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Neuroscience > Brain Basics > Flashcards

Brain Basics Flashcards

1
Q

How does your brain accomplish multitasking?

A

It is split into distinct regions specialized for specific tasks and abilities

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2
Q

largest part of brain

A

cerebrum

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3
Q

what are the parts of the cerebrum

A

two large seperate hemishperes (left side and right side)

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4
Q

corpus callosum

A

the hemispheres are connected by a bundle of nerve fibres that carry information from one side of your brain to the other. Largest of these bundles forms a bridge between the cerebral hemispheres and is called the courpos callosum

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5
Q

cerebral cortex

A

surface of the cerebrum. a deeply folded layer of nerve tissue. Deep folds increase the area of the cerebral cortex which creates space for more neruons, and therefore increases the brain’s processing power

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6
Q

what do neuroscientists use to identify regions of each hemisphere as separate lobes?

A

they use the deepest divisions of the cerebrum

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7
Q

Frontal lobes

A

front of the brain, immediately above the eyes. Parts of these lobes coordinate voluntary movements, speech, memory and emotion, higher cognitive skills (planning and problem-solving) and many aspects of personality.

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8
Q

parietal lobes

A

located at top of brain, immediately behind the frontal lobes.

  • integrate sensory signals from the skin
  • process taste
  • process some types of visual info
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9
Q

occipital lobes

A

process visual information

- are responsible for recognizing colours, shapes and integrating them not complex visual understanding.

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10
Q

temporal lobes

A

lie on the sides of the brain, at and below the levels of the eyes

  • carry out some visual processing
  • interpret auditory information
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11
Q

hippocampus

A
  • curved structures lying beneath the cerebral cortex

- region of the temporal lobes that encodes new memories

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12
Q

amygdala

A

another deep structure within each temporal lobe

- integrates memory and emotion

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13
Q

limbic system

A
  • includes the hippocampus and amygdala

- a group of structures deep within the brain that help regulate our emotion and motivation

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14
Q

other parts of the limbic system

A
  • (aside from the hippocampus and amygdala),
  • thalamus
  • hypothalamus
  • pituitary gland
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15
Q

thalamus

A
  • integrates sensory information and relays it to other parts of the brain
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16
Q

hypothalamus

A

sends hormonal signals to the rest of the body through the pituitary gland

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17
Q

forebrain

A

made up of limbic system structures discussed earlier, and the cerebral cortex

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18
Q

midbrain

A
  • beneath the thalamus
  • includes distinct groups of neurons that coordinate eye-movements (blinking, focusing)
  • trigger reflexes to sounds (startled jump)
  • other regions will inhibit unwanted body movements
  • coordinate sensory input and motor output to manage the fine motor control that enables you to perform intricate actions (writing, playing instrument)
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19
Q

basal ganglia

A
  • formed from some midbrain regions and parts of the forebrain
  • helps regulate complex body movements
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20
Q

hindbrain

A
  • role in glucose regulation, and sleep and includes several regions that help control movement
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21
Q

cerebellum

A
  • underneath occipital lobe at very back of brain
  • second largest part of brain in volume
  • has over half of the brain’s neruons
  • is deeply folded (like the cerebrum)
  • also divided into 2 hemishpehers
  • vareity of functions- corrdinates voluntary movement, helps brain learn new motor skills, roles in spatial and temporal (time) perception
  • patient with damaged cereellum- maybe is unable to accurately touch finger to nose
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22
Q

pons

A

infleunces breathing and posture

- below cerebellum

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23
Q

medulla

A
  • another part of the hindbrain
  • carries nerve pathways connecting brain to the spinal cord
  • has neural networks that help basic functions (swallowing, heart rate, breathing)
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24
Q

brain stem

A

-medullla, pons, midbrain

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25
Q

nerve tracts

A

nerve fibres of region-spanning neurons form distinct bundles.

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26
Q

major nerve tracks

A

corpus callosum, smaller anterior commissure (taransmits signals between left and right temporal lobes)

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27
Q

neural netowork

A

a group of nerve tracks connecting a series of regions in the brain
-route signals through the brain along linear pathway, analyze and organize diff types of info within fractions of a second

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28
Q

what happens in the brain when watching a movie

A
  • turns many moving shaped into recognizable characters and scenery
  • photoreceptor signal s reach the optic nerve then travel through the optic tract, to the thalamus where neurons respond to the shape, colour, or movement of objects on the screen
  • then, they pass these to the primary visual cortex in the occipital lobe
  • in pvc, they detect edges of objects within the field of vision
  • integrate the signals from each eye to create a three-dimensional rep
  • image is further refined as signals are sent to parallel processing streams
  • one stream: neurons in temporal lobe recognize and identify objects
  • another stream- neurons in the parietal lobe detect the spatial location of these objects
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29
Q

photoreceptors

A

cells in the retina trigger electrical singals in response to specific wavelengths of light
-signals reach the optic nerve

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30
Q

thalamocortical loop

A
  • two way circuit that connects the thalamus with parts of the cortex and back
  • an example is the visual cortex that also sends signals back to the thalamus to become integrated with other sensory info
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31
Q

EEG

A
  • electroencephalograph
  • AS neuronal signals loop through the thalamus and cortex, they produce rhythmic electrical patterns, detectable with an EEG
  • – THESE SIGNALS ARE CALLED BRAIN WAVES
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32
Q

how many types of brain waves

A
  • there are four disticnt types

- each of them are recognized by their characteristic shapes on an EEG display/printout.

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33
Q

awake brain waves

A
  • awake brain typically produces alpha and beta waves
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34
Q

alpha waves

A
  • originate mainly in the pareital lobe and occiptal lobe
  • occurs when brain is relaxed, eyes are closed
  • characterized by frequencies between 8 and 13 Hertz
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35
Q

beta waves

A
  • somewhat faster
  • frequencies from 14 to 30Hertx
  • produced from frontal and parietal regions of brainwhen it processes sensory input or concentrates on a task
  • alpha and beta are when u r awake
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36
Q

theta waves and delta waves

A

typical of sleep

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37
Q

theta waves

A

are slower than alpha waves, ragnging from 4 to 7 Hzz

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38
Q

delta waves

A
  • occur during deep sleep
    -s;pw frequencies less than 3.5 Hz
    (is this because there is less sensory input coming fro, the cortex?
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39
Q

alpha and delta waves

A
  • typically of higher amplititude (stringer) than beta or theta
  • when measured with electrictrodes on your scalp, these signals are in the microvolt range:
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40
Q

spinal tracts

A
  • there are many distinct neural networks in the brain and spinal cord
  • spinal tracts are chains of neurons that pass signals through the brainstem and the spinal cord
  • these signals travel upward from sensroy receptors in the skin and muscles to the thalamus and parts of the cortex that interpret touch and pressure
  • these signals move downwards from brain regions that induce movement, passing through the medulla nd spinal cord before projecting to the body’s muscles
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41
Q

other neural netowrks…

A

provide feedback that helps integrate snseory and motor signals.
ex. basal ganglia

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42
Q

basal ganglia and feedback loop

A

part of a feedback loop that takes info from the cortical areas that elicit movement and produce signals that feed back to the core to excite or inhibit specific movements.

43
Q

loops that connect the brainstem and the cerebellum

A
  • infleunce the timing and strength of motor signals
  • some of these loops incorporate tracts from the cerbral cortex that enable environemtnal and emotional context to influence your body’s movement
44
Q

netowrks that loop the hippocampus into sensory corte pathways

A
  • help your brain analyze whether environmental signals are familiar or are part of a new situation.
45
Q

netowrks that link the hippocampus to the thalmus and hypothalamus

A
  • allow your memory to infleunce conscious behaviour as well as unconscious physiological responses.
46
Q

reflex loops

A
  • are circuits that elecit action well before thoughts
  • actions are controlled locally by info going in and out of the spinal cord or subcortical regions of the brain, and never reach the cortex.
47
Q

neural circuits

A

interconnected neurons that turn entering signals into output patterns that can be sent to other parts of the brain.
- the cerebral cortex is packed with these circuits

48
Q

what happens to signals arrive at the brain

A

they engage local neural circuits

49
Q

how are neruons in the nerual circuits of the cerbreal cortex organized?

A

-interconnected neurons that turn entering signals into output patterns that can be sent to other parts of the brain.

50
Q

how are the nerual circuits organized

A
  • The neurons in a column form a single chain, and signals that enter the circuit travel down that chain from one neuron to the next
  • Circuits are arranged in columns, as each neuron forms connections with cells in the layers above and below.
51
Q

what happens as signals that enter the circuit travel down that chain from one neuron to the next

A

-each time a signal is fed forward, it is transformed in some way
-outputs are built that encode complex info
_allows you to recognize people and plan where to catch a ball

52
Q

how many neurons in the brain are exitatroy

A
  • ,ajority (80 %) are excitatory
53
Q

what is the most commony tupe of excitatory neuirons in the cerebral cortex

A
  • the pyramidial cell
54
Q

multi-branched axons

A
  • send signals to multiple destinations
55
Q

excitatory neurons

A
  • neruons that pass signals forward through a circuit and eventually send outputs to other parts of the brain
56
Q

inhibitory neruons

A
  • typically local and often loop their responses back to earlier segments of a circiut
  • interplay between these signals = important in learning, tuning and smoothing signals sent to other parts of brain and body
57
Q

seizure disorders (like epilepsy)

A
  • casued by imbalannce in the activity of excitatory and inhibitory neurons
58
Q

feed forward inhibitory circuit

A
  • inhibitory interneuyrons connect neighbouring neural circuits in such a way that excitatory signals in one column simultaneously send inhibitory signals to adhavent cuolumns— reduces activity
59
Q

feedback inhibition

A
  • neurons send signals to their downstream excitatory neighbours and to internuerons that reach back and inhibit preceding layers of the same circuit
  • —- maybe does this mean that it kind of ends that whole circuit? Like everything is inhibited, the ones after and before?
  • both exs, neurons inside interconnected circuits send feedback signals to one another
60
Q

functional unit of neural circuits and networks

A

neuron

  • transmit electrical signals to other nerve cels, muscles, glands
  • all have a cell body, dendrites, axon
61
Q

cell body

A
  • aka soma
  • contains neuron’s nucleas and most of its cytoplasm
  • ## molecular machinery for building and transporting proteins crictial to the cell’s function.
62
Q

dendrites

A
  • branched projections that extend from the cell body and collect incoming signals from other neurons.
  • neruon’s electrical signals travel down its axon before ending by branching into axon terminals
63
Q

axon terminals

A
  • signal is passed across a synapse to other cells

- axons can be as long as a fraction of cm, or more than meter.

64
Q

glia

A
  • support cells

- ratio of glia to neuron varies considerably from region to region in the brain

65
Q

four main types of glial cells in central nervous system

A
  • astrocutes, m,icroglia, ependymal cells, oligodendrocytes
66
Q

astrocytes

A
  • form a netowrk inside the brain taht regulates ion concentrations around neruons, provides them with nutrients and helps regulate the fomrtion of new connections between neurons
67
Q

microglia

A
  • main immune cells of brain
  • function as phagocytes
  • help protect the brain from infections and cellular damage
  • regulate the formation of new neuronal connections
68
Q

ependymal cells

A
  • make cerebrospinal fluid that cushions the brain inside the skull
69
Q

oligodendrocytes

A
  • improve neuron function by wrapping axons in a fatty sheath called myelin
70
Q

ions

A

-electrically charged atoms that can only cross a neuron’s cell membrane through ion channels

71
Q

ion channels

A
  • tunnel-lile proteins act like gates, allow some ions in and keeping others out
72
Q

what happens when ions enter or leave the cell

A

voltage difference across membrane is changed

-

73
Q

what happens when there is a voltage change

A
  • infleunces the neuron’s likelihood of generating an electrical signal
  • occurs when an action potential arrives at the axon terminal
  • calcium ions flow into the cell
74
Q

what happens when the calcium ions enter the cell

A
  • they bind to package of neurotransmitter molecules called synaptic vesicles
75
Q

synaptic vesicles

A
  • they fuse with the cell membrane at the axon terminal and empty their contents into the synaptic cleft
  • pieces of axon terminal membrane cycle back into the soma as new vesicles that are refilled with neurotransmitter molecules
76
Q

substances that act as neurotransmitters

A

amino acids, fases, small organic chemicals and short peptides.

77
Q

neurons can synthesize (in the axon terminal)…

A

small non-peptides (dopamine, acetylcholine) inside exon terminal

78
Q

what cannot be synthesized in the axon terminal

A
  • peptide based neurotransmitters
  • axon terminals do not have the molecular machinery to build proteins
  • they are therefore built in the ribosome rich space of the cell body
79
Q

dendrites and neurotransmitter receptors

A
  • they have a high concentration of them

- different molecules act as neurotransmitters and each fits into specific receptors

80
Q

ionotropic recceptors

A
  • a neurotransmitter binds directly to part of an ion channel
  • the normally closed ion channel’s tunnel is widened as the receptor protein changes its shape when attached to the neurotransmitter
81
Q

astrocytes

A
  • mop up any excess neurotransmitters at the synapse so that receptors are not continuously activated.
82
Q

metabotropic receptors

A
  • receptor and ion channel are different proteins
  • they are located at a distance from one another
  • linked by a cascade of biochemical steps that are triggered when a neurotransmitter binds to the receptor
  • less rapid response and activates a series of events in the postsynaptic vell
  • some ion channel at a distance away or the activation of other intracellular molecules might occur
  • through the activation of g proteins are able to affect other channels
83
Q

what happens to the ion channels once the neurotransmitter detaches

A
  • the ioin channels return to their resting state

- the ion channels stop altering the change across their membrane

84
Q

what happens to the neurotransmitters that detach from the membrane

A
  • they are either broken down ir reabsorbed by the axon terminal in a process called reuptake
85
Q

excitatory neurons make what type of neurotransmitter

A
  • they ,ake make neurotransmitters taht open ion channels that depolarize the dendrite’s membrane
86
Q

inhibotry neurons make waht type of neuro transmitter

A
  • they make ones that hyperpo;arize the neuron
87
Q

most common excitatory neurotransmitter

A

glutatmate

88
Q

most common inhibitory neurotransmitter

A

gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)

89
Q

glutamate

A
  • an amino acid used as a neurotransmitter by approx half the exctitaory synapses in the brain
  • binds to several types of receptors
    (most important are the AMPA and NMDA receptors.
90
Q

AMPA receptors

A
  • when activated, their action is fast and brief

-

91
Q

NMDA receptors

A
  • are activated more slowly, especially in response to waves of multiple action potentials
  • interactions betweenthese two are important for learning and memory
92
Q

GABA

A
  • most important inhibitory neurotransmitter

- binds to both ionotropic and metabotropic

93
Q

ionotropic GABA

A

-ion channels that let negatively charged chloride ions enter the cell

94
Q

Metabotropic GABA

A
  • open ion channels that realase potassium ions

-

95
Q

both Metabotropic and Ionotropic GABA

A
  • ion movement pushes membrane potential downward and inhibits neurons from firing,
96
Q

Molecules that change the way a neuron will function

A

hormones. prostaglandins

97
Q

hormones

A
  • send the brain specific cues about the condition and activity of distant tissues in the body
  • includes neuromudulators such as
  • endocannabinoids (cannabis-like chemicals that seem to suppress neurotransmitter release)
98
Q

prostaglandins

A

-small lipids that change the brain’s response (increasing pain sensitivity) to pain and inflammation

99
Q

Individual neurons have receptros for different subsets of hormones and neuromodulators. These molecules are signals that trigger series of chemical reactions inside the cell. what is this process?

A
  • one of the molecules binds to its specific receptors
  • if receptors is on surface of the cel.l, the bound molecule changes the receptor’s shape acrioss the cell membrane and starts chain of intracellular reactions
  • this signal transduction pathway modifies neuronal function by shifting the cell’s ion balance or by changing the activity of specific enzymes.
100
Q

where else can a receptor be

A
  • the receptor migth be a protein inside the neuorn’s soma
  • this occurs if a molecule can diffuse through the cell membrane (like with steroid hormones such as estradiol or cortisol)
  • hormone binds to its receptors, the complex transforms into a transcription factor that is capable of entering the cell nucleus, binding to specific genes and changing htier activity.
101
Q

true or false: all cells in body, including neurons, contain the same DNA housing the same gneese

A

true

  • the differences that are present within these neurons are because of differences in which genes direct cellular activities (gene expression)
  • although they may have the same genes, each cell builds proteins from a slightly different subset of genes in its genetic code
  • neuruons express some genes and not others
  • the mechanisms that cause this depend on chemical changes to chromatin
102
Q

genes that a cell is using…

A

must be accessbile

-associated with open, unfolded chromatin

103
Q

unexpressed genes

A
  • typically in tightly packed regions
  • chemical changes that tighten or spread out chormatin complexes can shut down or activate the genes on that segment of DNA
  • these reversible changes give neurons flexibility to alter fenes they express in response to hormonal cues and environmental changes.
104
Q

genes and alleles

A
  • genes specify trait, allele specifies the form the gene takes
  • alleles are gene variants
  • reflect differences in the nucleotide sequences that make up a gene

Neuroscience (7 decks)

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