neuro 2000 unit 1

neuroscience

study of the nervous system and how it interacts with the rest of the body to produce __perceptions, thoughts, emotions, and behaviors__

**dualism**

the mind (soul, spirit, essence) and the body (brain,etc.) are separate

**monism or physicalism**

brain and body are same as mind

scientific method

* ask a question
* form a hypothesis
* test the hypothesis with an experiment
* analyyze the results and evaluate hypohtesis
* communicato results

__marie-jean-pierre flourens, 19th century psychologist__

* first experiment in localization of function (ex. amygdala is associated with certain processes)
* before, we were not sure if parts of brain did certain things or if whole brain did something
* target large part of cerebrum in pigeon and do abrasions or **lesions** and observe how that impacted them
* in cerebrum, animals had sensory problems - could not see, hear, taste
* thus, there are particular parts of the brain for particular processes

__franz joseph gall__

* 19th century austrian medical student
* human brain has wrinkles in cerebrum (ridges called gyrus or gyri, grooves are called sulci or sulcus)
* thought gyri relates to a particular aspect of personality, if someone had a particular aspect, the gyri would be bigger 
* we all have generally the same pattern in our brains in pattern of sulci and gyri - little variation, but very small
* thought that some variation was personality
* but no way to observe the personality and brain at same time 
* shape of gryi equates to shape of skull, so bumps on skull relates to bumps on gyri - not true
* asked people about other’s personality 

created **phrenology**

neurite

*  always dendrites or axons, __anything sticking out of cell body of neuron__ 
* shorter neurites are dendrites 

dendrites

* receive information and conduct it towards the cell body

axon

send electrical signals across neuron

* electric signal (action potential) is change in physical function 
* action potential happens at spike initiation zone 
* neurotransmitters are released and sent to another neuron 

ends in branching terminal fibers, throguh messages pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands

neuron

* nerve cell, basic building block of nervous system

cell body

part of neuron that contains nucleus, cells life-support center

myelin sheath

a layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons, enables vastly great transmission speeds of neural impoulses as impulse hopes from one node to next

glial cells

cells in nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons

play a role in learning, thinking, and memory

action potential

a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon

neurons transmit messages when

stimulated by signals from our senses or when triggered by chemical signals from neighboring neurons

neural signals can have

different speeds depending on the fiber

most neural signals are

excitatory

if exctiatory signals exceel inhibitory signals

threshold is reached

refractory period

a period of inactivity after a neuron has fired

level of stimulation will not increase neural impulse intensity

neurons reachtion is an all-or-none response

a neurons reaction of either firing weith full strength of not at all

synapse

meeting point between neurons

when action ptoential reachs terminal at end of axon, triggers release of

neurotransmitters

reuptake

a neurotransmitter's reabsorption by the sending neuron

nervous system

the body's speedy, electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems

central nervous system

consists of the brain and spinal cord

peripheral nervous system

the sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system to the rest of the body

nerves

bundled axons that form neural "cables" connecting the central nervous system with muscles, glands, and sense organs

neurons

a nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system\####cell body

amygdala

two lima bean-sized neural clusters in the limbic system; linked to emotion, agression and fear.

Hypothalamus

A neural structure lying below the thalamus; it directs several maintenance activities (eating, drinking, body temperature), helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland, and is linked to emotion and reward.

Brainstem

\n the oldest part and central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull; the brainstem is responsible for automatic survival functions

\n

medulla

the base of the brainstem; controls heartbeat and breathing

Thalamaus

relay station for sensory impulses except smell, recieve some of higher brain replies and directs them to medula and cerebllum

reticular formation

a nerve network in the brain stem that plays an important role in controlling arousal, filters incoming stimuli to relay brain waves

Cerebellum

A large structure of the hindbrain that controls fine motor skills. Enables nonverbal learning and skill meomroy. Coordinates cvoluntary movement.

Hippocampus

A neural center located in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage.

cerebral cortex

The intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells covering the cerebral hemispheres; the body's ultimate control and information-processing center.

Frontal Lobe

each of the paired lobes of the brain lying immediately behind the forehead, including areas concerned with behavior, learning, personality, and voluntary movement.

parietal lobe

A region of the cerebral cortex whose functions include processing information about touch.

occipital lobe

A region of the cerebral cortex that processes visual information

emporal lobe

A region of the cerebral cortex responsible for hearing and language.

motor cortex

an area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements

Motor cortex (frontal lobe)

movement

somatosensory cortex

area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch and movement sensations

association areas

areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions; rather, they are involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking

Broca's area

Controls language expression - an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech.

Wernicke's area

controls language reception - a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe

angular gyrus

transforms visual representations into an auditory code

terminal buttons

Small knobs at the end of axons that secrete chemicals called neurotransmitters

receptor sites

holes in the surface of the dendrites or certain cells of the muscles and glands, which are shaped to fit only certain neurotransmitters

cortex

functions of part of brain

occipital lobe = visual cortex

temporal love = auditory cortex

frontal lobe = motor cortex

parietal lobe = sensory cortex

corpus callosum

the large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them

node of ranvier

gaps between the myelin insulation of Schwann cells which insulate the axon of neuron

axon hillock

part of a neuron's cell body that connects to the axon

\
part of the neuron where nerve electrical activity is summated to determine the likelihood of firing an action potential.

* **different neurons have different polarities**

* unipolar neuron (you have only one neurite, part is dendrite, rest is axon)
* multipolar neuron = has many neurite
* bipolar neuron = 2 neurites on neuron

cells of nervous system neurons

* pyramidal
* stellate

cells of nervous system: neuron and **glial cells**

* glial cells are attached to axon
* Schwan cell - forms a section of myelin 
* collection of glial cells are called the myelin sheath 
* helps create action potentials

all peripheral nerves in body are myelinated by schwann cells, but in central vernous system there are ____

**oligodendrocytes,** which myelinate axon

glial cells types

* microglia
* oligodentrocyte
* scwann cell
* astorcyte

\

microglia

* smallest of glial cells
* one type of microglia, but shape changes over time, sometimes a dendrite form and sometimes a globular form 
* in globular form, finds protein in extracellular fluid and destroys things by engulfing it (dead glial cell, dead neuron, virus, drug)
* in dendritic form, it finds and senses stuff in extracellular fluid that should not be there 
* if detected, it switches to globular from and engulfs things that should not be there

astrocyte

* blood-brain barrier
* neurological and mental illness probelsm, hard to get drug in
* hangs onto blood vessles carrying oxygenated blood and glucose for ATP

\

part between neurons

* **synaptic cleft**

sub-fields of neuroscience

* neurobiology - biology of nervous system
* behavioral neuroscience - study of biological basis of human behaviors+ biolgicl activity
* computational neuroscience - math and theories investigate brain
* affective neuroscience - how brain processes emotions and how tht impacts cognition and behavior
* cognitive n. - study of how brain enables the mind, how indivdiual neurons opeate and communicate, making decesions that results in reward and how our brain works
* developmental - broad range of processes that lead to brain development
* evolutionary n. - evolution of nervous system
* neurolinguistics - how language is represented in the brain and how our brains store knowledge
* systems n. - studies structure and function of neural circuits and systems