Brain Basics Flashcards
who was phineas gage?
what are we missing from his story?
the man who got a spike through his prefrontal cortex.
How was he actually assessed?
To what extent did he recover?
were his symptoms exagerated?
Turns out he wasn’t followed up on much, reports came in from 2nd/3rd hand sources,
speculation that he was always a “get rich quick” guy
What were mechanisms/analogies limited by?
Scientific knowledge.
Time has gone through periods where metaphors for the brain have directly related to our science at the time.
“the brain is like a computer” - now
“the brain was like wires/electricity” -19th century
“the brain is like a hydraulic system” - 18th century (i.e. fluid moving through a tube to get somewhere.
-rome: the 4 humors (blood phlegm, yellow/black bile)
What did some doctors refer to the brain as? (hippocrates)
the seat of the mind
What were early investigations hampered by?
ethics/morality (didn’t want to cut open people)
Who is “the roman who got clever” and why?
Galen decided to cut up animals because they are similar to us.
Which era allowed scientists to cut people open?
The renaissance and the “hydraulic era” and Vesalius was one of the first people to dissect a brain (noticed big and little brain)
What was descartes legacy?
Dualism: the thought that the mind and body are separate entities. Noticed that the brain controlled the body, so the soul was in the PINEAL gland
who were Galvani and Raymond?
they used frog legs and electric signals to make the dead legs move!
ask becca/tallinn
who were bell and magendie?
organized the spinal chord dorsally and ventrally. They cut the selective parts of the nervous system and found…
cut dorsal: lose sensation
cut ventral: lose motor skills
who were fluorens and broca?
they localized function and had “tan” patient. founded “broca’s area”
Specialized function in the brain (localization)
who was schwann?
he invented the cell theory: everything is made of cells, the brain isn’t one mass but many many cells
when was the debate between golgi and ramon going down?
19/20th century
what was golgi’s stain?
what did he deduce from this?
silver nitrate staining of a subset of cells. saw the processes and thought it looked like a mesh/net and thought liquid could flow through it.
THE RETICULAR THEORY
what did ramon cajal do?
he drew the neurons from golgi’s stain. very systematic, came up with the idea that the base unit of all things are neurons.
NEURON DOCTRINE: base unit of the nervous system is the neuron (idea of the synapse)
who was right? golgi or ramon?
ramon, after years of being enemies and sharing the nobel prize, he won!
early microscopes couldn’t tell who was right! synapses were too small
what is neuroscience?
study of the nervous system
study of human nature
what it means to be you, how its related to mind and how the NS functions
what are the levels of analysis?
molecular cellular systems behavioural cognitive (using mri to study active brain)
what are the types of research?
basic applied (how do we cure/fix etc)
its very hard to treat a problem without understanding it first
what are some FACTS about the human brain?
2-3% of your body weight
consumes 20% of your energy (blood/oxygen/glucose)
slightly larger in men than women
huge variation
composed of neurons/glia/stem cells/blood vessels
100 billion neurons, more than half are cerebellum (soft tofu little brain)
its convoluted (related to intelligence)
cells are not replaced!!
whats the analogy for the tectum?
the “boston pizza” of your brain - your eyes getting drawn somewhere without you trying to
what is the pattern for different types of brains (animal/insect/human)
bigger developed cerebrum, more wrinkles = smarter
larger and larger brains
