Chapter 3 book Flashcards
Neuroscience
is a branch of science that focuses on the anatomy and physiol-ogy of the nervous system, or the neuroanatomy and neurophysiology, respec-tively.
human nervous system includes
central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system
central nervous system
(CNS, comprising the brain and the spinal cord)
the peripheral nervous system
(PNS, comprising the cranial and spinal nerves, which carry information inward to and outward from the brain and spinal cord).
Developmental neuroscience
Branch of neuroscience focused on identifying how the structures and functions of the nervous system develop and change with time as a function of aging and experience.
Cognitive neuroscience
Branch of neuroscience focused on identifying how the brain structures and functions support higher-level cognitive functions, such as memory, reasoning, problem solving, and language processing.
Neurology
Branch of medicine focused on the nervous system. Neurologists diagnose and treat diseases that disrupt the normal functioning of the nervous system.
Neurosurgery
Branch of surgery focused on the nervous system. Neurosurgeons conduct surgery to prevent and correct diseases of the nervous system, including diseases of the brain and spinal column.
Neuroanatomy
Branch of neuroscience focused on the structures of the nervous system. Neuroanatomists study the architecture of the central and peripheral nervous systems, including the brain, to determine how their individual components work as single units and together as parts of a complex system.
Neurophysiology
Branch of neuroscience focused on the functions of the nervous system structures. Neurophysiologists study how the various units of the nervous system work both as single units and together as parts of larger systems.
Neuropathology
Branch of neuroscience and of medicine focused on identifying diseases of the nervous system, including their causes. Clinical neuropathologists are trained medical doctors who study tissues of the nervous system to identify whether a disease is present.
Neurolinguistics
Branch of neuroscience focused specifically on human language, with a particular interest in understanding how the brain develops and processes spoken, written, and signed language.
MRI, PET, CT and MEG
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission to-mography (PET), computerized tomography (CT) scanning, and magnetoencepha-lography (MEG) provide detailed images of the anatomy and/or physiology of the nervous system.
Neuroscience has several subdisciplines, (8)
developmental neuro-science, cognitive neuroscience, neurology, neurosurgery, neuroanatomy, neu-rophysiology, neuropathology, and neurolinguistics.
neurolinguists
who study the structures and functions of the nervous system that relate to language.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
(fMRI) is a type of brain imaging that allows researchers and cli-nicians to identify the brain structures involved in spe-cific mental functions.
- fMRI is a noninvasive procedure that maps neural activities (i.e., functions) to specific neural regions (i.e., structures) according to changes in blood oxygen levels that correspond to changes in neural activity
horizontal axis
The horizontal axis runs from the anterior (frontal) pole of the brain to the posterior (occipital) pole.
vertical axis
extends from the superior portion of the brain downward along the entire spinal cord.
rostral
refers to the front of the brain,
caudal
refers to the back of the brain.
Dorsal
refers to the top of the brain,
ventral
refers to the bottom of the brain.
On the vertical axis, rostral
refers to the top of the spinal cord (near the brain),
On the vertical axis,caudal
refers to the bottom of the spinal cord (near the coccyx, or tailbone).
On the vertical axis, dorsal
refers to the back of the spinal cord (the side nearest the back),
On the vertical axis,ventral
refers to the front of the spinal cord (the side nearest the belly).
Proximal
re-fers to structures relatively close to a site of reference,
distal
refers to structures relatively far from a site of reference.
anterior
woard the front
posterior
towards the back
superior
towards thetop
inferior
toward bottom
external
toward the outside
internal
toward the inside
efferent
away from brain
afferent
toward brain
Efferent pathways
(also called descending pathways) move away from the brain, carrying motor impulses from the central nervous system to more distal body structures.
Afferent pathways
(also called ascending pathways) move toward the brain, carrying sensory information from the distal body structures to the brain.
neurons
The billions of highly specialized cells that compose the nervous system
neuron is functionally divided into four components:
cell body, axon, presynaptic terminal, and dendrites.
cell body
the center of the neuron, containing its nucleus; the nucleus contains DNA material (genes, chromosomes) and proteins. The human brain uses an estimated 30,000–40,000 genes
The axon and the dendrites are
extensions from the cell body, serving as vehicles for the cell body to receive and transmit information from other neurons,
information carried by neurons is in the form
of electrochemi-cal nerve impulses; these impulses transmit information to and away from the cell body.
the axon,
single efferent nerve extension, the axon, which carries nerve impulses away from the cell body. The axon extends from the cell body for a distance of 1 mm to 1 m, at which point it arborizes into a number of terminal branches
presyn-aptic terminal
The distal end of each terminal branch
Dendrites
the afferent extensions of a neuron, meaning they bring nerve impulses into the cell body from the axonal projections of other neurons.
synapse
is the site where two neurons meet. For the two neurons to communicate, the nerve impulse must cross the synapse.
Neu-rotransmitters
are chemical agents that help transmit information across the synap-tic cleft,
synap-tic cleft
which is the space between the axon of the transmitting neuron and the dendrite of the receiving neuron.
synaptogenesis
When a synapse is created, that is, when one neu-ron forges a connection with another neuron,