Chapter 2: The Brain and Behavior Flashcards
What’s in the Nervous System?
- Complexity
- Integration
- Adaptability (plasticity)
- Electrochemical transmission
What do nerves do?
They carry information
How many parts to the Nervous System are there?
2
What are Glial Cells?
-located in the CNS and peripheral NS
-provide support for CNS function
-help support the neurons
What are the parts of a neuron’s structure?
- Cell body
- Dendrites
- Axon
- Impulse
- Myelin Sheath
What is the Neural Impulse?
-electromagnetic signal sent from neurons to other neurons or places controlled by neurons
-carry information about the body
What are Synapses?
-places where neurons connect and communicate with each other
How many neurotransmitters are there?
8
What is Adrenaline?
-fight or flight neurotransmitter
-produced in stressful situations
-increases heart rate and blood flow
-gives a person heighten awareness
What is Dopamine?
-pleasure neurotransmitter
-feelings of pleasure, addiction, movement, and motivation
-people repeat behaviors that lead to dopamine release
What is Serotonin?
-mood transmitter
-contributes to well-being and happiness
-helps sleep cycle and digestive system
-affected by exercise and light exposure
What is Noradrenaline?
-concentration neurotransmitter
-affects attention and responding actions in the brain
-involved in fight or flight response
-contracts blood vessels, increasing blood flow
What is GABA?
-calming neurotransmitter
-calms firing nerves in CNS
-high levels improve focus, low levels cause anxiety
-also contributes to motor control and vision
What is Acetylcholine?
-learning neurotransmitter
-involved in thought learning and memory
-activates muscle action in the body
-associated with attention awakening
What is Glutamate?
-memory neurotransmitter
-most common bran neurotransmitter
-involved in learning
-regulates development and creation of nerve contacts
What are the different ways to look at the brain?
- X-Ray
- CT Scan
- PET
- MRI
- fMRI
Embryonic Nervous System includes:
- Forebrain
- Midbrain
- Hindbrain
Hindbrain includes:
Brainstem
-medulla:controlled breathing, regulate reflexes
-pons: sleep and arousal
Cerebellum
-motor coordination
Midbrain includes:
-Parkinson’s Disease
-Reticular Formation
-Stereotyped Behavior Patterns (like walking)
Drugs can interfere with neurotransmitters. What are the negative effects?
Agonists:
-mimic or enhance neurotransmitters (NT)
Antagonists:
-block effects of NT
What is the forebrain?
Limbic System
-memory and emotion
-emotional awareness and expression
Thalamus
-relay station for much sensory information
What does the endocrine system consist of?
-sets of glands that regulate the body by secreting hormones and sending messages
The forebrain also has:
Basal Ganglia
-coordination of voluntary movements
Hypothalamus
-eating, drinking, sexual behaviors
-regulate body’s internal state
-emotion, stress, reward
The cerebral cortex has four lobes, name them
-occipital (vision)
-temportal (hearing, language processing, memory)
-frontal (intelligence, personality, voluntary muscles, planning)
-parietal (spatial location, attention, motor control)
Language centers in the Left Cerebral Cortex are:
-Broca’s Area
-Wernicke’s Area
What are the 3 parts and funtions to the Cortex?
Somatosensoy Cortex (parietal lobe)
-touch/ body sensations
Motor Cortex (in frontal lobe)
-voluntary movements
Association Cortex (75% of cortex)
-not sensory or motor, but associations between and executive function
What is the Corpus Callosum?
a large bundle of axons that connects the 2 hemispheres of the brain
Hemispheres of the Cortex are:
Hemispheric Specialization of Function
-left hemisphere
-verbal processing, speech, grammar
-right hemisphere
-spatial perception, visual recognition, emotion
Brain Damage and Repair:
Recovery from brain damage depends on:
-age of the individual
-extent of the damage
-intervention
Repairing the damaged brain
-collateral sprouting
-substitution of function
-neurogenesis
What are Brain Tissue Implants?
-brain grafts
-stem cells
What are the genetic expressions?
Genotype= genetic heritage, + effects of experience
Phenotype= observable characteristics, both physical and psychological
