Trepanation
drilling holes into skulls, maybe to reduce pressure or swelling for recovery. It occurred in the neolithic era.
Dualism
The belief that the body and mind are two independent things that interact with one another. The body was physical, and the mind was nonphysical, believing that the mind directed behavior physically.
Monism
The belief that the mind and body are one in the same. The mind is the physical output of what the body does.
Cardio centric view
believed that the heart was the center of a person, that it worked as their mind.
Ancient Egyptians
Held a dualist perspective and thought that the mind was in the heart. Believed that in the afterlife, the heart was weighed against a feather to see if they could go to the afterlife.
Aristotle
Cardio centric perspective, thought that the brain was intended to regulate temperature.
Hippocrates
Believed that the brain was where the mind existed and was known as the father of medicine. He also believed that the four humors (blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm) were regulated by the mind and that the brain used the humors to control the body.
Four humors
blood, black bile, yellow bile, phlegm
Galen
helped people after gladiator fights and identified ventricles, was one of the first to not have a cardio centric view and instead believed that the brain was the main organ that controlled functions.
Animal spirits
Galen's version of the four humors
Rene Descartes
Was one of the first who made dualism common knowledge. He believed that the mind was free will and the body was reflexes and that only humans had the mind function. Supported the idea that hollow fluid pushing was how we moved.
Pineal Gland
Gland on the base of the brain that Descartes believed the mind was located.
Luigi Galvani
An Italian physiologist who disproved Descartes theory that the four humors was not how we moved our bodies. He experimented with frogs and proved that body movement was caused by electrical signaling.
Franz Gall
Came up with phrenology, he believed that you could see moral disposition by the skull shape and that localization of function was a thing.
Localization of function
The idea that spots in the brain have functions
Phrenology
The idea that you could use physical markers on the scalp to tell if you had a good or bad personality
Johannes Muller
Experimented and looked at nerve energies, wondering how our brains could interpret the same electrical currents and then react differently.
Doctrine of specific nerve energies
the mind has access not to objects in the world but only to our nerves
Pierre Florens
experimented and discovered that ablation led to performance changes and localization of function.
Experimental ablation/lesion
damage to a part of the brain and look for functional change (worked on pigeons and rats)
Paul Broca
A French neurologist that researched and discovered the Broca's area with was in the frontal lobe and affected fluency of speech
Broca's aphasia
speech production errors, where they can understand and engage physically but they can speak fluently. The main example of this was Tan in which he could only produce the word tan.
Broca's area
front left part of the brain that is necessary for speech
Wernicke's aphasia
comprehension errors in which they have a hard time producing logical speech, what they say doesn't make sense, but they are able to produce speech normally
Wernicke's area
region of the frontal lobe in the brain that contains motor neurons involved in the comprehension of speech
Karl Lashley
an American psychologist and behaviorist remembered for his contributions to the study of learning and memory. He worked on rats and found that memories were not just held in one area of the brain.
Engram
a process of memory tracing and damaging a part of the brain to see if the patient loses memories.
Charles Darwin
formulated the theory of natural selection and evolution, where each part of the brain has a function
Functionalism
A belief that characteristics of living organisms perform useful functions. The mind is a functional tool that allows us to adapt to our environments.
Evolution
A gradual change in structure and physiology of a plant or animal species due to natural selection
Evolve
to develop gradually, or to make someone or something change and develop gradually
Mutation
accidental changes in the chromosomes of sperm or eggs that join and form organisms
Natural Selection
the natural environment shapes development of a species based on whether the mutations of a species are helpful in their life or not
Selective advantage
a beneficial mutation
Adaptation
a change or the process of change by which an organism or species becomes better suited to its environment.
Generalization
coming up with common laws or principles that can be applied across multiple species
Reduction
understanding individual parts can lead to more general knowledge, complex processes are broken into smaller units
Model systems
not seen as human, it is a close replica to humans that models what you are researching and can help apply research in the future
Animal welfare
belief that animals deserve natural and healthy functions in their life
Animal rights
animals have the same rights as humans, belief that if you would not do it to a human, then don't do it to an animal
.3%
What percentage of animals are used by humans in research?
Distribution of animal models
Mostly mice and rats, then vertebrates, then primates
Central nervous system
the brain and spinal cord, controls the activities of the body.
Peripheral nervous system
comprises of all the nerves of the body associated with the CNS
Somatic nervous system
part of the peripheral nervous system associated with the voluntary control of body movements via skeletal muscles. Made of the spinal and cranial nerves. Voluntary motor and sensory info collected here.
Spinal nerves
nerves from the spinal cord that are made of mixed fibers. Helps us respond with reflexive behaviors.
Cranial nerves
nerves that originate in the brain and never pass through the spinal cord
Afferent
sensory nerves that are a part of the optic or olfactory
Efferent
motor nerves, carry out motor commands
Mixed
combo of both types of fibers
12
how many pairs of cranial nerves are there?
Autonomic nervous system
the part of the nervous system that operates without conscious control (heart rate, breathing, etc.)
Sympathetic nervous system
Our fight of flight that prepares the body to defend itself
Parasympathetic nervous system
rest and digest, the nervous system that we use when resting
Neuroaxis
the imaginary line through the central nervous system, it denotes the direction in which the CNS lies
Posterior/caudal
towards the tail or back half of the animal
Rostral/anterior
towards the nose/front of the animal
Dorsal
towards the back
Ventral
towards the stomach
Lateral
towards the sides
Medial
towards the middle
Ipsilateral
same side of the body
Contralateral
opposite side of the body
Cross section
cutting through for a side view
Coronal/frontal section
a cut similar to cutting a slice of bread
Horizontal section
a slice parallel to the tabletop
Sagittal section
a midsagittal section that separates the left and right halves
Midsagittal plane
the median plane that splits the body into two halves
Meninges
a series of membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord
Dura mater
the tough mother or outermost layer of the meninges
Arachnoid membrane
the part of the meninges that overlies the subarachnoid space. A thin, transparent membrane surrounding the spinal cord like a loosely fitting sac.
Subarachnoid space
consists of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), major blood vessels, and cisterns
Pia mater
the delicate innermost membrane enveloping the brain and spinal cord
Cerebrospinal fluid
fluid that protects the brain, acts to relieve the brain from hitting the skull and also lightens the weight of the brain on the spinal cord.
Choroid plexus
a network of blood vessels in each ventricle of the brain. It is derived from the pia mater and produces the cerebrospinal fluid
Lateral ventricle
cerebral hemisphere under the corpus callosum
Third ventricle
a narrow, funnel-shaped structure that lies in the center of the brain
Fourth ventricle
the most inferiorly located ventricle, draining directly into the central canal of the spinal cord, the lower brainstem
Central canal
the cerebrospinal fluid-filled space that runs through the spinal cord
Hydrocephalus
a buildup of cfs usually caused by mass growing and blocking a ventricle. A secondary draining tube can sometimes be placed to drain the csf before skull bones begin to swell.
Brain development
plate, to groove, to neural tube that becomes part of the spinal cord as the hollow part becomes the ventricle
Cerebral cortex
The outer layer that lies on top of your cerebrum part of the brain that has association areas, cognitive processes, sensation, and motor skills.
Neurogenesis
The generation of new neurons (stem cells and embryonic development) most neurons are created in embryonic development
Embryonic stem cells
a cell that can produce any cell in the body, they self-renew and are undifferentiated. Since they are pluripotent, they can grow any kind of cell needed.
Progenitor cells
Undifferentiated cells that have limited self-renewal. When splitting it splits into one stem cell and one progenitor and then differentiated cells.
Symmetrical division
splits into two cells that are exactly the same
Asymmetrical division
splits into 2 cells but they aren't exactly the same
Radial glia
part of the neuron migration that acts as a highway to move newly born neurons and begin building the brain
Ventricular zone
A transient embryonic layer of tissue containing neural stem cells, principally radial glial cells, of the central nervous system of vertebrates.
Forebrain/prosencephalon
the diencephalon and telencephalon
Telencephalon
two cerebral hemispheres, olfactory bulb is located here as well as the limbic system, behavioral and emotional responses
Cerebral hemisphere/cortex
One half of the cerebrum, the part of the brain that controls muscle functions and controls speech, thought, emotions, reading, writing, and learning.
Diencephalon
the thalamus and hypothalamus
Thalamus
gateway to the cortex where all information carried by sensory fibers goes through here
Hypothalamus
the head of the endocrine system that controls hormones, ANS, motivation for food, water, and sex. Plays a lot with our stress hormones. 11 nuclei located here that control many areas. Controls the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system and organizes behaviors related to survival of the species
Midbrain/mesencephalon
surround the cerebral aqueduct and consists of two major parts
Hindbrain
surround the fourth ventricle, consists of metencephalon and the myelencephalon
Metencephalon
consists of cerebellum and the pons.
Cerebellum/cerebellar cortex
the little brain that receives sensory input and cerebral cortex. It does not trigger muscles to move but it modulates motor plans. It works with sequence, balance, and coordination.
Pons
The bridge between the cerebellum and the cerebral cortex. It was the source of communication between two sections for motor activity. It works with arousal, sleep, and respiration.