Brain Behavior Flashcards
Types of Neurotransmitters
- Acetylcholine: Controls muscles, released by the motor neurons of the spinal cord and stimulates skeletal muscles.
- Noradrenaline: Prepares the body for action.
- Serotonin: Controls emotional arousal and sleep. lack causes deppression
- Endorphins: Decrease the effects of pain during acute stress and trauma. Related to pleasure circuits in the brain. lack is pack of production
- Dopamine- movement, learning, attention, emotion
- Glutamate- excitory neurotransmitter.
- GABA- inhibitory neurotransmitter. lack causes insomnia, seizures
Agonist and antagonist
- Agonists- molecule similar to neurotransmitters that increase neurotransmitters response and can stimulate a similar response (drugs)
- Antagonists- decrease the neurotransmitters action by blocking production or release
Parkinson’s Disease
- Dopamine Deficiency
- A progressive, degenerative neurologic disease characterized by a tremor that is maximal at rest, retropulsion (a tendency to fall backwards), rigidity, stooped posture, slowness of voluntary movements, and a masklike facial expression
- Dopaminergic cells produce the neurotransmitter Dopamine. The death off Dopaminergic cells results in lower amounts of Dopamine.
- Treatment: the disease is a chronic disease that requires ongoing treatment
Schizophrenia
- Dopamine Excess
- A severe emotional disorder characteristically marked by a retreat from reality with delusions, hallucinations, emotional disharmony, and regressive behavior. A psychotic disorder.
- Treatment: Antipsychotic drugs (suppressing dopamine activity) and psychiatric and social therapy.
- Treatment can only ease the symptoms but not cure a patient from schizophrenia
Endocrine System
- Coordinate cell activities, much Like the Nervous system.
- Unlike the Nervous system, the Endocrine system has a slow effect by releasing hormones from the Endocrine glands into the blood. From the blood, the hormones go to different organs in the body and signals change.
- Endocrine messages outlast nervous system messages so when you feel upset a while after something happened, that’s why
hormones
- mainly stimulate growth & certain types of emotional & physiological reactions.
Ardinal and Pituitary Glands
- Adrenal glands- in times of danger and stress these glands on top of kidneys release hormones to alert the body
- Pituitary gland- most influential gland of Endo system. It controls other glands, regulates growth and triggers hormones to release
Plasticity
the brains ability to change by reorganizing after damage or building new pathways after experience
CNS
brain and spinal cord
PNS
gathers info and transmits CNS’s decisions to other body parts
Nerves
many axons all connected that form neural cables sending information from CNS all over
Sensory Neurons
- carry info from body’s tissues and sensory receptors to brain and spinal cord
Motor Neurons
carry outgoing info from brain and spine to muscles and glands
Interneurons
neurons within the spinal cord that communicate internally
Somatic and Automatic Nervous System
- Somatic Nervous System- enables voluntary control of our skeletal muscles (when we move)
- Automatic Nervous System- operates on its own and control glands and internal organs (heart, sweat, breathing, b pressure etc)
within the PNS
Sympathetic and Parasymathetic Nervous System
-
Sympathetic Nervous system- division of autonomic nervous system that arouses the body mobilizing its energy (in stressful situations) AROUSES
- EX- you freak out and feel terrible before a job interview
-
Parasympathetic Nervous System- conserves energy and calms you CALMS
- You feel better
- Homeostasis- These both works together making us balanced
within PNS
spinal cord function
-
- connects the PNS and brain
- Ascending neural fibers send up sensory info
- Descending fibers send back motor control info
- Reflexes- in spinal cord and composed of a sensory neuron and a motor neuron
- All info goes to the brain through the spinal cord
Left Hemisphere
- Spoken language
- Written language
- Scientific skills
- Numbers
- Reasoning
- Logical and orderly processing
Right Hemisphere
- Music
- Art
- 3D vision
- Imagination
- Insight
- Intuitive and holistic processing
Subcortical structures
- ancient” parts of our brain. Similar to other animals in structure and function
The cortex
The human cortex has a unique structure, and it is responsible for higher functions
Brain stem
- Medulla
- Pons
- Any damage to these structures result in death
- Oldest Part of Brain
Medulla
base of the brain stem, the slight swelling in the spinal cord just after it enters skull.
breathing and heart
Pons
just above medulla, helps control sleep, breathing, arousal
Thalamus
- Sensory control center. The hub for senses
- Sits above brain stem
- Revise information from all senses but smell and routes the info to higher brain regions that deal with senses.
Reticulum Formation
- Controls arousal and multi-tasking
- Sensory input flows up the spine to the thalamus and some travel through RF which filter incoming stimuli and relay other important info to brain
- Between ears, extends from spinal cord
Cerebellum
- Extends from rear of brain stem
- Processes sensory input, coordinates movement output and balances enable non-verbal learning and memory, and balance
Limbic System
- Newest parts of brain
- Associated with emotions and drives
- Amygdala, hippocampus, and hypothalamus
Amygdala
- Responsive for fear and aggression
- Two pathways between sensory/visual thalamus (see visual info) and the amygdala–
- We need both pathways because the thalamus/rapid helps to response immediately, however it doesn’t differentiate between different things
- The amygdala does differentiate
- This helps for fight or flight since in times of danger we don’t have enough time to process
Hypothalamus
- controls hormone system
- eating, drinking, temperature, sexual behavior, and emotions, and helps activate glands via hormone release
Hippocampus
- helps us process conscious memory, which decreases in size and function as we grow older
Newer Brain Structures/Cortex
- Brains information processing center
- Four lobes
- Frontal
- Temporal
- Occipital
- Parietal
Occipital lobe
- Occipital lobe of the cortex/vision
- Two pathways from eyes to cortex
- Through thalamus
- Through brainstem
- Blind sight:
- patients report an inability to see objects. If they are pressed to guess the objects location, they are able to point it with reasonable accuracy.
Parietal lobe
- Processing sensation such as: temperature, touch, pain and motion.
- Sensations from one side of the body arrive at the other side of the brain.
- The more sensitive the part of the body, the bigger the area represented in the brain. For example, lips and fingers have large representations whereas the back has a small representation (somatotopic arrangement).
Frontal Lobe
- The frontal lobe is responsible for problem solving, reasoning, planning, and managing other functions. It allows us to think things through and determine how to use information that is located elsewhere in the brain
- FTLD- dementia because they lacks a frontal lobe
- Two types of impulses: aggressive and sexual
- Frontal lobes make sure we use these correctly. People who have issues with the frontal lobe will run into issues with these impulses
- Broccas Area
- Broca’s aphasia: responsible for the production of speech
Impairment in speech production
Individuals with Broca’s aphasia may understand speech and be able to read but are limited in writing and speaking.
Formation of sounds often laborious, non-fluent and effortful.
Broca’s region was found in deaf people who had damage to this area area. Cannot use sign language.
Temporal Lobe
Language
Wernicke’s aphasia: impairment of speech comprehension whether written or verbal, but not production
- Speech production is preserved but the content of the language is incorrect.
- Reading ability is diminished, and although writing ability is retained, what is written may be abnormal.
Motor and Somatosensory Cortexes
-
Motor Cortex-
- Sends output messages from the body
- controls voluntary movements on bodies left side
-
Somatosensory cortex
- Receives sensory incoming messages
- left hemisphere section receives input from the body’s right side
Association areas
found in all four lobes. Not involved in motor or sensory functions, rather in higher mental functions like memory, thinking, and speaking
Neurogenesis
brain mending itself through producing new neurons
Corpus callosum
large band of neuro fibers connecting the two beain hemispheres by cutting the fibers (mainly corpus callosum)
Knee-jerk reflex:
- Monosynaptic reflex
- Only the sensory and motor neurons of the spinal nerves are involved.
The brain is not involved
- Reflex Arcs:
- Disynaptic reflex.
- The information from the motor neuron to the sensory neuron is transmitted through an interneuron.
- The brain is not involved.
Lesion
natural tissues destruction in brain that we can destroy to study stuff
EEG
amplified readout of brain waves
MEG
measures magnetic fields from brains natural activity
PET
Displays chemical fuel consumption within brain
MRI
uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer generated images of soft tissue
