Exam practise terms

Question 1

basal ganglia

Answer 1

made up of the putamen globus palladis and cordate nucleus

The basal ganglia are a group of structures found deep within the cerebral hemispheres. The structures generally included in the basal ganglia are the caudate, putamen, and globus pallidus in the cerebrum, the substantia nigra in the midbrain, and the subthalamic nucleus in the diencephalon.

Function:The “basal ganglia” refers to a group of subcortical nuclei responsible primarily for motor control, as well as other roles such as motor learning, executive functions and behaviors, and emotions.

Question 2

Lateral amygdala

Answer 2

Classical conditioning associations of emotions stored here

The lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA) is a key component of the neural circuitry sub-serving Pavlovian fear-conditioning (Maren and Quirk, 2004). Fear-conditioning is a behavioral procedure involving the pairing of a neutral conditioned stimulus (CS) with an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US)

Question 3

Glutamate

Answer 3

Long term potentiation

Glutamate is a powerful excitatory neurotransmitter that is released by nerve cells in the brain. It is responsible for sending signals between nerve cells, and under normal conditions it plays an important role in learning and memory.

Question 4

Leptin

Answer 4

**

Leptin is a hormone predominantly made by adipose cells and enterocytes in the small intestine that helps to regulate energy balance by inhibiting hunger, which in turn diminishes fat storage in adipocytes.
It sends signals to the hypothalamus in the brain

Question 5

HM

Answer 5

Anterorgrade amnesia
H.M. Henry Gustav Molaison, is probably the best known single patient in the history of neuroscience. His severe memory impairment, which resulted from experimental neurosurgery to control seizures, was the subject of study for five decades until his death in December 2008. Work with H.M. established fundamental principles about how memory functions are organized in the brain.

Question 6

Nigrostriatal pathway

Answer 6

Damaged in Parkinsons

The nigrostriatal pathway is a bilateral dopaminergic pathway in the brain that connects the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) in the midbrain with the dorsal striatum (i.e., the caudate nucleus and putamen) in the forebrain.

Function. The main function of the nigrostriatal pathway is to influence voluntary movement through basal ganglia motor loops. Along with the mesolimbic and mesocortical dopaminergic pathways the nigrostriatal dopamine pathway can also influence other brain functions including cognition, reward and addiction.

Question 7

Miraculin

Answer 7

Causes sour foods perceived as sweet tasting

Miraculin is a taste modifier, a glycoprotein extracted from the fruit of Synsepalum dulcificum.[2] The berry, also known as the miracle fruit, was documented by explorer Chevalier des Marchais, who searched for many different fruits during a 1725 excursion to its native West Africa.

Miraculin itself does not taste sweet. When taste buds are exposed to miraculin, the protein binds to the sweetness receptors. This causes normally-sour-tasting acidic foods, such as citrus, to be perceived as sweet.[2][3] The effect lasts up to about an hour.[4][5]

Question 8

Polygraph

Answer 8

Measures galvanic skin response

A polygraph, popularly referred to as a lie detector test, is a device or procedure that measures and records several physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while a person is asked and answers a series of questions.

Question 9

Premotor cortex

Answer 9

Movement activation

The premotor cortex is an area of motor cortex lying within the frontal lobe of the brain just anterior to the primary motor cortex. It occupies part of Brodmann’s area 6. It has been studied mainly in primates, including monkeys and humans. The functions of the premotor cortex are diverse and not fully understood.

Question 10

Orexin

Answer 10

Regulates appetite arousal wakefullness

Orexin, also known as hypocretin, is a neuropeptide that regulates arousal, wakefulness, and appetite. The least common form of narcolepsy, type 1, in which the sufferer experiences brief losses of muscle tone, is caused by a lack of orexin in the brain due to destruction of the cells that produce it.

Question 11

sympathetic nervous system (SNS)

Answer 11

fight or flight

The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is part of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which also includes the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The sympathetic nervous system activates what is often termed the fight or flight response.

Question 12

lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN)

Answer 12

primary visual pathway passes through this part of the thalamus hat area of the thalamus

The lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN; also called the lateral geniculate body or lateral geniculate complex) is a relay center in the thalamus for the visual pathway. It receives a major sensory input from the retina.

Question 13

classical conditioning

Answer 13

Classical conditioning (also known as Pavlovian conditioning) is learning through association and was discovered by Pavlov, a Russian physiologist. In simple terms, two stimuli are linked together to produce a new learned response in a person or animal.

Question 14

CCK

Answer 14

Duodenum releases it to produce satiety

Cholecystokinin (CCK or CCK-PZ; from Greek chole, “bile”; cysto, “sac”; kinin, “move”; hence, move the bile-sac (gallbladder)) is a peptide hormone of the gastrointestinal system responsible for stimulating the digestion of fat and protein.

Question 15

Olfactory

Answer 15

The only sensory system where adult neurogenisis occurs

The olfactory system, or sense of smell, is the sensory system used for smelling (olfaction). Olfaction is one of the special senses, that have directly associated specific organs. Most mammals and reptiles have a main olfactory system and an accessory olfactory system.

Question 16

Phineas Gage

Answer 16

Phineas P. Gage (1823–1860) was an American railroad construction foreman remembered for his improbable[B1]:19 survival of an accident in which a large iron rod was driven completely through his head, destroying much of his brain’s left frontal lobe, and for that injury’s reported effects on his personality and behavior over the remaining 12 years of his life‍—‌effects sufficiently profound (for a time at least) that friends saw him as “no longer Gage”

Question 17

Umami

Answer 17

Glutamate detected in food tasted as umami

Umami (/uːˈmɑːmi/, from Japanese: 旨味 [ɯmami]) or savoriness is one of the five basic tastes (together with sweetness, sourness, bitterness, and saltiness). It has been described as savory and is characteristic of broths and cooked meats.

Question 18

prospective memory

Answer 18

type of memory to remember to do certain tasks on time

Prospective memory is a form of memory that involves remembering to perform a planned action or recall a planned intention at some future point in time. Prospective memory tasks are common in daily life and range from the relatively simple to extreme life-or-death situations.

Question 19

Dorsal pathway

Answer 19

The two-streams hypothesis is a model of the neural processing of vision as well as hearing. The hypothesis, given its initial characterisation in a paper by David Milner and Melvyn A. Goodale in 1992, argues that humans possess two distinct visual systems.

The ventral stream originates in primary visual cortex and extends along the ventral surface into the temporal cortex; the dorsal stream also arises in primary visual cortex, but continues along the dorsal surface into parietal cortex. The ventral stream (or “vision-for-perception” pathway) is believed to mainly subserve recognition and discrimination of visual shapes and objects, whereas the dorsal stream (or “vision-for-action” pathway) has been primarily associated with visually guided reaching and grasping based on the moment-to-moment analysis of the spatial location, shape, and orientation of objects.

Question 20

Superior colliculi

Answer 20

Visual orienting and secondary pathway

The superior colliculus (SC) is a structure in the midbrain that is part of the brain circuit for the transformation of sensory input into movement output. Its major function is orienting the animal, particularly with eye movements, to objects of interest in the outside world.

Question 21

anterior pituitary gland

Answer 21

releasing factors released here

Anatomical terminology. A major organ of the endocrine system, the anterior pituitary (also called the adenohypophysis or pars anterior) is the glandular, anterior lobe that together with the posterior lobe (posterior pituitary, or the neurohypophysis) makes up the pituitary gland (hypophysis).

Question 22

Cerebellum

Answer 22

The cerebellum receives information from the sensory systems, the spinal cord, and other parts of the brain and then regulates motor movements. The cerebellum coordinates voluntary movements such as posture, balance, coordination, and speech, resulting in smooth and balanced muscular activity.

Question 23

Hebb‘s rule

Answer 23

Hebb’s rule is a postulate proposed by Donald Hebb in 1949 [1]. It is a learning rule that describes how the neuronal activities influence the connection between neurons, i.e., the synaptic plasticity. It provides an algorithm to update weight of neuronal connection within neural network.

Question 24

Cannon-Bard theory

Answer 24

The Cannon-Bard theory of emotion states that stimulating events trigger feelings and physical reactions that occur at the same time. For example, seeing a snake might prompt both the feeling of fear (an emotional response) and a racing heartbeat (a physical reaction).

Question 25

Rods

Answer 25

Rod cells are photoreceptor cells in the retina of the eye that can function in lower light better than the other type of visual photoreceptor, cone cells. Rods are usually found concentrated at the outer edges of the retina and are used in peripheral vision. On average, there are approximately 92 million rod cells in the human retina.[1] Rod cells are more sensitive than cone cells and are almost entirely responsible for night vision. However, rods have little role in color vision, which is the main reason why colors are much less apparent in dim light.

Question 26

Cortisol

Answer 26

Cortisol is a steroid hormone, in the glucocorticoid class of hormones. When used as a medication, it is known as hydrocortisone. It is produced in many animals, mainly by the zona fasciculata of the adrenal cortex in the adrenal gland. It is produced in other tissues in lower quantities.

Question 27

Bitter

Answer 27

small structures that mostly reside on papillae (or raised bumps) on the upper surface of the tongue and on the palate [1]. Each taste bud harbors a set of 50 to 100 specialized cells [1] known as taste receptor cells responsible for either sensing different tastes or mediating biological processes following taste detection (see Figure 1). Scientists have classified these cells into four subsets (called types I to IV). Type I cells, the most abundant taste cells in taste buds, act as support cells mediating biological processes following intense taste stimulation; they have also been implicated in the detection of salt taste. Type II cells, the most extensively studied taste cells, have specific receptor proteins on their surfaces that allow each cell to sense either sweet, bitter, or umami tastants [8,12]. Lastly, type III cells are responsible for detecting sour taste while the function of type IV cells is not well understood. Recognition of a tastant by its specific receptor triggers a signaling cascade that leads to the release of chemicals known as neurotransmitters that activate specific regions of the brain where taste is perceived and processed

Question 28

Wada test

Answer 28

The Wada test, also known as the intracarotid sodium amobarbital procedure (ISAP) establishes cerebral language and memory representation of each hemisphere.

Question 29

Ventral tegmental area

Answer 29

The ventral tegmental area (VTA) (tegmentum is Latin for covering), also known as the ventral tegmental area of Tsai, or simply ventral tegmentum, is a group of neurons located close to the midline on the floor of the midbrain.

Question 30

Fovea

Answer 30

high concentration of cones in this part of the retina

Question 31

Magnesium

Answer 31

blocks NMDA