Chapter 2 Flashcards
What is neuroplasticity?
The brain’s ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience.
What is a neuron?
A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system.
What is a cell body?
The part of a neuron that contains the nucleus; the cell’s life-support center.
What is action potential?
A nerve impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon.
How do neurons communicate?
In a chemistry-to-electricity process, sending action potentials down axons.
What are nerves?
Bundled axons that form neural cables connecting the central nervous system with muscles, glands, and sensory organs.
How do neurotransmitters affect our mood and behavior?
They affect brain chemistry at synapses
What are the two major divisions of the nervous system, and what are their basic functions?
Central nervous system (CNS), brain and spinal cord; peripheral nervous system (PNS), sensory and motor neurons connecting the CNS to the rest of the body.
What are some techniques for studying the brain?
EEG, MEG, PET, fMRI, and MRI scans
What are the hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain?
Hindbrain contains the brainstem structures
Midbrain connects the two; controls movement and transmits information enabling seeing and hearing
Forebrain manages complex cognitive activities
What structures make up the brainstem?
The medulla and the pons
What is the brainstems function?
Controlling automatic survival functions
What is the thalamus function?
The brain’s sensory control center
What is the reticular formations function?
Controlling arousal
What is the cerebellums function?
Processing sensory input, coordinating muscle movement, enabling nonverbal learning and memory
What are the structures and function of the limbic system?
Amygdala, hypothalamus, and hippocampus;
Emotions, drive, memory
What is the function of the amygdala?
Aggressive and fearful responses
What is the frontal lobe involved in?
Speaking, muscle movements, planning, judging
What is the function of the hypothalamus?
Monitoring bodily maintenance activities, emotion and reward, triggers pituitary to influence other glands in endocrine system
What is the function of the hippocampus?
Processing explicit (conscious) memories
What are the four lobes of the cerebral cortex? Where are they?
Frontal lobes (behind the forehead)
Parietal lobes (top-rear of the head)
Occipital lobes (back of the head)
Temporal lobes (above the ears)
What do the parietal lobes do?
Receive sensory input for touch and body position
What do the occipital lobes do?
Receive input from the visual fields
What do the temporal lobes do?
Receive input from the ears
What are the functions of the motor cortex?
Controlling voluntary muscle movement
What are the functions of the somatosensory cortex?
Registering and processing body touch and movement sensations
What are the functions of the association areas?
Higher-level functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking
Is it true that 90 percent of our brain isn’t really used?
No
How does the brain modify itself after some kinds of damage?
It can adapt to damage by reorganizing existing tissue, but cannot form new neurons.
What do we mean by consciousness?
Consciousness is our awareness of ourselves and our environment.
How does selective attention direct our perceptions?
Blocks out much and often shifts the spotlight of our attention from one thing to another.
What is the circadian rhythm?
Our internal biological clock
What are the stages of our nightly sleep cycle?
N1 sleep - non-REM sleep stage, irregular brain waves
N2 sleep - bursts of rhythmic waves, half of our sleep time
N3 sleep - deep sleep, large, slow delta waves
REM sleep - internal arousal, external calm
How do our sleep patterns differ?
It depends on age, genetics, and social-cultural factors
What are the five theories that describe our need to sleep?
Sleep protects
Sleep helps us recover
Sleep helps restore and rebuild
Sleep feeds creativity
Sleep supports growth
How does sleep loss affect us?
Causes fatigue, irritability, lack of concentration, productivity, and memory consolidation
What are the major sleep disorders?
Insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea, sleepwalking/talking, and night terrors.
What do we dream about?
Mostly bad things, but generally ordinary events and everyday experiences with bizarre flavor.
What are the five explanations of why we dream?
Satisfy wishes,
File away memories,
Develop and preserve neural pathways,
Make sense of neural static,
Reflect cognitive development
What is an axon?
the segmented neuron extension that sends messages to other neurons or to muscles and glands.
What are dendrites?
neuron extensions that receive and integrate messages from axons, and conduct them toward the cell body.
What are glial cells?
cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons; they also play a role in learning, thinking, and memory.
What is a synapse?
the junction between the axon tip of a sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of a receiving neuron.
What is a refractory period in neural processing?
A brief resting pause that occurs after a neuron has fired; subsequent action potentials cannot occur until the axon returns to its resting state.
What are neurotransmitters?
neuron-produced chemicals that cross the synaptic gap to carry messages to other neurons or to muscles and glands.
What are endorphins?
“morphine within”—natural, opioid-like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure.
What is the tiny space between the axon of one neuron and the dendrite or cell body of another called?
synaptic gap.
What does the intensity of stimulus determine?
whether or not an impulse is generated.
The release of endorphins into the brain is a response to what?
pain or vigorous exercise.
What part of the brainstem controls the heartbeat and breathing?
medulla
What is the most influential endocrine gland, or master gland?
Pituitary
What does the thalamus function as?
sensory control center
What is the lower brain structure that governs arousal?
Reticular formation
What is the part of the brain that coordinates voluntary movement and enables nonverbal learning and memory?
Cerebellum
If one of the parts of the limbic system is the amygdala, what is the other part?
hippocampus
A cat’s ferocious response to electrical brain stimulation would lead you to suppose the electrode had touched the ____.
Amygdala
What neural structure most directly regulates eating, drinking, and body temperature?
hypothalamus
What are the uncommitted areas that make up three-fourths of the cerebral cortex?
Association areas
What lobe enables judging and planning?
Frontal
Based on studies of people with split brains, what does the left hemisphere excel in?
processing language
What ability would damage to the brain’s right hemisphere most reduce in a person?
make inferences
What is a person most likely to experience in the N1 sleep stage?
Hallucinations
What is the difference between narcolepsy and sleep apnea?
Narcolepsy means the person has uncontrollable sleep attacks; sleep apnea is when the person repeatedly stops breathing while asleep.
What are neurotransmitters?
Neurons release neurotransmitters, which affect behaviors and emotions.
What is a threshold?
The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse.
What is the all-or-none response?
A neuron’s reaction of either firing (with full-strength) or not firing.
What is reuptake?
A neurotransmitter’s reabsorption by the sending neuron.
What is opiate?
Opium and its derivatives, such as morphine and heroin; depress neural activity, temporarily lessening pain and anxiety.
What is the nervous system?
The body’s speedy, electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the central and peripheral nervous systems.
