Study Guide Exam 1 Physiological Psychology

Exam 1

Study Guide

Chapter 1

I. Nerve Cells: Neurons and Glia

• Conclusions of Santiago Ramon y Cajal’s work
• The Structure of an Animal Cell: Parts of a cell (including membrane, nucleus, mitochondrion, ribosomes, and endoplasmic reticulum) and their corresponding functions
• The Structure of a Neuron: Parts of a Neuron (including dendrites, dendritic spines, body, axon, and presynaptic terminal) and their corresponding functions.
• Characteristics of Gia cells.
• Different types of glia (including astrocytes, microglia, oligodendrocytes, Swann cells, radial glia) and the functions each type of glia cells serve.
• Advantages and disadvantages of the blood-brain barrier.
• What is the main source of nutrition for vertebrate neurons?

II. The nerve Impulse

• Characteristics of the membrane of a neuron: What is the membrane of a neuron made of? What is a polarized membrane?
• What is the resting potential?
• What happens with sodium and potassium channels when a neuron’s membrane is at rest?
• The concentration gradient and electrical gradient are two forces that act on different ions including sodium and potassium and try to drive them into or out of the cell. When the neuron’s membrane is at rest: does the concentration drive sodium into our out the cell? Does the concentration gradient drives potassium into or out of the cell? Does the electrical gradient drive sodium into our out the cell? Does the electrical gradient drive potassium into our out the cell?
• Action potential: Hyperpolarization, depolarization, what happens when depolarization reaches threshold of excitation.
• Molecular Basis of the action potential: Chemical events (stages) behind the action potential.
• What is the function of the Myelin Sheath?

Chapter 2

I. The Concept of a Synapse

• Differences between temporal and spatial summation.
• What is and When do Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials (EPSPs) and Inhibitory Postsynaptic Potentials (IPSPs) occur?
• What is the difference between an EPSP and an action potential?
• Relationship among EPSP, IPSP and Action Potential: When an action potential is more likely to occur? What determines whether a neuron will fire?
• Increased permeability to which type of ion would most likely result in an IPSP?
• Increased permeability to which type of ion would most likely result in an EPSP?

II. Chemical Events at the Synapse

• Types of Neurotransmitters
• Characteristics of nitric oxide
• Synthesis of different transmitters including acetylcholine, dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine
• Storage of Transmitters: Where are neurotransmitters stored and where are vesicles located?
• Release and Diffusion of Transmitters: What chemical events take place when the action potential reaches the end of the axon? What happens when a neurotransmitter is released by the presynaptic cell? What is exocytosis?
• Activating Receptors of the Postsynaptic Cell: Differences between Ionotropic and Metabotropic effects.
• Inactivation and Reuptake of Neurotransmitters: How is acetylcholine inactivated? What role do transporter" proteins play in the reuptake process?
• Negative Feedback from the Post synaptic cell: Role of Autoreceptors

Chapter 3

• Divisions and subdivisions of the nervous system: Central Nervous System subdivisions and Peripheral Nervous System subdivisions.
• Characteristics of the autonomic and somatic nerves: What kind of information they carry and from where to where.
• Terminology to describe the nervous system including planes or cuts of the brain (i.e., coronal, horizontal and sagittal): Which plane will show brain structures as seen from above? Which plane will show brain structures as seen from the front? Which plane will show brain structures as seen from the side?
• Where are the bodies of sensory and motor neurons located?
• Characteristics and differences between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system
• Which neurotransmitter is primarily used by the parasympathetic nervous system? Which neurotransmitter is primarily used by the sympathetic nervous system?
• Brain divisions and subdivisions: Forebrain, Midbrain and Hindbrain structures and their characteristics.
• What parts of the brain constitute the limbic system and what is the function of the limbic system.
• Functions associated with the superior colliculus, inferior colliculus thalamus, basal ganglia, hypothalamus, and hippocampus.
• What are the ventricles of the brain and where are the ventricles located?
• What structures of the brain are filled with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and what is the function of the CSF.
• What structures connect the two hemispheres.
• Cerebral cortex lobes (Frontal, temporal, occipital and parietal): Characteristics and functions of each of the lobes.
• Which lobe is most important for the sense of touch? Which lobe is most important for vision? Damage in what brain lobe can result in cortical blindness? Which lobe is most important for auditory sensations? Which lobe is involved in comprehension of spoken language? What part of the brain receives information regarding muscle-stretch and joint receptors? Damage to which part of the brain results in impaired ability to identify objects by feeling them? Which lobe contributes most to the perception of movement and recognition of faces?
• Functions associated with the prefrontal cortex.
• What methods are used for recording brain activity and for correlating brain anatomy with behavior: What are the characteristics of each of these methods and how each of them work.

Chapter 4

Genetics, Evolution, and Development

I. Genetics and Evolution of behavior:

• What is the difference between chromosomes, DNA and genes?
• How is RNA formed?
• What are dominant traits? What are recessive traits? What is the difference between dominant and recessive traits?
• What are sex-linked genes and where are they found? What are sex-limited genes and where are they found? What are the differences between sex-linked genes and sex-limited genes?
• What is heritability? How do you determine if the heritability of a particular trait is high?
• What is a mutation?
• Characteristics of Evolution and Common Misunderstandings about Evolution.
• Characteristics of Lamarckian evolution.

II. Development of the brain

• What are stem cells and what do they do?
• What are the characteristics and what happens in each of the following stages of neuron development: Proliferation, migration, differentiation, myelination, synaptogenesis.
• Specificity of Axon Connections: Roger Sperry’s experiments: What he did, what he found and what he concluded.
• Determinants of neuronal survival: What is the function of neurotrophins? And what happens if an axon does not receive enough neurotrophins? What is apoptosis?
• Brain Damage and Short-Term Recovery: Stroke, different types of strokes and their characteristics, effects of strokes on neurons, characteristics of different treatments including tPA, and cannabinoids (how do these treatments work?).
• Later Mechanisms of Recovery: How does brain stimulation work and what is Diaschisis? What is the role of neurotrhophins in axon sprouting? What is denervation supersensitivity?