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Mind, Brain, and Behaviour > Chapter 4 > Flashcards

Chapter 4 Flashcards

1
Q

What is the nervous system made up of?

A

Neurons and glial cells

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2
Q

What are neurons?

A

the functional building blocks of the nervous system; cells that transmit the electrical activity that underlies psychological processes

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3
Q

What are glial cells?

A

from the Greek for ‘glue’, glial cells surround the neurons, holding them in place, providing the nutrients they need and isolating toxins that would harm them

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4
Q

What are synapses?

A

A connection between neurons

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5
Q

What does the average adult brain contain?

A

86 Billion neurons

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6
Q

What are the three types of neuron?

A
  1. Sensory
  2. Motor
  3. Interneurons
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7
Q

What are sensory neurons?

A

carry input messages from the sense organs to the spinal cord and brain

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8
Q

What are motor neurons?

A

transmit output impulses from the brain and spinal cord to the body’s muscles and organs

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9
Q

What are interneurons?

A

perform connective or associative functions within the nervous system

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10
Q

What does the nervous system look like?

A

Nervous system branches off into the CNS and PNS. The CNS branches off into the brain and the spinal cord. There are three aspects to the brain: the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain. The forebrain has the thalamus, hypothalamus, cerebrum, limbic system, and corpus callosum. The hindbrain has the cerebellum, pons, and medulla. The PNS branches off into the somatic and autonomic system. The autonomic system then branches off into the sympathetic and parasympathetic

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11
Q

What does the PNS contain and what does it help carry out?

A
  • contains all the neural structures that lie outside the brain and spinal cord
  • helps carry out:
    1. Sensory inputs functions
    2. Motor output functions
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12
Q

What is the somatic nervous system?

A

consists of sensory neurons that are specialized to transmit messages from the eyes, ears and other sensory receptors, and motor neurons that send messages from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles that control our voluntary movements

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13
Q

What is the autonomic nervous system?

A

senses the body’s internal functions and controls the glands and the smooth (involuntary) muscles that form the heart, the blood vessels, and the lining of the stomach and intestines

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14
Q

What is the sympathetic nervous system?

A

has an activation or arousal function, and tends to act as a total unit
Governs the fight or flight response

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15
Q

What is the parasympathetic nervous system?

A

far more specific than thesympathetic nervous system in its opposing actions, it affects one or a few organs at a time; in general, it slows down body processes and maintains a state of tranquillity

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16
Q

What is homeostasis?

A

a delicately balanced or constant internal state

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17
Q

What is the CNS?

A

contains the brain and the spinal cord, which connects most parts of the peripheral nervous system with the brain

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18
Q

What does the spinal cord contain?

A

contains the brain and the spinal cord, which connects most parts of the peripheral nervous system with the brain

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19
Q

What does the brain AND spinal cord contains?

A

contains the brain and the spinal cord, which connects most parts of the peripheral nervous system with the brain

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20
Q

What are the three main parts to a neuron?

A
  1. Cell body
  2. Dendrites
  3. Axon
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21
Q

What is the cell body?

A

Contains the biochemical structures needed to keep the neuron alive
It’s nucleus carries the genetic information that determines how the cell develops and functions

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22
Q

What are dendrites?

A

specialized receiving units like antennae that collect messages from neighbouring neurons and send them on to the cell body

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23
Q

What is an axon?

A

conducts electrical impulses away from the cell body to other neurons, muscles or glands

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24
Q

What are the steps to nerve activation?

A
  1. When not involved in creating impulses, the neuron maintains an electrical resting potential through the distribution of positively and negatively charged chemical ions inside and outside the neuron
  2. When stimulated by other neurons, a flow of ions in and outside the through the cell membrane depolarises and reverses the electrical charge of the resting potential, producing an action potential
  3. The resting potential is again restored
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25
What is the resting potential?
internal difference of around 70 millivolts (mV)
26
What is an action potential?
electrical shift across the neural membrane, which lasts about a millisecond (1/1000 of a second) and propagates electrical signals down an axon
27
What is the absolute refractory period?
period during which the membrane is not excitable and cannot discharge another impulse
28
What are graded potentials?
changes in the negative resting potential that do not reach the –50 millivolt action potential threshold
29
What is the myelin sheath?
a whitish, fatty insulation layer derived from glial cells during development Optimises the speed of action potentials
30
What is the synaptic cleft?
A tiny gap between the axon terminal and the next neuron
31
What are synaptic vesicles?
Chambers within the axon terminals
32
What are neurotransmitters?
chemicals released by nerve cells that allow them to communicate with one another
33
What are receptor sites?
large protein molecules embedded in the receiving neuron’s cell membrane
34
What is an excitatory transmitter?
Chemical reaction causes the postsynaptic neuron’s sodium channels to open. As sodium ions flood into the cell and depolarise it, they create either a graded potential orange action potential
35
What is an inhibitory neurotransmitter?
May cause positive potassium ions to flow out of the neuron or negative chloride ions from the exterior to flow into it through chloride channels in the membrane, increasing the neurons negative potential making it harder to fire the neuron
36
What is reuptake?
the transmitter molecules are taken back into the presynaptic axon terminals
37
What is the main function of Acetylcholine (ACh)?
- Excitatory at synapses involved in muscular movement and memory
38
What disorders are associated with ACh?
- Alzheimer’s disease - Paralysis - Violent muscle contractions - Convulsions
39
What is the main function of Noradrenaline?
- Excitatory and inhibitory functions at various sites - Involved in neural circuits controlling learning, memory, wakefulness, and eating
40
What disorders are associated with Noradrenaline?
- Depression - Stress - Panic disorders
41
What is the main function of Serotonin?
- Inhibitory or excitatory - Involved in mood, sleep, eating, and arousal - May be an important transmitter underlying pleasure and pain
42
What disorders are associated with Serotonin?
- Depression - Sleeping and eating disorders - OCD
43
What is the main function of Dopamine?
- Excitatory - Involved in voluntary movement, emotional arousal, learning, memory, and experiencing pleasure or pain
44
What disorders are associated with Dopamine?
- Parkinson’s disease - Depression - Schizophrenia
45
What is the main function of GABA?
- Inhibitory transmitter in motor system
46
What disorders are associated with GABA
- Huntington’s disease - Tremors - Loss of motor control - Personality changes
47
What is the main function of Endorphins?
- Inhibits transmission of pain impulses
48
What disorders are associated with endorphins?
- Insensitivity to pain - Pain hypersensitivity - Immune problems
49
What is the main function of Glatamate?
- Excitatory - A mediator of excitatory info in the nervous system - involved in most aspects of brain function
50
What disorders are associated with Glutamate?
- Neurotoxin - Alzheimer’s disease - Seizures - Tremors - Insomnia
51
What are neuromodulators?
chemicals that modulate the activity of diverse populations of neurons in the nervous system
52
What are psychoactive drugs?
chemicals that produce alterations in consciousness, emotion and behaviour
53
What is an agonist?
a drug that increases the activity of a neurotransmitter
54
What is an antagonist?
a drug that inhibits or decreases the action of a neurotransmitter
55
What is neuropsychology?
the study of the function of the brain by investigating the effects of brain damage on mental functions
56
What is vascular damage?
Disruption to the blood flow to the brain for a number of reasons
57
What is a tumour?
A mass of tissue with no physiological function that grows and disrupts normal functioning
58
What is a degenerative disease?
A breakdown of neurological material
59
What is an infectious disease?
A virus maybe result in neurological symptoms
60
What is trauma?
A violent assault on the head
61
What is epilepsy?
A transient loss of consciousness resulting from excessive and often focused electrical activity in the brain
62
How do neuropsychologists measure verbal and non-verbal behaviours of people who may have suffered brain damage?
Neuropsychological tests
63
What is a single dissociation?
E.g. if a patient has brain damage in a particular area that causes them to perform poorly on verbal dexterity but well on comprehension
64
What is a double dissociation?
If a second patient shows the opposite pattern in the same set of tasks
65
Wernicke’s area
- temporal lobe - Damage typically leaves patients unable to understand written or spoken speech
66
Broca’s area
- frontal lobe - Damage causes difficulties with the production of speech
67
Lesion studies in animals
Experimental lesion studies with animals are another useful way of learning about brain function
68
Electroencephalography (EEG)
measures the activity of large groups of neurons through a series of large electrodes placed on the scalp
69
magnetoencephalography (MEG)
a brain imaging method that detects activity via the magnetic fields generated by brain activity
70
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
creates images based on how atoms in living tissue respond to a magnetic pulse delivered by the device
71
diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)
measures how water molecules diffuse in tissue
72
functional MRI (fMRI)
can produce pictures of blood flow in the brain taken less than a second apart
73
positron-emission tomography (PET) scans
measure brain activity, including metabolism, blood flow and neurotransmitter activity
74
functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)
by shining near-infrared light into the brain and measuring the ways in which it is reflected, fNIRS can tell us about which parts of the brain are using most oxygen
75

Mind, Brain, and Behaviour (11 decks)

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