C3: The Brain Flashcards
What are afferent nerves?
Nerves that carry messages to the brain or spinal cord.
What are agnosias?
Due to damage of Wernicke’s area. An inability to recognize objects, words, or faces.
What is aphasia?
Due to damage of the Broca’s area. An inability to produce or understand words.
What is the arcuate fasciculus?
A fiber tract that connects Wernicke’s and Broca’s speech areas.
What is the autonomic nervous system?
A part of the peripheral nervous system that connects to glands and smooth muscles. Consists of sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions.
What is Broca’s area?
An area in the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere. Implicated in language production.
What is the central sulcus?
The major fissure that divides the frontal and the parietal lobes.
What is the cerebellum?
A nervous system structure behind and below the cerebrum. Controls motor movement coordination, balance, equilibrium, and muscle tone.
What is the cerebrum?
Consists of left and right hemispheres that sit at the top of the nervous system and engages in a variety of higher-order functions.
What is the cingulate gyrus?
A medial cortical portion of the nervous tissue that is a part of the limbic system.
What is computerized axial tomography?
A noninvasive brain-scanning procedure that uses X-ray absorption around the head.
What is the ectoderm?
The outermost layer of a developing fetus.
What are efferent nerves?
Nerves that carry messages from the brain to glands and organs in the periphery.
What is electroencephalography?
A technique that is used to measure gross electrical activity of the brain by placing electrodes on the scalp.
What are event-related potentials?
A physiological measure of large electrical change in the brain produced by sensory stimulation or motor responses.
What is the forebrain?
A part of the nervous system that contains the cerebral hemispheres, thalamus, and hypothalamus.
What is the fornix?
(plural form, fornices) A nerve fiber tract that connects the hippocampus to mammillary bodies.
What is the frontal lobe?
The most forward region (close to forehead) of the cerebral hemispheres.
What is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)?
A noninvasive brain-imaging technique that registers changes in blood flow in the brain during a given task.
Globus pallidus
A nucleus of the basal ganglia
Hippocampus
(plural form, hippocampi) A nucleus inside (medial) the temporal lobe implicated in learning
and memory.
Gray matter
Composes the bark or the cortex of the cerebrum and consists of the cell bodies of the neurons (see also white matter).
Gyrus
(plural form, gyri) A bulge that is raised between or among fissures of the convoluted brain.
Homo habilis
A human ancestor, handy man, that lived two million years ago.
Homo sapiens
Modern man, the only surviving form of the genus Homo.
Hypothalamus
Part of the diencephalon. Regulates biological drives with pituitary gland.
Immunocytochemistry
A method of staining tissue including the brain, using antibodies.
Lateral geniculate nucleus
(
or LGN) A nucleus in the thalamus that is innervated by the optic nerves and sends signals
to the visual cortex in the occipital lobe.
Lateral sulcus
The major fissure that delineates the temporal lobe below the frontal and the parietal lobes.
Lesion studies
A surgical method in which a part of the animal brain is removed to study its effects on behavior
or function.
Limbic system
A loosely defined network of nuclei in the brain involved with learning and emotion.
Magnetic resonance imaging
Or MRI
is a brain imaging noninvasive technique that uses magnetic energy to generate brain
images (also see fMRI).
Magnification factor
Cortical space projected by an area of sensory input (e.g., mm of cortex per degree of visual
field).
Medulla oblongata
An area just above the spinal cord that processes breathing, digestion, heart and blood vessel function, swallowing, and sneezing.
Neural crest
A set of primordial neurons that migrate outside the neural tube and give rise to sensory and autonomic neurons in the peripheral nervous system.
Neural induction
A process that causes the formation of the neural tube.
Neuroblasts
Brain progenitor cells that asymmetrically divide into other neuroblasts or nerve cells.
Neuroepithelium
The lining of the neural tube.
Occipital lobe
The back part of the cerebrum, which houses the visual areas.
Parasympathetic nervous system
A division of the autonomic nervous system that is slower than its counterpart—that is, the sympathetic nervous system—and works in opposition to it. Generally engaged in “rest and digest” functions.
Parietal lobe
An area of the cerebrum just behind the central sulcus that is engaged with somatosensory and gustatory sensation.
Pons
A bridge that connects the cerebral cortex with the medulla, and reciprocally transfers
information back and forth between the brain and the spinal cord.
Positron Emission Tomography
(or PET)
An invasive procedure that captures brain images with positron emissions from the
brain after the individual has been injected with radio-labeled isotopes.
Primary Motor Cortex
A strip of cortex just in front of the central sulcus that is involved with motor control.
