Behavioral Sciences Flashcards
What are sensory neurons also referred to as?
Also known as afferent neurons, bring ingot from receptors to brain.
Motor neurons are efferent neurons and bring info from brain to body.
What is an interneuron?
Neurons which transmits impulses between other neurons especially as part of a reflex arc.
What nervous system components are involved in the initial reflexive response to pain?
Spinal cord, interneuron, and motor neurons. The reflexive withdrawal has already occurred by the time the signal reaches the brain so the cerebral cortex is not a part of it.
What is the cerebral cortex?
Sensory, motor and association.
Often referred to as gray matter
What is the hindbrain responsible for?
Balance and motor coordination
What is the midbrain used for?
Manages sensorimotor reflexes that also promote survival.
What is the forebrain responsible for?
Associated with emotion, memory and higher order cognition
What does the temporal lobe deal with?
Language comprehension, memory, emotion.
Contains Wernickes area which is responsible for language comprehension.
Temporal lobes also function in emotion and memory because contains the amygdala and hippocampus.
Does NOT deal with motor skills.
What part of the brain deals with homeostasis and emotions?
Hypothalamus.
What is the cerebellum responsible for?
Maintaining posture and balance
What is the pons responsible for?
Above medulla and contains sensory and motor tracts between the cortex and the medulla
What is the thalamus responsible for?
Acts as a relay station for sensory information to the cortex. Also responsible for sleep, consciousness and alertness
What is an ability of the non dominant hemisphere?
Sense of direction.
What are some abilities attributed to the dominant hemisphere?
Learning a new language
Reading a book for pleasure
Jumping rope with friends
What does the neural tube become?
The central nervous system (brain and spinal cord)
Neural crest cells migrate to other sites in the body to differentiate into different tissues
Neural tube differentiates from the ectoderm.
What are the catecholamines?
Epinephrine
Norepinephrine
Dopamine
What is acetylcholine?
Chief neurotransmitter of the parasympathetic nervous system the part of the autonomic nervous system (a branch of the peripheral nervous system) that contracts smooth muscles, dilates blood vessels, increases bodily secretions and slows heart rate.
Low levels results in paralysis or weakness of muscles
What do the adrenal glands do?
The adrenal glands promote fight or flight response through epinephrine and norepinephrine.
Produces both hormones and neurotransmitters
Adrenal cortex produces both estrogen and testosterone.
Produces stress response via cortisol
What is the pineal gland responsible for?
Producing melatonin
What neurotransmitter is associated with both schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease?
Dopamine.
Schizophrenia associated with high levels of dopamine that can cause hallucinations.
Parkinson’s is associated with destruction of the dopaminergic neurons in the basal ganglia
What is the babinski reflex?
A primitive reflex that refers to extension of the big toe accompanied by the fanning of the other toes. Normal in infants but should disappear by the time a child can walk.
What is a primitive reflex?
Reflexes exhibited by normal infants but not neurologically intact adults.
How do motor skills tend to develop?
From the core toward the periphery. Following objects with eyes comes before grabbing stuff with hands
What is the primary covalent bond between amino acids?
Peptide bonds