Chapter 1 - Neuroscience's past, present and future

Question 1

Where are the cerebrum and the cerebellum?

Answer 1

The cerebrum is in the front, and the cerebellum in the back of the brain.

Question 2

What are major functions of the CEREBRUM?

Answer 2

Sensation and perception. It is also a repository of memory.

Question 3

What are major functions of the CEREBELLUM?

Answer 3

It is primarily a movement control cente

Question 4

What is the function of white matter relative to the gray matter?

Answer 4

It contains the fibers that bring information to and from gray matter.

Question 5

What are the four lobes of the cerebrum?

Answer 5

Frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, and temporal lobe.

Question 6

What is the role of the CENTRAL SULCUS?

Answer 6

It divides the frontal lobe from the parietal lobe.

Question 7

What is the role of the SYLVIAN FISSURE?

Answer 7

It divides the frontal lobe from the temporal lobe.

Question 8

What are the elements of the CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM?

Answer 8

The cerebrum, the cerebellum, the brain stem, and the spinal cord.

Question 9

What are the elements of the PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM?

Answer 9

The nervous system that extends throughout the body.

Question 10

Where do the DORSAL and VENTRAL roots of the nerve enter the spinal cord?

Answer 10

The DORSAL root enters towards the BACK of the spinal cord, and the VENTRAL root enters towards the FRONT. D-B, V-F

Question 11

What is the area of MOLECULAR NEUROSCIENCE?

Answer 11

The study of the most elementary level of brain, the function of the molecules that allow neurons to communicate, among others.

Question 12

What is the area of CELLULAR NEUROSCIENCE?

Answer 12

The study focusing on how all the molecules work together to give neurons their special properties. How many different types of neurons are there, how do they differ in function? How do they perform computations?

Question 13

What is the area of SYSTEMS NEUROSCIENCE?

Answer 13

The study focusing on constellations of neurons that form complex circuits, that perform a common function. E.g., the visual system and the motor system.

Question 14

What is the area of BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE?

Answer 14

The study focusing on how neural systems work together to produce integrated behaviors. Are different forms of memory accounted for by different systems? How do different parts of the brain affect mood and behavior? Etc.

Question 15

What is the area of COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE?

Answer 15

Understanding how neural mechanisms are responsible for higher levels of human mental activity, such as self-awareness, imagination, and language. How the activity of the brain creates the mind.

Question 16

What is CLINICAL neuroscience research?

Answer 16

Medical/clinical research that is mainly conducted by physicians. Neurology, psychiatry, neurosurgery, neutopathology.

Question 17

What is EXPERIMENTAL neuroscience research?

Answer 17

Research that provides a foundation for all medical treatments of the nervous system. Includes many methodologies. Neuroanatomists, neurophysiologists, neuropharmacologists, …

Question 18

What is THEORETICAL neuroscience research?

Answer 18

Research that uses mathematical and computational tools to understand the brain at all levels of analysis. Trying to make sense of the vast amounts of data generated by experimentalists, with goals of helping focus experiments on questions of greatest importance.

Question 19

What are the four steps of the scientific process?

Answer 19

Observation, replication, interpretation, and verification.

Question 20

What is the observation part of the scientific process?

Answer 20

Observation is observing the external world, or introspection. For example: Cut the nerve fibers that control the muscles, see if it affects muscles.

Question 21

What is the replication part of the scientific process?

Answer 21

Any observation, whether experimental or clinical, must be replicated. E.g., on different subjects or making similar observations in different patients.

Question 22

What is the interpretation part of the scientific process?

Answer 22

Once a scientist believes the observation is correct, he or she interprets it. This depends on the state of knowledge or ignorance at the time and the mindset of the scientist. Interpretations do not always withstand the test of time.

Question 23

What is the verification part of the scientific process?

Answer 23

Reproduction. The observation must be sufficiently robust so that any competent scientist who precisely follows the protocols of the original observer can reproduce it.

Question 24

What are brain ventricles, and what functions have been ascribed to them over the ages?

Answer 24

Ventricles are a set of four interconnected cavities or hollow spaces of the brain. The cerebrospinal fluid that acts as a cushion or a buffer for the brain is produced there. They were thought to play a role in sensations by movement of humors, and thought to have caused movement of the limbs.

Question 25

What experiment did Bell perform to show that the nerves of the body contain a mixture of sensory and motor fibers?

Answer 25

He tried cutting first the ventral and then the dorsal roots of the neurons separately and observing the consequences in experimental animals.

Question 26

What did Flourens’ experiments suggest were the functions of the cerebrum and the cerebellum?

Answer 26

The cerebrum is involved in sensation and perception, and the cerebellum plays a role in the coordination of movement.

Question 27

What is the meaning of the term animal model?

Answer 27

Examining processes in animals that neuroscientists wish to understand in humans, since nervous systems between mammals can be similar in many respects.

Question 28

A region of the cerebrum is now called Broca’s area. What function do you think this region performs, and why?

Answer 28

It is linked to speech production, since Paul Broca’s examinations led him to believe that a lesion in the left frontal lobe prevented a patient from being able to speak.

Question 29

What are the different levels of analysis in neuroscience research? What questions do researchers ask at each level?

Answer 29

Molecular neuroscience: How do the molecules in the brain function?
Cellular neuroscience: How do the molecules work together to give neurons their properties?
Systems neuroscience: How do constellations of neurons function?
Behavioral neuroscience: How do neural systems work together to produce integrated behaviors?
Cognitive neuroscience: How do higher levels of mental activity such as self-awareness, imagination, and language arise from the brain?