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MCAT > Biology and Behavior Ch1 > Flashcards

Biology and Behavior Ch1 Flashcards

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MCAT flashcards
1
Q

Franz Gall

A
  • Developed doctrine of phrenology: if a particular trait was well developed, then the part of the brain responsible for that trait would expand. The expansion would push skull out creating a bulge
  • Believed one could measure psychological attributes by feeling or measuring the skull
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2
Q

Pierre Flourens

A
  • First person to study the functions of the major sections of the brain
  • Used Extirpation on rabbits and pigeons, surgically removing parts of the brain and observing the behavioral effect
  • Work led to understanding that specific regions had specific functions and that removal of one part weakens the whole brain
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3
Q

William James

A
  • Studied how the mind adapts to the environment
  • Formed the foundation of functionalism, which studies how mental processes help individuals adapt to their environments
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4
Q

John Dewey

A
  • Focused on studying the organism as a whole as it functioned to adapt to the environment
  • Criticized the concept of the reflex arc, which breaks down reacting to stimulus into discrete parts
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5
Q

Paul Broca

A
  • Examined the behaviour deficits of people with brain damage
  • Specific functional impairments could be linked with specific brain lesions
  • Discovered Broca’s area which is responsible for speech production
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6
Q

Hermann von Helmoholtz

A
  • First to measure the speed of a nerve impulse
  • Related the measured speed of such impulses to reaction time
  • Credited with the transition of psychology out of the realm of philosophy and into science
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7
Q

Sir Charles Sherrington

A
  • First inferred the existence of synapses
  • However, he thought there with electrical processes
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8
Q

How many nerves are involved in the peripheral nervous system

A

31 spinal nerves and 12 cranial nerves

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9
Q

Somatic nervous system

A

consists of sensory and motor neurons distributed throughout the skin joints and muscles

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10
Q

Autonomic Nervous system

A
  • Regulates heartbeat, respiration, digestion, body temperature and glandular secretions
  • independent of conscious control
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11
Q

Parasympathetic Nervous system

A
  • Main role is to conserve energy
    Functions include;
  • Constricts pupils
  • stimulates flow of saliva
  • constricts bronchi
  • slows heart beat
  • inhibits release of glucose
  • stimulates bile release
  • inhibits adrenaline production
  • stimulates peristalsis and secretion
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12
Q

Sympathetic Nervous system

A

Mainly activated by stressors
Functions;
- increased heart rate
- redistributes blood to muscles of locomotion
- increases blood glucose concentration
- relaxes the bronchi
- decreases digestion and peristalsis
- dilates the eyes to maximize light intake
- releases epinephrine into bloodstream
- inhibits salivation
- inhibits bladder contraction

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13
Q

Meninges

A

FUNCTION: protect brain by keeping it anchored in the skull and reabsorbes CSF
Outer layer: Dura mater - connected directly to skull
Middle layer: Arachnoid mater - Fibrous, weblike structure
Inner layer: Pia mater - connected directly to the brain

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14
Q

Cerebrospinal fluid

A

Aqueous solution that nourishes the brain and spinal cord and provides a protective cushion

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15
Q

Hindbrain

A
  • Controls balance, motor coordination, breathing, digestion, and general arousal processes
    MEDUL;A OBLONGATA
  • breathing, heart rate, digestion
    PONS
  • sensory and motor pathways between the cortex and the medulla
    CEREBELLUM
  • helps maintain posture and balance, and coordinates body movements
    RETICULAR FORMATION
  • Arousal and alertness
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16
Q

Development of the Hindbrain

A

Begins as rhombencephalon and divides to form the myelencephalon (medulla oblongata) and the metencephalon (pons and cerebellum)

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17
Q

Midbrain

A
  • Receives senesory and motor information for the rest of the body
  • Prominent nuclei: Colliculi
    Inferior colliculus - auditory
    Superior colliculus - visual
  • Associated with involuntary reflexes triggered by visual and auditory stimulus
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18
Q

Forebrain

A
  • Complex perceptual, cognitive and behavioral processes, emotion, memory, and human behaviour
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19
Q

Development of the forebrain

A

Prosencephalon divides to form telencephalon (cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, limbic system) and diencephalon (thalamus, hypothalamus, pituitary gland and pineal gland)

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20
Q

Brain lesions

A

Look for patients that exhibit damage tot hat structure coupled with loss of the function
- DRAWBACK: lesions are rarely isolated to specific brain structures, making it hard to pinpoint specific links

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21
Q

Brain lesions in animal

A

Create precisely defined brain lesions by extirpation to connect to loss of function
- DRAWBACK: posses ethical concerns

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22
Q

Electrical stimulation of the brain to study function

A
  • Stimulate and record subsequent activity
  • uses small electrode
  • Looks to activate the behavioral or perceptual processes associate with those neurons to form cortical maps
  • Preformed with help of patient while they are awake
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23
Q

EEG

A

Electroencephalogram
- measures electrical activity generates by larger groups of neurons
- involves placing several electrodes on scalp

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24
Q

Ultrasensitive Microelectrodes

A

Used to record individual neurons through electrical activity
- inserted into individual cell

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25
Q

Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF)

A
  • Detects broad patterns of neural activity based on increased blood flow to different parts of the brain
  • Patient inhales a harmless radioactive gas and a special device that can detect radioactivity in the bloodstream can then correlate radioactivity levels with regional cerebral blood flow
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26
Q

Thalamus

A
  • Important relay station for incoming sensory information - except smell
  • transmits them to appropriate areas of the cerebral cortex
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27
Q

Hypothalamus

A

FOUR Fs
- Serves homeostatic function, emotional experiences during high arousal states, aggressive behavior, and sexual behaviour
- Metabolism, temperature, water balance
- Helps control endocrine function and ANS
- Subdivided into lateral, ventromedial and anterior

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28
Q

Lateral Hypothalamus

A

Huger center
- special receptors thought to detect when the body needs more food or fluids

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29
Q

Ventromedial hypothalamus

A

Satiety center
- provides signals to stop eating

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30
Q

Anterior hypothalamus

A

Sexual behaviour, sleep and body temperature

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31
Q

Posterior pituitary

A

Axonal projections from the hypothalamus and the site of release for the hypothalamic hormones (ADH and oxytocin)P

32
Q

Pineal gland

A

Biological rhythms

33
Q

Basal ganglia

A

Coordinate muscle movement as they receive information form the cortex and relay it to the brain and spinal cord

34
Q

Extrapyramidal system

A

Gathers information about body position and carries this information to the central nervous system, but does not function directly through motor neurons

35
Q

Limbic System

A

Emotion and memory
- includes the septal nuclei, amygdala, hippocampus and anterior cingulate cortex

36
Q

Septal Nuceli

A

Primary pleasure center in the brain

37
Q

Amygdala

A

Defensive and aggressive behaviours

38
Q

Hippocampus

A

Learning and memory processing
- helps consolidate information to form long-term memory and can redistribute remote memories to the cerebral cortex
- communicates with other portions of the limbic system through fornix (long projection)

39
Q

Anterograde amnesia

A

not being able to establish new long-term memories, whereas memories that occurred before brain injury in usually intact

40
Q

Retrograde amnesia

A

Memory loss of events that transpired before the brain injury

41
Q

Anterior cingulate cortex

A

Functions in higher order cognitive processes, including regulation of impulse control and decision-making
- also emotion and motivation

42
Q

Frontal Lobe

A

PREFRONTAL CORTEX
- manages executive function by supervising and directing the operations of other bein regions
- regulates attention and alertness by communicating with the reticular formation
- supervises processes associated with perception, memory, emotion, impulse control and long-term planning
PRIMARY MOTOR CORTEX
- Initiate voluntary movements by sending neural impulses down the spinal cord

43
Q

association area

A

area that integrates input from diverse regions of the brain

44
Q

Projection areas

A

perform more rudimentary perceptual and motor tasks

45
Q

Parietal Lobe

A

SOMATOSENSORY CORTEX
- involved in sensory input processing from touch, pressure, temperature and pain
CENTRAL REGION
- associated with spatial processing and manipulation
- allows for orientation of oneself and objects in 3D, spatial manipulation of objects and to apply spatial orientation skills

46
Q

Temporal lobe

A

Primary site of sound processing, including speech, music, and other sound information
- Contains wernicke’s area which is associated with language recognition and comprehension
- Also has functions in memory processing, emotion and language

47
Q

Dominant hemisphere

A

primarily analytic in function, making it well suited for managing details

48
Q

Nondominant hemisphere

A

Associated with intuition, creativity, music cognition and spatial processing
- more sensitive to emotional tone of spoken language, and permits us to recognize others mood based on visual and auditory cues

49
Q

Agonist Drug

A

mimics the action of some neurotransmitter

50
Q

Antagonist drug

A

acts to block the action of the neruotransmitter

51
Q

Acetylcholine

A
  • Found in both the central and peripheral nervous system
  • Primarily PNS in peripheral NS
  • been linked to attention and arousal
52
Q

Epinephrine and norepinephrine

A

Both monoamines and catecholamines
- involved in controlling alertness and wakefulness
- primary neurotransmitter of the SNS
- norepinephrine acts locally as NT and epinephrine acts systemically as a hormone released from the adrenal medulla

53
Q

Dopamine

A

Important role in movement and posture

54
Q

Dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia

A

Argues that delusions, hallucinations, and agitation associated with schizophrenia arise from either too much dopamine or form an oversensitivity to dopamine in the brain
DOWNSIDE: does not account for all the findings of the disease

55
Q

Serotonin

A
  • A monoamine
  • regulating mood, eating, sleeping, and dreaming
  • plays a role in depression and mania
56
Q

GABA

A

produces inhibitory postsynaptic potentials and is thought to play an important role in stabilizing neural activity in the brain

57
Q

Glycine

A

Inhibitory neurotransmitter in the CNS by increasing chloride influx into the neuron

58
Q

Glutamate

A

acts as excitatory neurotransmitter in the CNS

59
Q

Neuromodulators

A
  • involves more complicated chain of events in the postsynaptic cell than that of regular neurotransmitters
  • relatively slow and have longer effects on the postsynaptic cell
60
Q

Endorphine

A
  • Neuropeptides
  • Natural pain killers
  • act similar to morphine or other opioids
61
Q

Pituitary Gland

A

Releases hormones that regulate activities of endocrine glands elsewhere in the body

62
Q

Adrenal Glands

A

ADRENAL MEDULLA
- Release epinephrine and norepinephrine as part of the sympathetic nervous system
ADRENAL CORTEX
- produces many hormones called corticosteroids (including cortisol)
- Testosterone and estrogen release

63
Q

Adaptive Value

A

the extent to which a trait or behaviour positively benefits a species by influencing the evolutionary fitness of the species

64
Q

Concordance rates

A

the likelihood that both twins exhibit the same trait

65
Q

Neurulation

A

Occurs at 3-4 weeks
- Ectoderm overlying the notochord begins to furrow, forming a neural groove surrounded by two neural folds
- Cells at the leading edge of the neural fold are called the neural crest will migrate throughout the body to form disparate tissues, including dorsal root ganglia, melanocytes and calcitonin producing cells of the thyroid
- Furrow closes to form neural tube, which has an alar plate for sensory neurons and basal plate for motor neurons

66
Q

Maternal malnutrition

A

leading cause of abnormal development
- PROTEIN deficiency: slow growth leading to intellectual disability and reduced immune function
- NARCOTIC: infant chemically dependent
- CIGARETTE: slowed growth, increased fetal heart rate, greater chance for premature birth
- ALCOHOL: leads to slowed growth both physically and psychologically

67
Q

Moro reflex

A

react to abrupt movements of their heads by flinging out their arms and then slowly retracting their arms and crying

68
Q

Babinski reflex

A

Causes the toes to spread apart when the sole of the foot is stimulated

69
Q

Grasping Reflex

A

when infants close their fingers around object placed in palm

70
Q

Stranger anxiety

A
  • A fear and apprehension of unfamiliar individuals
  • develops at 7 months
71
Q

Separation anxiety

A
  • A fear of being separated from a parental figure
  • Develops at one year
72
Q

Parallel play

A

Children will play alongside each other without influencing each other’s behaviour
- develops at 2 years

73
Q

When does awareness of gender, gender-stereotype play and knowing their full name develop

A

3

74
Q

When does conformity to peers and romantic feelings for others develop

A

5

75
Q

Order of gross motor skill development

A

head to toe and core to extremity

76
Q

social skill devleopment

A

Go form being parent-oriented to self-oriented to other-oriented

MCAT (13 decks)

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