Chapter 1 Flashcards
What is Trepanning?
-started in 7000 BC
-it involves making a burr hole into the human skull
-the aim was to cure, not kill (regrowth in skull)
-release evil, intracranial pressure/swelling or mental disorders (epilepsy, migraines)
-many cultures still perceived heart as seat of the soul/memory
Who is Hippocrates?
-father of Western Medicine
-correlation between structure and function (hands are for grasping)
-believed brain isn’t involved in sensation but its the seat of intelligence
Did Aristotle agree with Hippocrates?
-Aristotle placed intellect in the heart and brain as a cooling system for overheated blood (animals are impulsive but we have a cool brain)
Who is Galen?
-physician to Roman gladiators (localization) also dissected animals
-found: cerebrum = soft, sensation and perception; cerebellum = hard, motion
-suggested that fluid in ventricles was origin of motion (like hydraulics; wrong)
Who is Descartes?
-supported the hydraulic mechanical function view (which prevailed for 1500 years)
-unlike animals, humans possess intellect and a God-given soul
What were Descartes views on mind and body?
-brain controls animal behaviour
-mind controls human mental capacities (spiritual entity; talks to body via the pineal gland)
-mind and body are separate
What is the view of neuroscience/aspects of neuroanatomy?
-mind has a physical place in brain
-bumps: gyri; grooves: sulci/fissures
-separated cerebrum into lobes
What did Marie-Jean-Pierre Flourens do that contributed to localization?
-in 1823, Flourens used an experimental ablation (damage brain) method to demonstrate the role of the cerebellum in movement and the cerebrum in sensation and perception
What was Gall/Phrenology’s perspective on localization?
-according to Franz Joseph Gall (late 1700s German physician) and phrenology, the bumps of the brain have different functions
What is Phrenology?
-200+ areas of the brain linked to different aspects of personality
-measured bumps on skull of groups with different characteristics
-not taken seriously by scientists
What did Flourens argue about Phrenology?
-shape of skull does not equal shape of brain
-traits not isolated to phrenology sectors (ablation
Who was Phineas Gage?
-railroad worker; tamping iron destroyed his left frontal lobe
-profound effect on his personality (unorganized, not gracious, etc.)
-influenced cerebral localization
How did Broca influence localization of function?
-examined the brain of man who could understand language, but not speak
-also a man who could speak, but not understand language
-both had damage in different areas
How did Fritsch and Hitzig influence localization of function?
-stimulated areas of primary motor cortex (in dogs)
-saw specific types of movement in different parts of the body
-movement always on opposite side of the body from stimulation (contralateral)
What’s the difference between white and grey matter?
-17-18 century scientists saw a division in the brain between white and grey matter
-white matter: nerve fibers (transfer information)
-grey matter: cell bodies
How did the discovery of electricity impact our view of the nervous system?
-electricity helped see nerves as wires
-some wires sent information to muscles (efferent)
-others received information from the senses (afferent)
What are the central and peripheral divisions of the nervous system?
-Central Nervous System (CNS): brain and spinal cord
-Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): everything else
Who is Wilder Penfield?
-founded the Montreal Neurological Institute (treated severe epilepsy)
-before operating, stimulated brain of awake patients with electrical probes and observed their responses
-created maps of sensory and motor cortices of the brain (cortical homunculus); localized everything
What’s the difference between the Nissl and Golgi stain?
-Nissl stain (Franz Nissl): stains the cell body of all neurons in a region, but only the cell body
-Golgi stain (Camillo Golgi): stains the whole neuron of some but not all neurons, highlights their spread/reach; Golgi believed that neurons are fused together to form a continuous reticulum (like arteries)
What were Golgi and Cajal’s views that led to the Neuron Doctrine?
-Golgi argued the reticular theory, that neurons are all fused together
-Cajal used the Golgi stain to argue that neurons are not continuous with each other
-debate between Golgi and Cajal led to the Neuron Doctrine
What are the views of the Neuron Doctrine?
-neurons are separate
-the cell (neuron) is the anatomical unit of the brain (in addition to glia)
-neurons communicate by contact, not continuity
-Golgi and Cajal shared a Nobel prize for their findings in 1906, but remained rivals
What do we know now?
-the brain is made up of neurons and glia
-100 billion neurons (10x more glia)
-neurons sense changes and communicate
-glia support and nourish neurons (glue; the reason our brains stay together)
