Biology And Behavior Flashcards
Neurotransmitter
Chemical substances that sends signals from one neuron to another
Agonist
Drugs that mimic the action of a neurotransmitter
Antagonist
Drug that blocks the action of a neurotransmitter
Acetylcholine
Neurotransmitter that helps in muscle movement
Found both in CNS and PNS
Alzheimer’s disease (hippocampus related)
Catecholamines
Neurotransmitters that play in important role in emotions
Franz Gall
Phrenology, part of brain increases bulge increases and leads to the development of the trait associated with that part
Pierre Florenz
Extirpation/ablation - Removed parts of rabbit and pigeon brains to find functions of different parts
William James
Founder of American psych
Mind adapts to environment
Paul Broca
Impairment is due to lesions in specific parts of the brain
Broca’s area - if damaged leads to speech impairment (in left hemisphere)
John Dewey
Functionalism - viewed organism as a whole
Hermann von Helmholtz
Studied nerve impulse speed
Sir Charles Sherrington
Synapse
Argues it’s an electrical process (it’s actually a chemical process )
Basic units of nervous system
Neurons
Afferent neurons
Sensory neurons - carry sensory info from receptors to brain/spinal cord( CNS)
Efferent neurons
Motor Neurons- Carry motor info from CNS to effector (muscles and glands)
Interneurons
Found between neurons
Located in Brain and spinal cord
Linked to reflex behaviour
Basic movement of a signal in body
Stimulus -> receptor-> sensory neuron-> CNS-> Interneuron -> CNS-> motor neurons -> effectors -> response
Cranial nerves
12 pairs
Spinal nerves
31 pairs
Thoracic 12
Cervical 8
Lumbar 5
Sacral 5
Coccygeal 1
CNS
Brain and spinal cord
PNS
Connects CNS to rest of the body
Nerve tissues , spinal nerves (31), cranial nerves (12)
- somatic NS
- autonomic NS
Somatic NS
Sensory and motor neurons (voluntary functions are regulated)
Autonomic NS
Involuntary actions regulated like body temp, respiration, heartbeat, digestion
Parts of ANS
Sympathetic and parasympathetic NS
Sympathetic NS
Fight or flight
During stress
Increases blood glucose, relaxes bronchi, dilates eye(for more light) heartbeat increases, digestion slowed down, secretions from adrenal glands increases
Parasympathetic NS
Rest and digest
-Conserves energy
-Resting and sleeping
-Lowers heartbeat, secretions from adrenal glands, breathing
Improves digestion (nerve 10)
-Constricts pupil (nerve 3 and 7)
-Stimulates saliva flow (nerve 7 and 9)
- bladder constriction, erection of genitals (pelvic splanchnic nerve)
Forebrain scientific name
Prosencephalon
Midbrain scientific name
Mesencephalon
Hindbrain scientific name
Rhombencephalon
Telencephalon develops into
Cerebral cortex, basal ganglia and limbos system
Diencephalon develops into
Hypothalamus, thalamus, pineal and posterior pituitary gland
Metenceohalon develops into
Pons and cerebellum
Myelencephalon develops into
Medulla oblongata
Brain is formed from
Neural tube
Initially and eventually how many swellings on the neural tube?
3-5
Brain is covered by
Meninges
How many layers of meninges
1- outermost - dura mater
2- middle - arachnoid
3 - innermost - Pia mater
How many layers of meninges
1- outermost - dura mater
2- middle - arachnoid
3 - innermost - Pia mater
Forebrain parts
Cerebrum, cerebral cortex, hypothalamus, thalamus, pituitary, pineal
Brain stem parts
Midbrain and hindbrain
Hindbrain
Pons, cerebellum and medulla oblongata
Cerebral cortex function
Complex cognitive and behaviour processes
Thalamus function
Sensory relay station
Basal ganglia
Smooth movement
Limbus system function
Emotion and memory
Hypothalamus function
Hunger, thirst and sexual arousal
Maintained homeostasis and hormone release
Inferior and superior colliculi
Sensory motor reflexes
Cerebellum function
Refined motor skills and balance
Medulla oblongata functions
Vital reflexes and heart
Pons function
Breathing
Reticular formation function
Arousal and alertness
Brain mapping methods
- Creating lesions in animal brains (invasive)
- Stimulating brain parts with electrodes to find the function of specific areas (cortical maps are formed) - done when the human subject is awake
- EEG - electroencephalogram - multiple electrodes on skull to study the existing neural signals
- rBGF- regional blood flow - blood flow is high in the areas of high cognitive activity
Scanning devices
- CT/CAT SCAN- computed (axial) tomography . Multiple x-rays to form a cross sectional image
- PET - position emission tomography - radioactive sugar injected and the movement is visualised
- MRI - magnetic resonance imaging - magnetic field interacts with hydrogen and hydrogen rich areas identified
- Functional MRI - same concept as regular MRI but in this blood flow is considered
Gyri
Bumps
Sulci
Ridges
Hemispheres in the brain?
Left and right hemispheres in the brain
Dominant hemisphere and why?
Left is the dominant hemisphere because it is heavily stimulated during language reception and production.
Right hemisphere (non dominant hemisphere why?)
Holistic image, emotional tone, creativity, music, spatial processing
Contralaterally control
Right side of the brain communicates with left and vice-versa
Ipsilaterally control
Right side of the brain communicates with right side of the body
Broca’s area and Wernickes area located in which hemisphere?
Left
Acetylcholine acts as
Both inhibitory and exhibitory neurotransmitter
Epinephrine and norepinephrine function
Fight and flight situations
Epinephrine has more effect on heart
Norepinephrine works more on blood vessels
Dopamine function
Stability and smooth movement
Imbalance can cause schizophrenia and Parkinson’s
serotonin function
Moods, eating, dreaming and sleeping (MEDS)
GABA and glycine
-Inhibitory
-Stabilised neural activity
-Hyperpolarizes post synaptic membrane by chloride influx
Glutamate function
-amino acid
- excitatory
Natural painkillers ?
Endorphins and enkephalin
Dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia
Argues that too much dopamine or over sensitivity to dopamine causes schizophrenia
Ductless glands form
Endocrine system
What kind of hormones are released directly into the bloodstream?
Endocrine hormones
Hormones?
Chemical messengers
What structure links nervous system and endocrine system?
Hypothalamus
What structure controls pituitary gland?
Hypothalamus
What structures connects hypothalamus to pituitary?
Hypophyseal portal system
Parts of pituitary?
Anterior and posterior
Master gland?
Pituitary
Anterior pituitary role
Release main hormones that go to different glands in the body and stimulate them to release their own hormones
Posterior pituitary gland
Secretes oxytocin and ADH produced by hypothalamus
Where is adrenal gland located?
On top of both the kidneys
Parts of adrenal glands?
Medulla and cortex
Function of adrenal medulla
Release epinephrine and norepinephrine
Function of adrenal cortex?
- produce corticosteroids (cortisol - stress hormone)
- produce small quantities of testosterone and estrogen
What are sex glands called?
Gonads
Sex hormones?
Testesterone- in males produced by leydig cells in testes
Estrogen - in females produced ny granulosa cells in ovaries
What’s libido?
Sex Drive
What increases libido?
Sex hormones
Innate behaviour
Behaviours in an organism that are already there and environment plays no role in
Learned behaviours
Behaviours learned from experience and environment
More _________, higher __________ through ____________
Adaptive value, adaptation, natural selection
Nature
Influence of Inherited/genetic behaviours
Nurture
Influence of environment on behaviours
Degree of genetic influence on behaviour are done by these methods
- family studies
- twin studies
- adoption studies
Degree of genetic influence on behaviour are done by these methods
- family studies
- twin studies
- adoption studies
What kind of study relies on the fact that genetically related individuals are more similar genotypically than unrelated individuals?
Family studies
What kind of study shows a good evidence for the role of genes in personality?
Twin studies
Twin studies study what kind of twins
Monozygotic and dizygotic
What is the term used to refer to the likelihood that both twins exhibit the same kind of behaviour?
Concordance rates
What does adoption studies show?
Both genetic and environmental influences
- shows that kids adopted in a family exhibits similar IQ levels to the adopted parents rather than biological parents
Specific periods where children are comparatively more susceptible to environmental factors. It is importantly for developmental
Critical periods
Furrowing of ectoderm is called
Neurulation
Neural groves are surrounded by
Neural folds
Neural crest cells?
Found under neural grove
- migrate to other parts of body to form neural structures in different parts of the body like melanocytes, dorsal root ganglia and calcitonin cells
Structure that forms sensory neurons
Alar plate
Structure that forms motor neurons
Basal Plate
Reflex
A behavior that is in response to a stimulus without cognitive input
Like an automatic response
Usually in adults
What kind of reflex is found in infants
Primitive reflexes
Kind of reflex when the infant turns its head towards the stimulus
Rooting
Reflex when toes open when sole of the foot is stimulated
Babanski
Moro reflex
Infants throws arms wide and then withdraws them + cries
Grasping reflex
Fingers tighten around the object in hand
Fine motor skills
Skills that involve smaller muscle movements like using toes and fingers
Gross motor skills
Skills that involve bigger muscle movements like sitting, swallowing etc
