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Psych207 > 2. The Brain > Flashcards

2. The Brain Flashcards

1
Q

What does it mean to order the brain by phylogenetic division

A

Organizing the brain structures in terms of the order in which they are thought to have evolved

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2
Q

Phylogenetically, what are 3 main regions of the brain

A

Forebrain
Midbrain
Hindbrain

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3
Q

What are 3 structures in the hindbrain

A

Medulla
Pons
Cerebellum

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4
Q

What does the medulla do and where is it located

A

hindbrain
- transmits info from the spinal cord to the brain
- regulates life support functions like respiration/blood pressure/coughing/heart rate

think -> modulates [functions], medium [transport]

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5
Q

What does the cerebellum do and where is it located

A

hindbrain
- coordinates muscle activity
- balance, coordination
lesions cause damage to above + damage to ability to shift attention from visual and and auditory stimuli, and dealing with temporal stimuli like rhythm

cerebellum -> um -> mu -> muscle
bell -> balance

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6
Q

What do pons do and where is it located

A

hindbrain
- neural relay centre (cross over from left and right sides of the brain)
- balance + processing of visual/auditory info (kinda similar to cerebellum lesions??)

pons -> latin for bridge

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7
Q

What are 5 structures in the forebrain

A

thalamus
hypothalamus
hippocampus
amygdala
cerebrum (the entire upper wrinkly “casing” on forebrain)

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8
Q

Where is the thalamus located and its use

A

Forebrain
- switching station for sensory information
- involved memory

above the thalamus (like an overhead)

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9
Q

Where is the hypothalamus located and its use

A

Forebrain
- regulates basic biological functions (hunger, thirst, temperature, sexual arousal), by releasing hormones to control the pituitary gland
- involved in emotions
- homeostatic behaviours

hypo: beneath

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10
Q

Where is the hippocampus located and its use

A

Forebrain
- Learning
- Long term memory
- Emotions

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11
Q

Where is the Amygdala located and its use

A

Forebrain
- Memory, emotion, aggression
- Strength of emotional memories
- Emotional learning

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12
Q

Where is the basal ganglia and where is it located

A

Forebrain
- production of motor behaviour

gang -> beats people up

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13
Q

What are the four lobes of the cerebral cortex

A

Frontal
Parietal
Temporal (on sides)
Occipital

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14
Q

What is the cerebral cortex

A

Cerebral cortex is a layer in cerebrum consisting of neurons with white matter underneath that carries info between cortex and the thalamus or between different areas in the cortex

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15
Q

Explain the main functions of the parietal lobes

A

Contains the somatosensory cortex
- Processes sensory information from the body
- sensations of pain, pressure, touch, or temperature
- spatial processing and attention

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16
Q

Explain the main functions of the occipital lobes

A

Processes visual information

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17
Q

Explain the main functions of the temporal lobe

A
  • Processes auditory information
  • supports function associated with encoding and retrieval of info from LTM
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18
Q

What might damaging the temporal lobe affect

A

ability to process auditory information
memory: since the temporal lobe is right above the amygdala and hippocampus

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19
Q

What are the 3 regions of the frontal cortex and their uses

A

Motor cortex: Directs fine motor movement
Premotor cortex: Planning fine motor movements
Prefrontal cortex: executive functioning

20
Q

What is the precentral gyrus

A

In the frontal lobe, stretches horizontally (wrinkle) across the center of the brain
contains the motor cortex

21
Q

What does homeostasis mean

A

State of balance in the body needed to survive

22
Q

What are the general functions of structures in the midbrain

A
  • Relays information between brain regions
  • Keeps us awake and alert
23
Q

What did Franz Gall believe in and his student invent

A

He believed in Faculty Psychology: theory that different mental abilities were independent and carried out in different parts of the brain

student invented phrenology:
psychological strengths/weaknesses can be precisely correlated to the relative sizes of different brain areas

24
Q

What are 2 erroneous assumptions with phrenology

A
  1. Size of a portion of the brain corresponded to its relative power
  2. Different faculties were absolutely independent
25
Q

Where is and what is Wernicke’s area responsible for

A

left temporal lobe
damage causes fluent aphasia: speech is fluent in pitch and rhythm but makes no sense. patients also have difficulty understanding speech

26
Q

What is Broca’s area responsible for

A

Left frontal lobe
damage causes nonfluent aphasia: person is unable to produce many words or speak very fluently

27
Q

What does the Penfield cortical body map do

A

Maps the sensory and motor cortices of the brain
- organized sizewise based on amount of information received from that part of the body

28
Q

What is brain ablation and what did Karl Lashley find after doing it to rats and seeing them run in a maze

A

Removal of parts of the brain

Found that the impairment was related to the total amount of the cortex removed, rather than the region -> showed higher order processes are too connected to be located in one region

29
Q

What is the plasticity of the brain

A

Brain regions can adapt to take over the functions of damaged regions depending on the extensiveness and patient age

30
Q

What does it mean for the brain to be lateralized

A

Different hemispheres of the brain play different roles for some cognitive functions, especially language

31
Q

WRT lateralization, what roles/regions are each hemisphere “generally” found to take/are larger

A

Most (95%) of people have a specialization for language in the left hemisphere, and is larger in size (esp for language areas)

Usually right hemisphere has larger parietal and temporal areas
- speculated to have better integration of visual+auditory info and better spatial processing

32
Q

What connects the two hemispheres

A

corpus callosum

33
Q

What is a doule dissociation

A

Brain damage and behaviour for two cases are completely disassociated from each other, used in reasoning
etc. Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area

34
Q

What are two static brain imaging techniques

A

CAT
MRI

35
Q

What technique does CAT scans use, and what can it be used to determine in brain injuries?

A

Highly focused X-rays are passed through the body from different angles
Differing densities in the brain defect the X-rays differently

Can be used to determine area and age of the injury (presence blood for recent, spinal fluid for old)

36
Q

What technique does MRI scans use?

A

Magnetism:
under a strong magnetic field, different tissues in the brain produce different signals

37
Q

What are two brain activities that functional brain imaging depends on

A
  1. Electrical signals generated when neurons fire
  2. Metabolism/blood flow as a byproduct of 1
38
Q

What are 3 reasons MRI scans preferred over CAT scans

A
  1. Requires no exposure to radiation
  2. More detailed images for structures
  3. Can also measure the functional aspects of the brain
39
Q

What functional brain imaging technique depends on electrical signals

A

EEG (or ERP), MEG

40
Q

What functional brain imaging techniques depend on measuring blood flow

A

PET
fMRI

41
Q

What is EEG/ERP

A

When you attach a bunch of electrodes to areas of the scalp and measure the changes in electrical signals generated.

ERP: event related potential
- more specific segment of the continuous EEG recording

42
Q

How does Positron Emission Teomography (PET) work?

A

Inject radioactively labelled compound that can be detected, and then measuring the blood flow to different parts of the brain

  • depends on the fact that more active areas require more blood flow/uses more glucose
  • uses radiation
43
Q

How does fMRI scan work and what is it detecting?

A

Based on magnetism, and the fact that oxygenated and de-oxygenated blood have different magnetic properties
- heart is most magnetic?

detects the BOLD function

44
Q

What is the substraction technique and how is it applied

A

It is used to isolate brain regions contributing to a specific cognitive process

Task state - Control state

45
Q

What is the BOLD function and how is it used?

A

Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent Function

Total is about ~20 seconds
- first few seconds: receiving signal, so oxygenation dips as it is consumed
- afterwards: blood slowly inflows, and peaks at ~10-15 seconds
- after afterwards: dip back down to pre-signal state

detected by fMRI

Psych207 (12 decks)

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