Biological basis of behavior Flashcards
What 2 parts comprise the cns?
Brain and spinal cord
How many units are in the spine?
12
What are the 4 sections?
Cervical, Thorassic, Lumbar, Sacracl
What do the ventral vs dorsal parts of spinal cord do?
Ventral is movement, dorsal is sensory
What is the fibrous material connected to the dura mater that extends down into the brain called?
Falx Cerebri
How does the dura mater differ from the peanut layer?
The arachnoid matter is thinner than the dura mater
What separates the dura mater from the arachnoid mater?
The subarachnoid space, filled with blood vessels to fuel the brain
What is the protective layer that hugs the contours of the brain?
The pia mater
What is the name of the layer of arteries, veins and connective tissue below the pia mater?
Trabeculae
What are the ventricles filled with?
Cerebral spinal fluid
How many ventricles are there? How are they arranged?
- Two primary lateral ventricles, one middle one, and one dorsal one
Where is csf formed?
In the choroid plexus, the outer lining of the ventral ventricles
What does csf do?
Maintains buoyancy in the cranial vault, protects from infection and regulates cerebral blood flow.
How do fissures and gyri differ?
Fissures are the deep clefts in brain, gyri are the smooth hills
What is another name for the cortex?
Telencephalon
Name 4 major lobes of brain?
Frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital
Which sulcus is the frontal lobe anterior to?
Central sulcus
Sulcus vs fissure?
A sulcus circumscribes a gyrus, while a fissure delineates a lobe
Which part of frontal lobe is directly anterior to the central sulcus?
Primary motor cortex
What does the Primary motor cortex do?
Initiate muscle movement. Surface of motor cortex maps the body’s muscles.
What is anterior to the motor cortex?
The premotor cortex.
What does the premotor cortex do?
The organization and coordination of movement in conjunction with other inputs, including the primary motor cortex
How do specific neurons in the premotor cortex help with understanding others?
Mirror neurons sponsor firing of correlate neurons matching observed movement of others
Which sections are anterior to the premotor cortex? What does it do?
Prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortices. Responsible for inhibition
Where is the broca area, and what does it do?
For right handed people, left hemisphere, left inferior region of frontal lobe, immediately anterior to parietal cortex. Responsible for language production.
Which sulcus is the temporal lobe inferior to?
The lateral gyrus
What are the 3 sections of the temporal lobe?
Superior, inferior, and middle temporal gyri.
What does superior temporal do?
Auditory functioning
What is Heschel’s convolutions?
The folded region of the superior temporal gyrus that is tonotopic for sound experiencing
What does tonotopic mean?
Like motor cortex, part of brain matches a single specific pitch
How does the cochlea interact with Heschel’s convolutions?
They are matched tonotopically, with the also tonotopic cochlea
What is the nerve pathway to the superior temporal gyrus?
Vestibulocochealr nerves fire through the medial geniculate cortex from the thalamus and only partially decussate, which is also how sound directionality works
Why is partial decussation in the mgn important for language perception?
If stimuli did not cross over, the stimuli would not reach the primary language cortices located in the dominant hemisphere.
What is immediately posterior to the primary auditory cortex?
Wernicke’s area in dominant hemisphere, weird Jayne’s region otherwise?
What are the two major lobes of the parietal cortex?
Superior and inferior
What is the heteromodal cortex?
The parietal confluence where a variety of sensory stimuli are synthesized into a fuller picture of experience.
How do parietal lobes assist the occipital lobe and motor cortices?
Help with interpreting visual information and supply supplementary physical data about the local environment to inform motor movements
What happens in the postcentral gyrus? What is it called?
Somatotopic somatosensory processing, somatic sensory cortex. The homunculus is here
What does a lesion in the postcentral gyrus cause?
Hemisensory loss
What does a lesion in the posterior parietal region cause?
Hemispatial neglect
Which sulcus defines the limits of the occipital lobe?
The Parieto-Occipital lobe
What is posterior to the calcarine sulcus?
The primary visual cortex in the occipital lobe
What does a legion in the pvc cause?
Cortical blindness, or blindness caused by brain damage as opposed to nerve damage or integration difficulties (I.e. thalamic damage)
