Behavioral Neuroscience Notes

Reticular Formation: Includes pain sensitization, alertness, fatigue, sleep, and motivation; contains the cerebellum, midbrain, pons, and medulla.
Midbrain: Motor movement (eye), auditory and visual processing.
Cerebellum: Muscle control, balance, and movement.
Forebrain: Thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, and cerebral cortex; planning and execution of movements, sensory processing, regulating sleep-wake states, and behavioral responses to emotions.
Hypothalamus: Regulates temperature, hunger, thirst, circadian rhythms, and controls the pituitary gland.
Cerebral Cortex: Outer layer of brain (80%), controls thoughts and perception; divided into frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes.
Corpus Collosum: Transfers messages between left and right brain hemispheres.

Convert glucose into lactate for neuron energy, feed neurons, guide neurons, strengthen connections, and increase communication speed.

Chemical messengers carrying signals from one neuron to the next target cell (nerve cell, muscle cell, or gland).
- Excitatory Neurotransmitters: Excite the neuron, passing the message along (e.g., glutamate, epinephrine, norepinephrine).
- Inhibitory Neurotransmitters: Block or prevent the message from being passed (e.g., GABA, glycine, serotonin).

One system can have many roles; degeneracy: many combinations of neurons can yield the same result.

Physical changes in the body happen before the experience of the associated emotion.