Chapter 4: Neuroscience Flashcards
3 Types of Glial Cells
Astroglia- important for creating blood brain barriers
Oligodendroglia- important for providing myelin
Microglia- important for cleaning up debris of dead cells
Resting potential charge
a negative charge of around -70mV
Peak potential charge
positive charge of 50mV
All-or-nothing Principle
Stimulation will fire if and only if it reaches a specific threshold.
Nodes of Ranvier
Action potential travels down axon by jumping on these nodes
Absolute refractory period
short time after action potential, during which a neuron is completely unable to fire
Relative refractory period
after the absolute refractory period where the neuron can fire if it receives a stronger than normal stimuli
Glutamate
Plays major role in learning and memory
GABA
primary inhibitory neurotransmitter
Plays role in learning and anxiety regulation
Acetylcholine
enables muscle action, learning, and memory
Alzheimer’s disease happen when Ach producing neurons deteriorate
BOTOX is basically adding Ach inhibitor to freeze muscle.
Dopamine
primary role in movement and reward learning
cocaine blocks the reuptake of dopamine
Parkinson’s disease occurs when there is not enough dopamine
Serotonin
enables positive mood, sleep, and appetite
malfunctions: depression, lack of sleep and appetite
Prozac affect mood by keeping more serotonin in the synapse through blocking serotonin reuptake
Norepinephrine
primary role in attention and arousal
Adderall is a stimulant used to treat ADHD
Endorphins
lessen the perception of pain and increases positive mood
Heroin is accepted by endorphin receptors on dendrites. Produces similar effect as endorphins. causes reduced production of natural endorphins
Central Nervous System
brain and spinal cord
Peripheral Nervous System
Somatic and Autonomic
Somatic Nervous System
controls voluntary movements and sensory information
needs CNS
Autonomic Nervous System
Sympathetic- fight or flight response
Parasympathetic- control basic functions when people are not at risk
Spinal Cord
extends from base of brain down the back
important for gathering info from body and sending it to the brain
Brain stem/ Medulla
closest to the spinal cord.
important for basic bodily functions like respiration, blood pressure, and heart rate regulation
also important for integrating sensations of pain and touch from head to neck from motor input
Reticular formation
sleep and wakefulness
major source of serotonin
Pons
connection point of cerebellum
contains locus coerulus
Cerebellum
important for motor coordination
important for learning automatic tasks like tying shoelaces and riding a bike
important for eye movement
Midbrain
relays information
contains the substantial nigra
Substantial Nigra
important for fluidity of movement and inhibiting movement
produces dopamine
Thalamus
relay sensory information
lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN)- relay info on visual stimuli
medial geniculate nucleus (MGN)- relay info about auditory stimuli
Hypothalamus
related to motivational behavior like eating, drinking, and sex
critical to control of endocrine (hormone) system (connected to the pituitary gland)
Pituitary gland
controls endocrine system
Anterior pituitary
Posterior pituitary
Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal
Amygdala
involved in processing information about emotions, particularly fear
also fear conditioning
Hippocampus
important for storing short term memory
important for learning about spatial environment
major site of plasticity (both synaptic and structural)
Striatum
work w/ substantial nigra to produce fluid movement
Nucleus Accumbens
important communication from neurons in the midbrain and involved in motivation and reward learning
Neocortex
largest part of the brain, responsible for complex behavior like language and thought
4 lobes: frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal
Occipital Cortex
process basic information about visual stimuli
information arrives in occipital cortex through partially crossed connections
Association areas here integrate info about color, complex patterns, and motion
Temporal Cortex
process sound, speech comprehension, and recognizing complex visual stimuli like faces
Wernicke’s area: on left side. understand language.
Parietal Cortex
process info about touch and somatosensory stimuli.
contains somatosensory strip- process tactile info from out body parts. basically forms a body map. more sensitive areas cover more space.
Frontal Cortex
important for planning and movement
primary motor strip
Broca’s area: on left side. produce language
Prefrontal cortex- part of frontal cortex involved in higher order thinking like merry, moral reasoning, and planning
Phineas Gage
shows localization of functions
a metal rod penetrated his frontal cortex. he did not supper noticeable mental damage but his personality changed completely.
Corpus Callosum
brain region that connects the two hemispheres
sometimes it is severed to treat seizures
Brain development before we are borned
Portion of ectoderm folds and forms the neural tube (where the CNS arises)
New neurons are formed (neurogenesis) at the neural tube and move to new brain regions
Programmed cell death to clear out unused neurons
Multiple Sclerosis
causes loss of myelin on the axons of neurons.
leads to inefficient transmission of electrical info (vision loss, pain, and muscle weakness)
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
degeneration of motor neurons in the spinal cord.
leads to loss of movement and eventual death
Parkinson’s Disease
loss of dopaminergic neurons in substantial nigra, leading to tremors, muscle rigidity, and other motor problems
Huntington’s Disease
death of neurons in striatum
exhibit awkward movement
