Chapter 2

Question 1

What is phrenology

Answer 1

Bumps on the skull matched to behaviours.

Question 2

What is action potential?

Answer 2

-summation of info from dendrites
- enough excitatory responses =action potential.
- results in release of neurotransmitters down the postsynaptic cells.
Refractory period, 1ms

Question 3

What is resting potential?

Answer 3

• voltage difference between inside and outside of the neuron.
• negatively charged ions inside the cell, rests at neutral.

Question 4

What’s a synapse?

Answer 4

Gap between an axon (presynaptic neuron) and an adjacent nerve cell (postsynaptic neuron).
Neurotransmitters released into the synapse.

Question 5

Steps in synaptic transmission.

Answer 5

Action is brief due to:
Degradation:
- rapid breakdown of transmitter by an enzyme.
Reuptake:
- transmitter is taken up into the presynaptic nerve cell.

Question 6

Types of neurotransmitters?

Answer 6

Acetylcholine (ACh)
- muscle control and sleep
Dopamine
- voluntary muscle movement and reward.
Norepinephrine (NE)
- adrenaline 
- alertness and heart rate.
Serotonin (5-HT)
- in gut but still a neurotransmitter.
GABA:
-Inhibitory, from negative charge.
Glutamine:
- learning and memory.

Question 7

What are the main components of the nervous system?

Answer 7

• CNS- BRAIN-SPINAL CHORD

- Peripheral-somatic-autonomic (sympathetic, parasympathetic).

Question 8

Peripheral nervous system?

Answer 8

Made up of all nerves and neurons that aren’t in the brain or spinal chord. Includes cranial nerves (connected to the brain), spinal nerve (connected to spinal chord). Is divided into the somatic and autonomic nervous systems.

Question 9

Somatic nervous system?

Answer 9

division of the PNS consisting of nerves that carry information from the senses to the CNS (Sensory system (afferent)) and from the CNS to the voluntary muscles of the body (Motor system (efferent)).

Question 10

Central nervous system?

Answer 10

Consists of the brain and spinal chord. Both the brain and the spinal cord are composed of neurons and glial cells that control the life- sustaining functions of the body as well as all thought, emotion, and behavior.

Question 11

Autonomic nervous system?

Answer 11

Whereas the somatic division of the peripheral nervous system controls the senses and voluntary muscles, the autonomic division controls everything else in the body—organs, glands, and involuntary muscles. The autonomic nervous system is divided into two systems, the sympathetic division (fight/flight) and the parasympathetic division (recovery).

Question 12

Endocrine system?

Answer 12

The body’s slow chemical communication system. A set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream.

Question 13

Functions of the endocrine system?

Answer 13

• maintenance of internal environment.
• growth and development.
• aspects of sexual reproduction.
• fighting, feeding, fleeing, fornication.

Question 14

Endocrine glands?

Answer 14

Adrenal gland:
- regulates stress and emotions
- controls blood pressure and heart rate.
Pituitary gland:
- gland located in the brain that secretes human growth hormone and influences all other hormone- secreting glands (also known
as the master gland).
Pineal gland:
- gland located near the base of the cerebrum; secretes melatonin.
Thyroid gland:
- gland found in the neck; regulates metabolism.
Pancreas:
- controls the level of blood sugar in the body by secreting insulin and glucagon.
Gonads:
- sex glands; secrete hormones that regulate sexual development and behavior as well as reproduction.

Question 15

Imaging?

Answer 15

MRI and CT scan:
- structural

PET and fMRI and EEG:

• function and good spatial.
• changes from blood.

Question 16

Different structures of the hind brain?

Answer 16

Medulla:
- connects to the spinal chord
- responsible for breathing,heartbeat, swallowing.
Pons:
- relays information from the cortex to the cerebellum, and that plays a part in sleep, dreaming, left-right body coordination, and arousal.
Reticular formation:
- responsible for arousal, alertness.
- damage to this causes deep coma.
Cerebellum:
- fine motor movements, coordination and balance.

Question 17

Structures of the limbic system?

Answer 17

Thalamus:
- switchboard for sensory info.
Hippocampus:
- all about memory.
Hypothalamus:
- homeostasis (regulates blood pressure)
- hunger, thirst, sleep and sex
- controls the pituitary gland.
Amygdala:
- fear response

Question 18

Cortex?

Answer 18

Outer layer of the brain is the cortex.

• 2 hemispheres
• sulci (grooves)
• gyri (ridges)
• has 4 lobes

Question 19

What is the corpus callosum?

Answer 19

thick band of neurons that connects the right and left cerebral hemispheres of the cortex.

Question 20

Four lobes of the cerebral cortex?

Answer 20

Frontal:
- movement, speech, decisions, goals
Parietal:
- sensation and spatial perception.
Occipital:
- vision
Temporal:
Auditory, language.

Question 21

Two conditions in the association areas of the frontal lobe?

Answer 21

Broca’s aphasia:
- unable to speak fluently
Wernicke’s aphasia:
- unable to understand or produce meaningful language.

Question 22

What are the two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex responsible for?

Answer 22

Left:
- language
- verbal memory 
- local processing
Right:
- prosody (music)
- spatial memory
- global processing