The Brain

Cell body: aka soma; cells life support system

Dendrites: receive messages from other neurons

Axon: passes messages through the cell body

Neural impulse: the action potential (electrical signal travels down the axon)

Myelin sheath: covers the axon and speeds neural impulse

Terminal axon branch: forms junctions with other neurons

Glial cells: support the neurons/neurons assistant (10 per neuron)

Synaptic gap: the space between neurons

Reuptake: when extra neurotransmitters get collected from the synaptic gap

Resting potential: when the ions are at opposite ends of axons, aka polarized (positive outside negative inside)

Action potential: when the threshold is met and the ions become depolarized, the neuron goes into action potential (ions are on the same side of the axon)

Threshold: when the minimum amount of neurotransmitters is met, no additional excitatory or inhibitory neurotransmitters will affect the outcome

All-or-nothing: an effect of the threshold being met, either the message will go through or it won't

Refractory period: when the positive and negative ions get polarized again, resetting the resting potential

ACH (acetylcholine): controls muscle action, learning and memory; Excitatory; Too much causes seizures; Too little causes alzheimer’s

Dopamin: controls attention and emotion; Sometimes excitatory sometimes inhibitory; Too much causes schizophrenia; Too little causes parkinson's/ADHD

Serotonin: affects mood, calming/happy feeling; Inhibitory; Too little causes clinical depression

Norepinephrine: controls alertness; Excitatory; Too little can cause depression

GABA: the main inhibitory neurotransmitter; Too little causes seizures; Too much causes insomnia & anxiety

Glutamine: main excitatory neurotransmitter; controls memory; Too much causes overstimulation & headaches (MSG)

Endorphins: naturally occurring opiates that are released in response to pain; Inhibitory; Too many synthetic opioids decreases production of endorphins

Agonist: anything that acts like a key in the synaptic locks

Antagonist: anything that jams the synaptic locks

Phrenology: states that indents in your head/the shape describe your character & what kind of person you are

Gall: considered the father of phrenology; was thought of as a celebrity & got invited to a bunch of parties

Phineas Gage: Got a pole shot through his head during a mining incident and somehow managed to survive; was really nice before the incident, then turned into a jerk; gave us the ability to understand that the frontal lobe controls personality

MRI: more detailed version of a CAT scan that doesn’t emit radiation; structure

fMRI: can determine what part of the brain certain drugs effect, and how they affect it; function

CAT scans: basically just x-rays; structure

PET scan: detects where calories go based on the what activity a person is doing

EEG scan: examines the types of brain waves emitted during different levels of consciousness as well as identify blind/deaf infants; function

MEG scan: finds magnetic fields in the visual cortex when looking for trauma related issues (PTSD, anxiety, depression); function

Medulla: base of the brain; controls heartbeat & breathing

Oblongata: the connection between the brainstem and the spinal cord

Reticular Formation: considered the hindbrain; within the brainstem; controls arousal(if it doesn't work you could end up in a coma)

Basal Ganglia: a part of the thalamus that controls behaviors, emotions and executive functions

Pons: helps w/ sleeping & dreaming(connects brainstem w/ cerebellum)

Cerebellum: considered the mini brain; controls coordination & balance

Thalamus: considered the sensory switchboard (directs all data collected from the senses, except smell, to where it needs to be so they can be processed)

Hippocampus: processes new memories

Amygdala: controls basic emotions(fear/aggression); controls fight or flight & phobias; so powerful that it could override your frontal lobe; if damaged you could become either extremely aggressive or extremely scared of everything

Hypothalamus: controls hunger/thirst drive (when damaged could cause you to starve or eat to death); controls body temperature (homeostasis); pleasure center (sex drive & dopamine kick); also controls pituitary gland

Cerebral cortex: covers the lobes in your brain/cerebrum

Frontal Lobe: controls personality, reason, morality & planning; associated w/ the motor cortex; left frontal has broca(understanding)

Parietal Lobe: associated w/ the sensory cortex

Occipital Lobe: associated w/ the visual cortex

Temporal Lobe: associated w/ the auditory cortex; left temporal has wernicke(speaking)

When one of the cortexes doesn’t work it can rewire itself(why certain senses heighten when someone goes blind/deaf)

Afferent: another name for sensory neurons

Efferent: another name for motor neurons

Sensory neurons: sensing stuff; from finger to spinal cord

Interneurons:between sensory and motor neurons

Motor neurons: movement; spinal cord to finger

Corpus callosum: connects both brain hemispheres; sometimes the corpus needs to be cut in order to fix epilepsy(causes split brain)

Association areas: any part of the brain that isn't a cortex (the more association areas you have, the smarter you are); most animals are all cortex

Pituitary: in the brain; controlled by the hypothalamus; controls the other glands; regulates growth (dwarfism)

Pineal: controls melatonin; melatonin get released when lights go off; electricity kind of ruined it (lights & phones)

Thyroid: controls metabolism; slows down w/ age; low levels of thyroxine affects mental disabilities

Adrenal: secrete adrenaline (fight or flight); also releases cortisol (stress hormone); butterflies is blood leaving your stomach

Pancreas: insulin; type I diabetes is when you’re born without enough insulin; type II diabetes is when you become insulin resistance

Ovaries/testis: sex hormones; estrogen & testosterone

broca: located in left frontal lobe; controls production of speech

wernicke: located in left temporal lobe; controls language understanding