer the interval delay the less trigrams were recalled. Participants were able to recall 80% of trigrams after a 3 seconds delay. However, after 18 seconds less than 10% of trigrams were recalled correctly

attention

transfers information from sensory store to STM

• if something get attention or focus it goes to STM