Ch 3 Lec 11 Flashcards
Medulla
- Regulates breathing, heart rate, blood pressure
- Absence of activity in the medulla is sometimes used by physicians as a sign of brain death
- Stimulates coughing, vomiting, or swallowing when necessary
Neuropsychological tests
- Improving our understanding of the brain
- Indicative of brain-behavior relations
- E.g. Trail making test
Pons
- Has a strong effect on consciousness
- Helps regulate sleep-wake cycle
- Surgical anesthesia induces unconsciousness by influencing the activity of the pons
Cerebellum
- controls timing of well-learned sequences of movement
* research suggests that the cerebellum may influence the timing and sequencing of mental activities such as language
What does hindbrain include?
•Brain stem
-Medulla
-Pons
•Cerebellum
Forebrain or Cerebrum
- Thalamus
- Basal Ganglia
- Hypothalamus
Thalamus
- Sensory switchboard
* Routes sensory information to appropriate place (e.g., visual goes to visual centers; auditory to auditory centers)
Basal Ganglia
•Movement •5 distinct structures around thalamus •voluntary muscle control - Parkinson's disease -Neurons which supply dopamine degenerate
Hypothalamus
- Major role in controlling biological drives
- Manufactures “orexins”-stimulate eating
- Connection with pituitary gland that controls hormones
- Sexual behavior, eating, drinking, aggression, emotion
- Damage can disrupt all these behaviour
Limbic System
- Hippocampus
- Amygdala
- Nucleus accumbens
Hippocampus
Forming and retrieving memories
Amygdala
- Organizes emotional responses
- Especially those linked to aggression and fear
- Can produce emotional responses without brain ‘knowing’
Nucleus Accumbens
•Part of limbic system
-Linked to effects of drugs and abuse
• Cocaine, amphetamines, opiates etc. stimulate release of dopamine in nucleus accumbens
•Linked to rewards such as food, sexually-relevant cues
Cerebral Cortex-The Crow
4 lobes •Frontal: speech and skeletal motor functions •Parietal: body sensations •Occipital: vision •Temporal: auditory