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PSYC 304 > Brain Basics > Flashcards

Brain Basics Flashcards

1
Q

who was Phineas Gage?

A
  • iron fired like a missile into and out of his head
  • went from being efficient, capable, energetic, and persistent to… sporadic, disrespectful, inappropriate, indulgent, impatient and impulsive
  • had a radical change in personality, but changes may have been temporary
    developed severe epilepsy which was ultimately his cause of death
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2
Q

what are the two schools of thought regarding the brain?

A
  1. doctors - the head is the seed of your intelligence and personality
  2. philosophers - the heart is the source of your personality/spirit
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3
Q

what was the egyptian perspective on intellect and the brain?

A
  • didn’t give much credit to the brain, thought the heart was the seed of intellect
  • preserved all organs, especially the heart, but disposed of the brain
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4
Q

what were the different greek perspectives on intellect and the brain?

A
  • hippocrates - notable doctor, saw that patients with head injury had problems with emotion, memory, cognition (head is the seed)
  • aristotle - philosopher, thought that the brain cooled or heated the blood which results in our emotions (heart is the seed)
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5
Q

what was the roman perspective on the brain and intellect? who did it come from?

A
  • Galen
  • saw that humans and other animals have the same basic anatomical layout, started dissecting animals, sometimes alive
  • cerebrum and cerebellum - galen noticed a big brain (cerebrum) and little brain (cerebellum), assumed cerebellum was used to control muscle because its hard and that cerebrum was for memory because it’s soft
  • ventricles and nerves - noticed holes with fluid (ventricles) and tubes (nerves), thought that our thoughts were in the fluid and controlled our body by moving through nerves
  • humours (fluids) - noticed the brain was full of fluid and thought that our thoughts are in them
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6
Q

what did Vesalius discover and when?

A
  • 18th century
  • vesalius was known for dissecting the human brain and mapping the anatomy
  • noticed darker and lighter parts of the brain, ventricles, gyri and sulci are consistent in different people
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7
Q

what did Descartes discover and when?

A
  • 18th century
  • descartes was fascinated by hydraulics - how pushing a fluid through a tube activates areas (a → b → c)
  • thought that fluid moving in the body controlled our reflexes
  • we are a series of biological mechanisms
  • descartes thought all organisms were clockwork mechanisms except humans because we have a soul
  • only have one pineal gland, so he thought that was where our soul is
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8
Q

what is materialism in science?

A
  • have to assume that everything in the universe is physical, either matter or energy
  • it can all be physically observed and correspond to physical laws (cause and effect)
  • thoughts are physical, memories are physical, emotions are physical
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9
Q

in the 19th century, what was the connection between wires/electricity and the brain?

A
  • wires/electricity - galvani and du bois-reymond thought that the brain worked through electricity
    • if you put the brain in water, there is an electric charge
    • they took half of a frog and connected to wires and ran a current through it and the leg muscles moved
    • showed us that the brain is connected to the body through wires and sends message down and up to control
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10
Q

how did bell and magendie think neurons and wires differ?

A
  • bell and magendie found that our nerves and neurons are not wires but are similar
    • damaged the spinal cord on the dorsal or ventral sides
    • when damaging the dorsal side, they lose sensory inputs
    • when damaging the ventral side, they lose motor output
    • we carry electricity but the “wires” only move one direction
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11
Q

who discovered the localization of brain function and when?

A

fluorens, gall, and broca discovered the localization of function in the brain in the 19th century
- fluorens - deliberately damaged cerebellum to see motor coordination problems, proved localization of function
- broca - patient could only say “tan” but seemed to comprehend conversation well, after he died they saw that one part of the left frontal lobe was damaged, showed us where is responsible for speech (broca’s area)
- gall - noticed that peoples’ heads and skulls were different sizes, looked at bumps of skulls to determine the shape of the brain which he thought tells us about a person’s personality

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12
Q

what were the two main biological insights from the 19th century?

A
  1. evolution - darwin recognized the mechanisms of evolution
    • slight differences show us slight advantages and disadvantages which make us more or less likely to survive
      • tells us all aspects of psychology are evolutionarily useful (like emotions)
    • tells us we all have common ancestors so we can investigate animal models to represent the human brain
  2. cellular theory - schwann found that the base unit of life is a single cell
    • neurons in the brain tell us the story, not the whole nerve
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13
Q

who was Golgi and what did he do/believe? when was he prevalent?

A
  • late 19th and early 20th century
  • golgi mixed silver nitrate and created the golgi stain, showing us a neuron for the first time
  • reticular theory (golgi) - neurons are interconnected and continuous like tubes and the net as a whole is the base unit of the brain
    • claimed electricity could move back and forth
    • went against schwann by saying that the brain is special and the reticulum is the base unit
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14
Q

who was Ramon y Cajal and what did he do/believe? when was he prevalent?

A
  • late 19th and early 20th century
  • Ramon y Cajal used the golgi stain and reproduced what he saw in the microscope as drawings
    • noticed a variety of types of cells, the ones in the cerebellum and cerebrum look different
  • neuron doctrine (ramon y cajal) - base unit of the nervous system is the single neuron, some of the branches the neurons are input layers and others are output layers
    • said they were discontinuous and had a gap (synapse)
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15
Q

who was right, Golgi or Ramon y Cajal?

A
  • ramon y cajal and golgi shared the nobel prize but they did not like each other
  • ramon y cajal was proven right with the discovery of the electron microscope
  • golgi wasn’t entirely wrong, sometimes the cells in the nervous system work like a reticulum
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16
Q

what discoveries/technological advancements were made in the 20th century?

A
  • modern neuroscience was born
  • structural MRI - showed us the brain without damaging it
  • brain bow mouse - took a gene of a jelly fish and made variations in different colours, gave them to different cells and each of them express different amounts
    • allows us to see neurons densely packed together
  • two photon microscopy - animal exposed to light for the first time, dendrite in the visual cortex grew and changes
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17
Q

what metaphor do we use for our brains today?

A

Today’s Metaphor: The Computer
* binary is chosen for computers because of neurons
* neurons either fire, or don’t fire
* neuroscience and psychology love computer-related terms like “processing” “information” “wiring” “coding”
* this can lead us to more problems since the words we use aren’t completely accurate
* computers represent information while the brains construct information

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18
Q

what is modern neuroscience?

A
  • the study of the nervous system
    • ultimately is the study of human nature
  • goal is to learn how the nervous system functions, and how it relates to the mind
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19
Q

what are the levels of analysis in modern neuroscience?

A
  • molecular neuroscience
  • cellular neuroscience
  • systems neuroscience
  • behavioural neuroscience
  • cognitive neuroscience
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20
Q

what are some human brain facts?

A
  • 2-3% of body weight (~3lbs) but consumes about 20% of your energy
  • slightly larger in men than women
  • composed of neurons, glia, stem cells, blood vessels
  • less than 100 billion neurons, more than half are in the cerebellum
  • consistency of soft tofu
  • convoluted (wrinkled)
  • cells are not replaced, once they die they are gone
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21
Q

what is adult neurogenesis? does it happen?

A
  • adult neurogenesis is the creation of new cells to replace the other ones
  • historically didn’t see evidence of adult neurogenesis in humans
  • subregion of hippocampus may be the only area of adult neurogenesis
    • then we found that hippocampal neurogenesis happens only until 13 years old
  • so, adult neurogenesis does not happen
    • if it does, it’d be a very small undetectable amount in a subregion of the hippocampus
  • cells may change shape or form, but we don’t get any new ones
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22
Q

what part of our brains are related to intelligence?

A
  • more convolutions → more intelligent
  • bigger forebrain → more intelligent
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23
Q

what are the exceptions to the idea that bigger brain = more intelligent?

A
  • dolphins have huge brains, bigger than humans, but are not more intelligent
  • can use 100-1000 words and can use names, have a sense of self
    • still are not more intelligent than humans
  • macaw is the next smartest animal, but their brains don’t have many convolutions and are not that big
    • can speak in English
24
Q

does having a big brain matter when it comes to intelligence?

A
  • the bigger the body gets, the bigger the brain gets
  • size doesn’t matter much because there is a brain mass to body mass ratio
  • having a DISPROPORTIONATELY large brain DOES matter in intelligence
  • tells us something about the importance of size but doesn’t give us a mechanism
    • since there is a ratio
25
Q

does brain density tell us anything about a person’s intelligence?

A
  • number of neurons and cell density are important in comparing intelligence
  • having a disproportionately dense brain (neurons) is especially important for intelligence
    • in common with humans and monkeys
  • elephants have a much bigger and heavier brain than humans, but humans have much more neurons
  • intelligence also correlates with sophistication of cellular connections
26
Q

what is grey matter? where is it mostly located?

A
  • grey matter - mostly in the cerebral cortex
    • is grey because it is the cell bodies or small unmyelinated neurons (interneurons)
    • this is what the axons are travelling to
27
Q

what is white matter? where is it mostly located?

A
  • white matter - mostly below the cerebral cortex
    • is white because the cells are covered by a myelin sheath
    • myelin sheath - fatty substance/sheath that wraps around axons
    • wherever we see white matter, we are seeing axons
28
Q

what does the nissl stain (cresyl violet) show us?

A
  • only binds to the cell body
    • shows us grey matter
    • does not show us single neurons or branches
29
Q

what does the fiber stain show us?

A
  • stains insulating glia cells
    • shows us white matter
    • shows myelinated axons but not single neurons or branches
30
Q

what is a golgi stain?

A

fill in

31
Q

what are the two basic cell types?

A

neurons and glia

32
Q

what are neurons?

A
  • cells that communicate through the axon very quickly
  • action potential travels extremely quickly along the axon
  • dendrite → cell body (soma) → axon → terminal
  • dendrite is the input layer while the axon terminal is the output layer
  • can have multiple terminals but only one axon
33
Q

what are glia? what do they do?

A
  • thought of as the support and foundational cell
  • they create myelin
  • different types are astrocytes and oligodendrocyte
34
Q

what is the difference between neurons and hormones?

A
  • travels faster than hormones which is important in time sensitive/survival situations
  • signal is relatively directed since it goes down one axon and to the dendrite while hormones affect everything
35
Q

what are the three types of neuronal cells in the brain?

A
  1. pyramidal cell - shaped like a pyramid and found in the cerebral cortex
  2. stellate cell - shaped like a star, found in subcortical regions below the cortex
  3. purkinje - is extremely dense, has a lot of dendrites, and is found in the cerebellum
36
Q

what are the two basic types of neurons?

A

projection neurons and interneurons

37
Q

what are projection neurons?

A

projection neurons - have long axons that project to a different brain area

  • white matter
  • are myelinated because they project far and need to be faster
  • can have axons as long as we want but we have synapses because they are an opportunity to modify/manipulate the signal
    • interneurons are usually at this junctions
38
Q

what are interneurons?

A

interneurons - star-shaped and have short axons that project locally

  • grey matter
  • usually unmyelinated because they project locally and don’t need to be fast
  • are usually inhibitory and can modify signals between projection neurons
    • are important in synchronization
39
Q

what are the different types of glial cells?

A

microglia and macroglia (schwann cell, oligodendrocyte, astrocyte)

40
Q

what does a schwann cell do?

A

schwann cell - myelinates a single axon in the peripheral nervous system (PNS)

41
Q

what does an oligodedrocyte do?

A

oligodendrocyte - myelinates multiple axons in the brain and spinal cord, central nervous system (CNS)

42
Q

what do astrocytes do?

A
  • astrocytes - they wrap around blood vessels and are half of the blood brain barrier
    • mediate the travelling of oxygen, glucose and nutrition
    • they also maintain the environment in the brain and the synapse
43
Q

how do astrocytes act as a network?

A
  • they are part of a coordinated team that have specialized proteins
  • are covered in gap junction protein sets that connect to each other
  • there is a connection (reticulum) between the astrocytes so that things can flow easily
    • reticular theory has some accuracy in terms of the astrocytes
  • a single signal activates the whole astrocytic network
  • there are also some gap junctions on some interneurons
44
Q

what is the tripartite synapse?

A
  • consists of the pre-synaptic side (axon terminal), post-synaptic side (dendrite), and the astrocyte
  • the axon terminal releases neurotransmitters which float through the synapse and bind to the receptors on the dendrite
  • astrocytes engulf the synapse to control the environment and release chemical messages (gliotransmitters) and receive chemical messages (glial receptors)
  • play a functional and structural role
45
Q

what is the central dogma

A
  • DNA is transcribed into RNA which is translated to protein
  • proteins carry many functions, including being the basis for neuronal function
  • we have different rates of transcription and translation depending on the type of cell
  • very rare that there would be a 1:1 relationship between genetics and behaviour
46
Q

what relationship does the nucleus have with DNA, RNA, and protein?

A
  • nucleus is in the cell body, it has many proteins inside
  • every cell has the same genes and DNA but may be specialized in different ways
    • we alter the expression of the gene into RNA and then protein in order to be specialized for a function
    • genes have start codes and end codes that tell a specialized protein (RNA polymerase) where to begin and end when creating a piece of RNA
  • RNA is usually too long and has less relevant sections, so it gets spliced and then becomes mRNA
47
Q

what determines the prevalence/speed of transcription?

A
  • transcription factors - little signalling mechanisms that increase/decrease the likelihood of a gene being transcribed into RNA
  • binding sites on the DNA where activators (increase likelihood) and repressors (decrease likelihood) can bind
  • learning and memory alter the expression of transcription factors and cause genes to be turned into RNA
48
Q

what are epigenetics? how does it work?

A
  • epigenetics - genes that are passed down that are a result of a person’s experiences
    • doesn’t change the gene, only changes how the DNA is stored
  • DNA is wrapped around histones
  • how tightly or loosely your DNA is wrapped around your histones affects how your genes are transcribed and translated
    • if DNA is wrapped tight, then the RNA polymerase can’t easily transcribe the DNA to RNA
      • if DNA is wrapped loosily, the the RNA polymerase can easily transcribe the DNA to RNA
  • adverse circumstances in peoples’ lives have histone modifications seen in their genes and in their children’s genes
49
Q

what do the ER and golgi apparatus do?

A
  • ribosomes on the ER turn the RNA into protein
  • some ribsomes produce the proteins into the intracellular fluid while others thread the proteins into the plasma membrane
    • the ER is membrane that is inside the cell
  • the pieces of ER are transported by the golgi apparatus to the membrane to get the protein in the membrane
50
Q

what does the mitochondria do?

A
  • mitochondria produce ATP, our main energy currency
    • need sugar and oxygen to make ATP
  • byproduct of ATP is carbon dioxide which is why we breathe in O2 and release CO2
  • lots of mitochondria at the axon terminal because we need energy for neurotransmitter release
  • mitochondria genes are not passed equally from parents, everyone receives mitochondrial DNA from their mother
51
Q

what is the composition of the cell membrane?

A
  • has a phospholipid bylayer
  • phophate heads (hydrophilic) and lipid tails (hydrophobic)
  • need specialized proteins/passageways/holes in order to move things in and out of the membrane
52
Q

what is the cytoskeleton of the cell?

A
  • the cytoskeleton creates a pathway from cell body to axon
  • kinesin - transport vesicles from the cell body to terminal (anterograde transport)
  • dynenin - transport vesicles from the terminal to the cell body (retrograde transport)
    • both use ATP each step of the way
53
Q

what does the synapse consist of?

A
  • post-synaptic side - covered in receptors and bind to neurotransmitter
    • usually a dendrite, but doesn’t have to be
  • pre-synaptic side - release neurotransmitter (axon terminal)
54
Q

what are the different synapses we can have?

A
  • axosecretory - axon term to bloodstream, this is considered a hormone, no longer a neurotransmitter
  • axoaxonic - axon term to axon, influences how the other axon functions
  • axoextracellular - axon term to extracellular fluid, neurotransmitter activates many cells at the same time
  • axosomatic - axon term to cell body, very common
  • axosynaptic - axon term to axon term, good way to alter the function/signal of another synapse
  • axodendritic - axon term to dendrite, common type we think of
55
Q

what are the different types of dendrites?

A
  • spiny neurons - a neuron with spines on the dendrite
    • almost all are glutamate neurons (excitatory)
  • non-spiny neurons - a neuron with no spines on the dendrite
    • usually referring to GABA neurons (inhibitory)
  • can grow or shrink/remove the spine based on importance of the signal

PSYC 304 (10 decks)

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