Exam IV Deck II Flashcards
Consciousness
Our awareness and ability to communicate to others our thoughts and feelings
The mind
A set of operations performed by the brain
Biological processes may _______
Not produce the same sensation in everyone
The neural circuits of consciousness are most likely distributed throughout what structures?
Cerebral cortex
Thalamus
Brain regions closely associated with arousal and consciousness include what structures?
Thalamus
Reticular formation
___________ must be extensive to cause loss of consciousness
Cortical lesions
Lesions between what can cause a coma?
Brainstem and thalamus
Localized lesions in ______or _____ can cause profound loss of consciousness or coma.
Thalamus
Reticular formation
What is not known concerning the physiology of consciousness?
How the firing of specific neurons leads to conscious perception
What happens with epilepsy concerning nerve cells?
Cells on one side of brain transmit the over activity to the other side via corpus collosum
What reduces the frequency of epileptic seizures?
Cutting the corpus collosum
Psychiatry
Diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders
“Mentally ill”
Diagnosable disorder of thought mood or behavior that causes distress or impaired function
Human behavior is the product of ________.
Brain activity
Characterized by a loss of contact (or touch) with reality, and a disruption of thought, perception, mood, and movement
Schizophrenia
Many patients of this illness appear to oscillate between normal and abnormal states
Schizophrenia
Positive symptoms of schizophrenia
Reflect presence of abnormal thoughts and behaviors
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia
Reflect the absence of responses that are normally present
Categories of schizophrenia
Paranoid
Disorganized
Catatonic
This disease runs in families, but in identical twins, only about half have it
Schizophrenia
This illness is associated with physical changes in the brain
Schizophrenia
Suggests that schizophrenia is caused by excessive activation of dopamine receptors in the mesocorticolimbic DA system
The dopamine hypothesis
The glutamate hypothesis
Suggests that schizophrenia is caused by the reduced activation of NMDA receptors
What do antipsychotic drugs do concerning schizophrenia?
Reduce hallucinations and delusions; block dopaminergic receptors
Chronic use of this drug creates schizophrenic like symptoms
Amphetamine