Chapter 2 Flashcards
Neuron
Also known as nerve cell, it’s key function is to transmit information through the body. The inside is negatively charged and the outside is positively charged.
Nerve
Fiber made up of neurons that transmit impulses throughout the body.
Anatomy of a Neuron
Dendrites: receive information
Body: processes and integrates information
Axon: carries information from one part to the other
Axon terminal: transmits information to the nerve.
Glial cells
Any of the cells that hold nerve cells in place and help them work the way they should. Provides support and nutrition.
Action Potential
A jump in activity that allows neurons to communicate.
Depolarization
When the neuron starts to loose it’s negative charge by taking in sodium (+), which causes the cell to “wake up.”
Hyperpolarization
When the neuron takes in negative charge and calms the cell.
Synapse
The space between the neurons that allow them to communicate. Pre and post-synaptic membrane.
Auto receptors
Found on the presynaptic membrane, it recycles neurochemicals.
Lock and Key phenomenon
The relationship between neurotransmitters/neurochemicals and receptors. The neurotransmitters are useless until they fit into a receptor.
Types of Neurotransmitters
- Acetylcholine (formulates new memories)
- Dopamine (learning and pleasure)
- Serotonin (turns neurons off)
- Norepinephrine (nor-adrenalin, stress hormone)
- GABA (calming)
- Glutamate (motor activity/muscle simulation)
- Endorphins (pain control)
Central Nervous System
Brain and Spinal Cord
Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
Somatic NS - voluntary movements
Autonomic NS - involuntary movements
- Sympathetic NS - arousing (fear)
- Parasympathetic NS - calming
Brain - Cortical anatomy
- Frontal lobe: makes us who we are, HOG (thinking, planning, humor), Impulse control, mood, personality, and motor strip (chosen action and movement, right controls left and left controls right).
- Temporal lobe: language functions, memory, and emotional processing.
- Occipital lobe: primitive visual processing (color, angles, and motion)
- Parietal lobe: puts primitive visual processing into wholes (visuospatial).
Brain - Sub-cortical
- Thalamus: Manages messages to and from your body to your brain.
- Hypo-thalamus: Regulation of body systems and hormones.
- Pons: Regulates sleep (paralyses us when we are asleep).
- Medulla: Regulates heart rate and respiration.
- Colliculi: Unconscious fast visual and audio processing.
- Corpus Collosum: Makes right and left brain function as one.
Brain - Limbic System
Primitive reactions regulate memory and emotion.
- Hippocampus: Goes into right and left. Is the primary aspect in storing new memories.
- Mamillary bodies: Creations of new memories.
- Amygdala: Emotional function, taste and fear based memories.
- Cingulate: Attaches emotional labels to experiences.
- Olfactory bulb: Scent based memory and highly intense memory. PTSD triggered by smell is often a result of this.
Basal Ganglia
Allows us to have smooth flowing motions (dam metaphor).
Endocrine System
Glands that produce hormones that regulate bodily functions (mood, energy, emotion, sleep). Moves through the bloodstream. Lasts longer than neurotransmitters.
Endocrine System - Master Gland
The pituitary gland is a master gland (whose own master is the hypothalamus) that releases a number of hormones.
Brain plasticity
The brain’s ability to change its structure and function in response to injury or sensory impairments.
Baby Neurons
The neurons in a newborn. In the first few years of life, more than 1 million new neural connections are formed every second.
Divided Brain
Left hemisphere: Recognizes words and letters, interpreting spoken language, process verbal memory, speech, reading, writing, arithmetic.
Right hemisphere: Recognizing faces, emotions, and geometrical patterns, music and sounds, nonverbal memory, spatial reasoning, distance and direction.
Divided Brain - Contralateral Control
Left hemisphere of the brain controls the right, and right controls the left.
Focalization
Narration is what’s told; focalization is what’s perceived.
- External Focalizer: pov external to the story.
- Internal Focalizer: pov involved in the story.
Consciousness - fMRI
Functional magnetic resonance imaging. Non-invasive brain imaging tech that measures brain activity by tracking blood flow.
Consciousness - Sequential Processing
Giving full attention to one thing at a time.
Consciousness - Parallel Processing
Keeping the body working (heart function, balance, etc.) while sequential processing is happening.
Attention - Perceptual
How information is acquired from the environment through sensory organs.
Attention - Cognitive
Storage, manipulation, and retrieval of information.
Inattentional Blindness
When someone doesn’t notice something obvious because they are focusing on something else.
