Biological Terms

Question 1

fMRI

Answer 1

• takes many photos of each “slice” of a person’s brain
• depict hemoglobin concentrations: the more there is the brighter that area appears on scan
• this shows where activity in the brain is occuring
• can perform certain tasks during an fMRI scan to see what part of the brain is being used

Question 2

MRI

Answer 2

• take many photos of “slices” of the brain
• can see specific regions in detail
• often used to measure brain growth overtime (voxel-based morphology)
• does NOT measure activity, purely correlational

Question 3

Localization of Function (Hippocampus)

Answer 3

• specific parts of the brain are responsible for specific behaviors or cognitive processes
• hippocampus is responsible for transfer of STM to LTM
• if hippocampus is damaged, person typically will lose the ability to make new memories (anterograde amnesia)
• CONTRASTS idea of neuroplasticity

Question 4

Neuroplasticity

Answer 4

• the ability of the brain and reorganize synaptic connections, especially in response to learning new information or injury
• CONTRASTS localization of function
• measured through increase of grey matter in specific parts of brain where dendritic branching results in increased density

Question 5

Neural Network

Answer 5

• interconnected web of neurons, connection axon terminals with dendrites
• as someone uses neurons, more will be added (neurogenesis) and more connections between neurons will be made (dendritic branching) and certain connections will be made stronger through repeated use (long-term potentiation)

Question 6

Neural Pruning

Answer 6

• the brain gets rid of synapses that are not being used
• “use it or lose it” idea of memory and knowledge

Question 7

Neurotransmitter

Answer 7

• how neurons chemically talk to each other
• inhibitory NT makes a neuron more negative (harder to fire an action potential)
• excitatory NT make a neuron more positive (closer to threshold for action potential)
• NOTE: this is a bit of an oversimplification

Question 8

Agonist

Answer 8

• chemicals (artificial or natural) that are similar enough to a neurotransmitter that they have the same effect on a neuron

Question 9

Antagonist

Answer 9

• chemicals (artificial or natural) that will block the binding of a NT with its receptor and inhibit the effects

Question 10

Acetylcholine (ACh)

Answer 10

• neurotransmitter that helps new memories form and communicates movements to muscles

Question 11

Scopolamine

Answer 11

• antagonist drugs that interferes with acetylcholine (ACh) and negatively interferes with encoding of new memories

Question 12

Spatial Memory

Answer 12

• storage and retrieval of information needed to plan a route to location and remember where an object is located or where an event occurred
• finding one’s way around an environment and remembering where things are at within it

Question 13

Adrenaline (Epinephrine)

Answer 13

• hormone released during stressful situations that triggers flight-or-flight response
• believed to be involved in making emotional memories particularly salient and strong

Question 14

Propranolol

Answer 14

• beta blocker that interferes with adrenaline to prevent the activation of the amygdala, which prevents the formation of memory