Additional Flashcards
Additional Flashcards – Missing Study Guide Concepts
Lecture 9 – Patient H.M. & Memory Systems
1
Q: What is epilepsy?
A: A neurological disorder characterized by recurrent seizures caused by abnormal synchronized neuronal activity.
2
Q: What is a seizure?
A: A sudden burst of synchronized electrical activity in the brain that disrupts normal brain function.
3
Q: What is an EEG?
A: Electroencephalogram — a recording of electrical activity in the brain used to detect seizures.
4
Q: What type of seizures did Patient H.M. have before surgery?
A:
~10 absence seizures per week
Weekly convulsive seizures
Resistant to medication
5
Q: What brain areas were removed in H.M.’s surgery?
A:
Medial temporal lobes
Hippocampus
Entorhinal cortex
6
Q: What memory problem did H.M. develop after surgery?
A: Severe anterograde amnesia (unable to form new memories).
7
Q: What types of memory were normal in H.M.?
A:
Short-term memory
Procedural learning
8
Q: What is anterograde amnesia?
A: Inability to form new memories after brain damage.
9
Q: What is retrograde amnesia?
A: Loss of memories formed before brain damage.
10
Q: What is explicit memory?
A: Conscious recall of facts and experiences.
11
Q: What is implicit memory?
A: Unconscious memory for skills and habits.
12
Q: What is semantic memory?
A: Memory for facts and general knowledge.
13
Q: What is episodic memory?
A: Memory for personal experiences and events.
14
Q: What is procedural memory?
A: Memory for skills and motor behaviors.
15
Q: What is memory consolidation?
A: The process of transferring short-term memories into long-term storage.
16
Q: What is memory storage?
A: Long-term maintenance of stored memories in neural circuits.
17
Q: What brain structure is responsible for procedural memory?
A: Striatum of the basal ganglia.
18
Q: What brain structure is responsible for declarative memory?
A: Hippocampus.
19
Q: What diseases impair procedural memory?
A:
Parkinson’s disease
Huntington’s disease
20
Q: What is neural plasticity?
A: The ability of neurons and neural circuits to change in response to experience.
21
Q: What is Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)?
A: A long-lasting strengthening of synapses following high-frequency stimulation.
22
Q: What is Long-Term Depression (LTD)?
A: A long-lasting weakening of synapses.
23
Q: How did taxi drivers’ brains change with experience?
A: Their posterior hippocampus became larger due to spatial navigation demands.
24
Q: How does an enriched environment affect the brain?
A:
thicker cortex
more synapses
increased dendritic branching
improved learning
Lecture 10 – Nervous System
25
Q: What is the corpus callosum?
A: A bundle of fibers connecting the two cerebral hemispheres.
26
Q: What are ventricles?
A: Fluid-filled cavities in the brain containing cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
27
Q: What is the function of the thalamus?
A: Major relay and integration center for sensory information.
28
Q: Which sensory system bypasses the thalamus initially?
A: Olfaction (smell).
29
Q: What is the function of the hypothalamus?
A: Regulates homeostasis, hormones, and basic drives.
30
Q: Why is the knee-jerk reflex so fast?
A: It is a monosynaptic reflex that does not require brain processing.
31
Q: What is decussation?
A: Crossing of neural pathways across the midline of the body.
32
Q: What protects the brain from injury?
A:
Meninges
Cerebrospinal fluid
Ventricles
33
Q: What does contralateral mean?
A: Opposite side of the body.
34
Q: What does ipsilateral mean?
A: Same side of the body.
Lecture 11–12 Chemical Senses
35
Q: What is an odorant receptor?
A: A receptor protein that binds odor molecules.
36
Q: What is anosmia?
A: Loss of the sense of smell.
37
Q: What is combinatorial coding of odors?
A: Odors are identified by patterns of activation across multiple receptor types.
38
Q: What are pheromones?
A: Chemical signals that influence social and reproductive behavior.
39
Q: What are tastants?
A: Chemical substances that stimulate taste receptors.
40
Q: Why do smell and taste receptor cells regenerate?
A: Because they are frequently damaged by chemicals and environmental exposure.
Lecture 12–13 Pain
41
Q: What are nociceptors?
A: Sensory neurons that detect painful or damaging stimuli.
42
Q: What is the placebo effect?
A: Pain reduction due to expectation and activation of endogenous opioid pathways.
43
Q: What is naloxone?
A: A drug that blocks opioid receptors.
44
Q: What are enkephalins?
A: Endogenous opioid peptides that reduce pain transmission.
45
Q: What neurotransmitter carries pain signals?
A: Substance P.
46
Q: What is the Gate Control Theory of pain?
A: Non-pain sensory signals can block pain transmission in the spinal cord.
47
Q: What is a receptive field?
A: The area of sensory space that activates a neuron.
48
Q: What is lateral inhibition?
A: A process that enhances contrast between sensory signals.
Lecture 13–14 Hearing
49
Q: What type of receptor detects sound?
A: Hair cells (mechanoreceptors).
50
Q: What is the McGurk effect?
A: A visual illusion where seeing mouth movements changes what sound we perceive.
51
Q: What is conductive hearing loss?
A: Sound cannot reach the cochlea due to middle ear problems.
52
Q: What is sensorineural hearing loss?
A: Damage to hair cells or the auditory nerve.
Lecture 15 Vision
53
Q: What is a photopigment?
A: A molecule that absorbs light and initiates visual transduction.
54
Q: What are rods specialized for?
A: Low-light vision.
55
Q: What are cones specialized for?
A: Color vision and high visual acuity.
56
Q: Why is red-green color blindness more common in males?
A: The opsin genes are located on the X chromosome.
57
Q: Which retinal cells fire action potentials?
A: Retinal ganglion cells.
58
Q: What is an ON-center receptive field?
A: Activated by light in the center and inhibited by light in the surround.
59
Q: What is an OFF-center receptive field?
A: Activated by light in the surround and inhibited by light in the center.
60
Q: What is a critical period in vision?
A: A developmental window when visual experience is required for normal visual system development.