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MCAT REVIEW 2021 > BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES > Flashcards

BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES Flashcards

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MCAT flashcards
1
Q

Sensory Neurons

A

Afferent neurons(ascend in the cord towards the brain). Transmit sensory info from receptors to spinal cord.

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2
Q

Motor Neurons

A

Efferent Neurons (exit from the cord on their way to the rest of the body). Trasmit info from brain and spinal cord to muscles and gland

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3
Q

Interneurons

A

Found in between neurons. Most numerous of the 3. Located on brain and spinal cord often linked to reflexive behavior.

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4
Q

Central Nervous system

A

Composed of brain and spinal cord

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5
Q

Peripheral Nervous system

A

made of nerve tissue, fibers outside of brain and spinal cord, includes 31 pairs of spinal nerves, 12 cranial nerves. PNS connects CNS to rest of body. PNS is divided into somatic and Autonomic

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6
Q

Somatic Nervous system

A

Voluntary. consist of sensory and motor neurons distributed throughout the skin, joints and muscles. Sensory neurons transmit info through afferent fibers. Motor impulses travel along efferent fibers.

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7
Q

Autonomic nervous system

A

Involuntary. Regulate heart beat, respiration, digestion, and glandular secretions, body temp. Divided into sympathetic and parasympathetic

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8
Q

Parasympathetic Nervous system

A

REST and DIGEST
Main role is to conserve energy. Reduces HR, stimulates saliva flow, constricts pupils and bronchi, stimulates peristalsis and secretion, stimulates bile release, contracts bladder.
Acetylcholine neurotransmitter responsible for parasympathetic response.

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9
Q

Sympathetic Nervous system

A

FIGHT or FLIGHT
Activated by stress. Dilates pupils, inhibits salivation, relaxes bronchi Increase HR, stimulates sweating, inhibits peristalsis and secretion, stimulates glucose production and release, secretion of adrenaline and noradrenaline, inhibits bladder contraction, stimulates orgasm.

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10
Q

Cerebral cortex

A

Forebrain.
Complex perceptual, cognitive and behavioral processes. Consists of Frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, and temporal lobe.

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11
Q

Basal ganglia

A

Forebrain. Movement. Parkinson’s disease is associated with destruction of portions of basal ganglia.

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12
Q

Limbic system

A

Forebrain. Emotion and memory.

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13
Q

Thalamus

A

Forebrain. Sensory relay station. All senses except for smell.

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14
Q

Hypothalamus

A

Forebrain. Homeostatic functions. Feeding, Fighting, Flighting and (sexual) Functioning.

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15
Q

Inferior and superior colliculi

A

Midbrain.

Sensorimotor reflexes

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16
Q

Cerebellum

A

Hindbrain. Refined motor movements

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17
Q

Medulla oblongata

A

Hindbrain. Vital functions (breathing, digestion)

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18
Q

Reticular formation

A

Hindbrain. Arousal and alertness

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19
Q

Electroencephalogram

A

EEG

Involves several electrodes placed on scalp. Electrical activity can be detected and recorded.

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20
Q

Regional cerebral blood flow

A

mapping technique detects patterns of neural activity based on increase blood flow to different parts of brain.

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21
Q

CT (computed tomography)

A

multiple Xrays taken at different angles provide cross sectional images of tissue

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22
Q

PET (positron emission tomography)

A

Radioactive sugar injection and absorbed into the body and dispersions through the targeted tissue it taken

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23
Q

MRI(magnetic resonance imagine)

A

Uses magnetic field to interact with hydrogen and map out hydrogen dense regions of body.

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24
Q

fMRI( functional magnetic resonance imaging)

A

Same as MRI but it specifically measure changes associated with blood flow. Useful for monitoring neural activity.

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25
Q

Posterior Pituitary Gland

A

Made of axon projections from hypothalamus . Site of release for ADH and oxytocin.

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26
Q

Pineal gland

A

Secretes Melatonin that regulates circadian rhythms. Player in several biological rhythms.

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27
Q

Amygdala

A

Role in defensive and aggressive behaviors.

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28
Q

Hippocampus

A

Role with learning and memory processes. Helps consolidate info to form long term memories.

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29
Q

Anterograde Amnesia

A

not being able to establish new long term memory but memories before injury are intact

30
Q

Retrograde Amnesia

A

Memory loss of events that happened before injury

31
Q

Frontal lobe

A

Executive Function. Supervises processes associated with perception, memory, emotion, impulse control and long term planning. Primary motor cortex. Broca’s area(speech).

32
Q

Parietal Lobe

A

Primary somatosensory cortex. Involved in somatosensory information processing. Touch, temperature and pain.

33
Q

Occipital Lobe

A

Contains visual cortex. Vision.

34
Q

Temporal Lobe

A

Auditory. Hearing. Wernicke’s area.

35
Q

Dominant Hemisphere

A

Usually the left. Analytic function, Language, logic and math skills.

36
Q

Non-dominant Hemisphere

A

Usually on the right. Associated with intuition, creativity, music cognition, and spatial processing.

37
Q

Neurotransmitters

A

Release by neurons to carry signals to another neuron or effector

38
Q

Acetylcholine

A

Voluntary muscle control, parasympathetic nervous system, attention and alterness

39
Q

Dopamine

A

Neurotransmitter. Maintains smooth movements and steady posture

40
Q

Endorphins

A

Natural pain killers

41
Q

Epinephrine and norepinephrine

A

maintain wakefulness and alertness , mediate fight or flight responses. EPI tends to act as hormone and nor EPI tends to act as neurotransmitter. Released by Adrenal medulla.

42
Q

Gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA)

A

GABA and Glycine act as brain stabilizers

43
Q

Serotonin

A

Modulates mood, sleep patterns, eating patterns and dreaming

44
Q

Cortisol

A

stress hormone released by adrenal cortex

45
Q

Testosterone

A

Mediated by libido. Testosterone increases aggressive behavior. Released by adrenal cortex. Testosterone produced in the Testes

46
Q

Estrogen

A

Mediated by libido. Released by adrenal cortex. Estrogen produced by ovaries.

47
Q

Nature versus Nurture

A

Debate regarding the contribution of genetics (nature )and environment (nurture) . Family studies, Twin studies and adoptions studies.

48
Q

Primitive reflexes

A

Exist in infants and should disappear with age. Protective role

49
Q

Rooting Reflex

A

infant turns head towards anything that brushes cheek

50
Q

Moro Reflex

A

Infant extends the arms then slowly retracts them and cries in response to falling

51
Q

Babinski Reflex

A

Big toe extended and the other toes fan in response to the brushing of the sole of foot

52
Q

Grasping Reflex

A

Infant grabs anything put into his or her hand

53
Q

Sensation

A

refers to our ability to detect or sense the physical qualities of our environment.

54
Q

Perception

A

processing sensory info to make sense of it

55
Q

Sensory receptors

A

nerves that respond to stimuli and trigger signals

56
Q

Threshold

A

min. Stimulus that causes change in signal.
1. Absolute threshold- min stim needed to activate sensory system
2. Threshold of conscious perception- min stim that will create long enough signal to elicit response from brain
3. Difference threshold(JND) - min diff in magnitude between 2 stimuli
4. Webbers law - JND for stim is proportional to magnitude of the stimulus.

57
Q

Signal detection theory

A

Measures an individual’s ability to detect certain stimuli.

58
Q

Response Bias

A

signal detection experiment, a stim may or may not be given subject is asked whether or not it was given. Outcome: Hit, miss, false alarm or correct negative.

59
Q

Adaption

A

Decrease in response to stimulus over time

60
Q

Cornea

A

part of eye that gathers and filters incoming light

61
Q

Iris

A

part of eye that divides the from of eye into anterior and posterior chambers. Controls size of pupil

62
Q

lens

A

part of eye that refracts incoming light into focus on the retina

63
Q

Rods

A

detect light and dark

64
Q

cones

A

detect colors. Retina contains mostly cones in macula central visual field. The center of macula is the fovea which has only cones.

65
Q

pupil

A

allows passage of light from anterior to posterior chamber

66
Q

Retina

A

detects image

67
Q

Visual pathway

A

from eye through optic nerves -> optic chasm -> optic tracts -> lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of thalamus-> visual radiation -> Visual cortex

68
Q

parallel processing

A

ability to process simultaneously analyze and combine information regarding color, shape and motion

69
Q

Auditory pathway

A

Cochlea-> Vestibulocochlear nerve -> Medial geniculate nucleus (MGN) of the thalamus to get auditory cortex in the temporal lobe.

70
Q

Bottom up processing

A

recognition of objects by parallel processing and feature detection. Slower but less prone to mistakes.

71
Q

Top down processing

A

recognition of an object by memories and expectations with little attention to detail. Faster but prone to more mistakes

72
Q

Gestalt Principles

A

Ways brain can infer missing parts of a picture when incomplete

  1. Law of proximity- objects close to one another are perceived as unit
  2. law of similar - objects that are similar are grouped together
  3. law of good continuation- elements that appear to follow the same pathway ten to be group together
  4. law of closure - when spear is enclosed by group of lines, it is perceived as a complete of closed line.

MCAT REVIEW 2021 (6 decks)

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