CH 3 & 4 Test Review

Question 1

What’s a Neuron

Answer 1

A. Cells in the nervous system that communicate with each other to perform information-processing tasks.

Question 2

What’s the Cell Body?

Answer 2

A. Largest component of the neuron that coordinates the information-processing tasks and keeps the cell alive.

Question 3

What’s a Dentrite?

Answer 3

A. Dendrites receive information from other neurons and relay it to the cell body.

Question 4

What’s the Axon?

Answer 4

A. Carries information to other neurons, muscles, or glands.

Question 5

What’s the Synapse?

Answer 5

A. The junction or region between the axon of one neuron and the dendrites or cell body of another.

Question 6

What does the Sensory Neuron do?

Answer 6

A. Receive information from the external world and convey this information to the brain via the spinal cord. They have specialized endings on their dendrites that receive signals for light, sound, touch, taste, and smell. For example, sensory neurons’ endings in our eyes are sensitive to light.

Question 7

What does the Motor Neuron do?

Answer 7

A. Carry signals from the spinal cord to the muscles to produce movement. These neurons often have long axons that reach to muscles at our extremities.

Question 8

What does the Interneuron do?

Answer 8

A. Connect sensory neurons, motor neurons, or other interneurons. Interneurons work together in small circuits to perform simple tasks, such as identifying the location of a sensory signal, and much more complicated ones, such as recognizing a familiar face.

Question 9

What are the Primary Components of the Neuron?

Answer 9

A. Dendrites, Cell Body, Axon

Question 10

What’s the Process of Neuro Transmission?

Answer 10

A. Dendrites receive signal from other neurons in a form of chemicals, then if signal is strong enough, it will travel to the cell body, then to the axon, then to another set of dendrites of another neuron (action potential).

Question 11

What’s the function of the Myelin Sheath?

Answer 11

A. The job of the myelin sheath (fatty layer outside of axon) is to help prevent the signal from degrading.

Question 12

What is the Myelin Sheath made up of?

Answer 12

A. It is made up of Glial Cells. They are support cells found in the nervous system. These cells also clean toxic waste, prevent infections, prevent infections, transport nutrients, and also communicate electrically.

Question 13

What’s Conduction?

Answer 13

A. The movement of an electric signal within neurons, from the dendrites to the cell body, then throughout the neuron.

Question 14

What’s Transmission?

Answer 14

A. The movement of a signal from one neuron to another as a result of chemical signaling across the synapse.

Question 15

What’s the Resting Potential?

Answer 15

A. The difference in electric charge between the inside and outside of a neuron’s cell membrane. The resting potential was measured to be about -70 millivolts.

Question 16

What’s Action Potential?

Answer 16

A. An electrical signal that is conducted along the length of a neuron’s axon to a synapse.

Question 17

What is Neurotransmitters?

Answer 17

A. Knoblike structures at the end of an axon.

Question 18

What’s the Receptor?

Answer 18

A. Parts of the cell membrane that receive neurotransmitters and either initiate or prevent a new electric signal.

Question 19

What’s Acetylcholine (ACh) and what does it do?

Answer 19

is a neurotransmitter involved in a number of functions, including voluntary motor control. Acetylcholine is found in neurons of the brain and in the synapses where axons connect to muscles and body organs, such as the heart. Acetylcholine activates muscle movements, and it also contributes to the regulation of attention, learning, sleeping, dreaming, and memory.

Question 20

What’s Dopamine and what does it do?

Answer 20

A. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that regulates motor behavior, motivation, pleasure, and emotional arousal. Because of its role in basic motivated behaviors, such as seeking pleasure or associating actions with rewards, dopamine plays a role in drug addiction. High levels of dopamine in some brain pathways are linked to schizophrenia, whereas low levels in other areas are linked to Parkinson’s disease.

Question 21

What’s GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)?

Answer 21

A. The primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain, meaning that it tends to prevent the firing of neurons. Too much glutamate, or too little GABA, can cause neurons to become overactive, causing seizures.

Question 22

What’s Serotonin and what does it do?

Answer 22

A. Serotonin is involved in the regulation of sleep and wakefulness, eating, and aggressive behavior. This effects mood and arousal, low levels of each have been implicated in mood disorders.

Question 23

What are Endorphins and what do they do?

Answer 23

A. Endorphins are chemicals that act within the pain pathways and emotion centers of the brain. The “runner’s high” experienced by many athletes as they push their bodies to painful limits of endurance can be explained by the release of endorphins in the brain.

Question 24

What is an Agonist?

Answer 24

A. A chemical that mimics the actions of a neurotransmitter and/or increases the action of the neurotransmitter.

Question 25

What’s an Antagonist?

Answer 25

A. Chemical that blocks the action.

Question 26

What’s Glutamate?

Answer 26

A. The major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain, meaning that it enhances the transmission of information between neurons.

Question 27

What’s Norepinephrine?

Answer 27

A. Is involved in states of vigilance, or a heightened awareness of dangers in the environment

Question 28

What is and what are the functions of the Hindbrain?

Answer 28

A. An area of the brain that coordinates information coming into and out of the spinal cord. The hindbrain looks like a stalk on which the rest of the brain sits, and it controls the most basic functions of life: respiration, alertness, and motor skills. The structures that make up the hindbrain include the medulla, the reticular formation, the cerebellum, and the pons.

Question 29

What is and what are the functions of the Hindbrain?

Answer 29

A. Located on top of the Hindbrain. The Midbrain has 2 main structures. The tectum and tegmentum. The tectum orients a person in the environment. The tegmentum is involved in movement and arousal. The Midbrain is the central location of neurotransmitters involved in arousal, mood, and motivation.

Question 30

What’s Forebrain and what does it do?

Answer 30

The forebrain is the highest level of the brain—literally and figuratively—and controls complex cognitive, emotional, sensory, and motor functions. The forebrain itself is divided into two main sections: the cerebral cortex and the subcortical structures, this includes: the thalamus, hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus, etc.

Question 31

What’s the Occipital Lobe?

Answer 31

A. Processes visual information. Sensory receptors in the eyes send information to the thalamus, which in turn sends information to the primary areas of the occipital lobe, where simple features of the stimulus are extracted, such as the location and orientation of an object’s edges

Question 32

What’s the Parietal Lobe?

Answer 32

A. Located in front of the occipital lobe, carries out functions that include processing information about touch. The parietal lobe contains the somatosensory cortex, a strip of brain tissue running from the top of the brain down to the sides.

Question 33

What’s the Temporal Lobe?

Answer 33

A. located on the lower side of each hemisphere, is responsible for hearing and language. The primary auditory cortex in the temporal lobe is analogous to the somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobe and the primary visual areas of the occipital lobe: It receives sensory information from the ears based on the frequencies of sounds.

Question 34

What’s the Frontal Lobe?

Answer 34

A. Which sits behind the forehead, has specialized areas for movement, abstract thinking, planning, memory, and judgement. As you just read, it contains the motor cortex, which coordinates movements of muscle groups throughout the body.

Question 35

What’s the Somatosensory Cortex?

Answer 35

A. Somatosensory cortex is responsible for processing somatic sensations. These sensations arise from receptors positioned throughout the body that are responsible for detecting touch, proprioception (i.e. the position of the body in space), nociception (i.e. pain), and temperature. Located in the Parietal Lobe.

Question 36

What is the Motor Cortex?

Answer 36

A. Directly in front of the somatosensory cortex, in the frontal lobe, is a parallel strip of brain tissue called the motor cortex. The motor cortex initiates voluntary movements and sends messages to the basal ganglia, cerebellum, and spinal cord.