Chapter 2 Module (Biology of the Mind) Flashcards
Phrenology
The study that suggests that bumps on the outside of your brain are responsible for brain functions.
Franz Gall
Biological Psychologists
Study the link between biological processes and psychological processes.
Neuroplasticity
The brain’s ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience.
Neurons
A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system.
Cell Body
The part of the neuron that contains the nucleus.
Dendrite
Fibers receive and integrate information, conducting it toward the cell body.
Axon
The segmented neuron extension that passes messages through its branches to other neurons or to muscles or glands.
Myelin Sheath
A fatty tissue layer segmentally encasing the axons of some neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed as neural impulses hop from one node to the next.
Glial Cells
Take care of the neurons by feeding and insulating them.
Also play a roled in information transmission and memory.
Action Potential
A brief electrical charge that travels down the axon.
Reuptake
A neurotransmitter’s reabsorption by the sending neuron.
3 Functional Types of Neurons
Sensory (Afferent) - Input from sense receptors
Motor (Efferent) - Impulses to our muscles & glands
Inter (Association) - Transmit information between the other 2 types
Dopamine
Influences movement, learning, attention & emotion.
Oversupply liked to schizophrenia - undersupply linked to tremors and decreased mobility in Parkinsons & ADHD.
Serotonin
Affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal.
Undersupply lnked to depression; some antidepressant drugs raise serotonin.
Agonist
Molecule that increases neurotransmitter’s action.
Mimics neurotransmitter.
ex. to treat Parkinson’s
Antagonist
Molecule that inhibits or blocks neurotransmitter’s action.
Blocks receptor so that neurotransmitter cannot get in.
Ex. To treat schizophrenia
Reuptake Inhibitor
Prevents neurotransmitter from being transported back to pre-synaptic neuron.
ex. Selective serotoning inhibitor (SSRI) to treat depression
Parkinson’s Disease
Movement disorder characterized by tremors and difficulty initiating movement, caused by loss of neurons that use neurotransmitter dopamine.
L-Dopa
Neurons modify L-Dopa to become dopamine.
Consuming more L-Dopa (agonst) can elevate amount n the brain and spur surviving neurons to produce more dopamine.
THC
Binds to cannabinoid receptors
Impacts learning, memory, planning, coordination and movement.
Limits both excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters
CBD
Interacts with various neurotransmitter receptors - ex. serotonin
Anti-anxiety, anti-inflammatory, and anti-psychotic properties.
May reverse negative cognitive impacts related to THC.
Ways to study the brain
Brain Damage
Brain Stimulation
Recording brain’s electrical activity (EEG MEG)
Neuroimaging techniques (PET, MRI, fMRI)
Cortical Mapping
Research conducted on conscious patients during neurosurgery at Montreal Neurological Institute.
Areas of the body requiring precise control occupy the greatest amount of coritcal space.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
Temporarily ‘knocks out part of the brain, like a virtual lesion.
Less invasive procedure used to stimulate brain.
EEG
Recording of waves of electrical activity across brain’s surface.
MEG
Measures brain’s isolated magnetic fields to determine how certain tasks influence brain activity.
CT Scan
X-ray technology. Way more sensitive.
PET
Allows us to see which part of the brain is active by tracing where a radioactive form of glucose goes while brain performs a given task
MRI
Makes images from signals produced by brain tissue after magnets align the spin of atoms.
fMRI
Reveals brain activity and function
Compares successive MRI images taken a split second apart and shows changes in level of oxygen in blood flow in the brain.
Cerebral Cortex
Outer grey matter.
Highest level of the brain.
Responsible for the most complex aspects of perception, emotion, movement and thought.
Cerebral Hemispheres
Control opposite sides of the body
Connected by the corpus callosum
Functionally symmetrical in some respects (motor and sensory cortex)
Have specialized ability.
Four Cerebral Lobes
Frontal
Parietal
Occipital
Temporal
Frontal Lobe
Executive functions - judgement, planning, and inhibition of impulses.
Active in use of working memory and processing of new memories
Involved in speech and skeletal motor functions (broca’s area)
Parietal Lobe
Managing input from multiple senses
Performing spatial and mathematical reasoning
Monitoring sensation of movement.
Occipital Lobe
Visual Information (visual cortex)
Temporal Lobe
Hearing (auditory cortex), language comprehension (Wernicke’s area).
Motor Cortex
Back of frontal lobe, next to parietal lobe.
Topographical represenation of the body.
Sensory (Somatosensory) Cortex
Located at front end of parietal lobe
Topographical representation of th ebody.
CTE
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
Degenerative brain disease
Associated with repetitive brain trauma
Changes in thinking and memory
Changes in personality and behaviour
Difficulty with balance and motor skills.
Sub-Concussive Impacts
Shaking of brain but no symptoms; below threshold
Hypothalamus
Termperature regulation, feeding, fighting, fleeing, sex, emotional regulation.
Limbic System
Hippocampys and Amygdala
Emotions such as fear and aggression
Basic drives such as hunger and sex
Formation of episodic memories
Hippocampus
Creates new memories
Integrates memories into a network of knowledge
Consolidates and sotres memories
Helps us retrieve memories
Amygdala
Located at tip of each side of the hippocampus
Central role in emotional procedsses
Formation of emotional memroies - attaches significance to events associated with fear, punishment, or reward
Hindbrain
Lowest and most primitive part of the brain
Pons
Medulla
Cerebellum
Spinal Cord
Pons
Coordinates automatic and unconscious movements.
Midbrain
Connects higher and lower portions through sensory and motor neurons.
Medulla Oblongata
Heartbeat and breathing.
Cerebellum
Coordinates reflexive and voluntary movement, especially movement and timing.
Thalamus
Recieves messages from all senses except smell and sends the messages out to different parts of the brain.
Corpus Callosum
Communicates between cerebral hemisphers
Reticular Formation
Sleep, wakefulness, and levels of arousal.
Basal Ganglia
Deliverate movement
Parkinsons: No dopamine to this area, it becomes inaffective.
Zombie Brain
1) bad at waling : cerebellum
2) always hungry : hypothalamus
3) dumb : frontal lobe
4) zombie rage : amygdala
5) to kill a zombie : brain stem
