Brain and Behavior Part 1 Lecture

Question 1

What is the name of an individual nerve cell?

Answer 1

Neuron

Question 2

What are the four parts of a neuron and what are their functions?

Answer 2

1. The dendrites: receive electrical signals from other neurons
2. The cell body: contains the nucleus and provides for the life processes of the cell
3. The axon: carries the electrical signal from the soma to the terminal buttons
4. The terminal buttons: release neurotransmitters that cause electrical changes to the next neuron in the chain

Question 3

What is an action potential?

Answer 3

a spike of electricity that travels down its axon

Question 4

What is the space between the terminal buttons of one neuron and the dendrites of another neuron called?

Answer 4

Synapse

Question 5

What is a neurotransmitter?

Answer 5

binds to receptors in the dendrites of the nest neuron in the chain thereby electrically exciting or inhibiting the next cell

Question 6

Which part of the brain (hindbrain, midbrain, or forebrain) contains the medulla oblongata and the pons?

Answer 6

Hindbrain

Question 7

What does the medulla oblongata do?

Answer 7

controls breathing, heart rate, and vomiting

Question 8

What does the pons do?

Answer 8

regulates sleep and arousal

Question 9

What part of the brain (hindbrain, midbrain, or forebrain) contains the superior colliculus, the inferior colliculus, and the substantia nigra?

Answer 9

midbrain

Question 10

What do the superior colliculus and the inferior colliculus do?

Answer 10

Superior controls visual reflexes and inferior controls auditory reflexes

Question 11

What disease involves the death of neurons in the substantia nigra?

Answer 11

Parkinson’s disease

Question 12

What part of the brain (hindbrain, midbrain, or forebrain) contains the cortex, hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, and basal ganglia?

Answer 12

Forebrain

Question 13

What does the hypothalamus regulate?

Answer 13

the “Four Fs”: feeding, fighting, fleeing, and mating

Question 14

What does the amygdala do?

Answer 14

controls emotional responses, particularly fear

Question 15

What does the hippocampus do?

Answer 15

encodes long term memories

Question 16

What part of the brain was missing in HM that led to his problems transferring information from short term to long term memory?

Answer 16

Hippocampus

Question 17

What do the basal ganglia do?

Answer 17

the reward system of the brain

Question 18

According to Burnham and Phelan’s theory of how the basal ganglia work, what happens when people have a gain in their material success?

Answer 18

the basal ganglia have been wired up to reward us briefly for gains in material success, but then for happiness to fade so we will continue to strive to make more money

Question 19

According to Burnham and Phelan’s theory of how the basal ganglia work, what happens when people experience negative events?

Answer 19

the basal ganglia will punish us, but the emotional pain fades quickly with time so we won’t be debilitated by grief