lecture 3 unit 3

Question 1

3 parts of brain

Answer 1

Hind, mid, and forebrain

Question 2

Hindbrain

Answer 2

medulla – regulates breathing, heart rate, sneezing, salivating, and vomiting
Pons – contributes to our sleeping and waking cycle and helps to control our balance eye movements and swallowing
Reticular activating system – important for alertness and also contributes to our daily cycle of waking and sleeping
Cerebellum – important for coordinating movements maintaining balance and also influences attentional and emotional responses

Question 3

The midbrain

Answer 3

just behind hindbrain
-superior colliculus controls our orienting response to the sudden presence of a visual stimulus
Inferior colliculus – responsible for orientating attention to the sudden occurrence of a sound
Ventricles are filled with cerebrospinal fluid (which performs important waste removal and nutrient providing functions)
Basal ganglia – responsible for engaging planned physical movements, learning motor skills, and integrating sensory information, physical movements and the reward system of the brain
–disorders that originate from basal ganglia dysfunction include – parkinsons, huntingtons, tourettes
Tourettes syndrome sufferers – may be unable to control fascial and muscle movements, their eyes from blinking or from making grunting or snorting noises
Corprolia – compulsively shouting offensive words – (quite rare)

Question 4

The forebrain

Answer 4

The nucleus accumbens – works with the basal ganglia to generate “oh yeah” pleasurable experiences
The limbic system –

Question 5

the limbic system

Answer 5

 Amygdala – controls the creation of memory for emotional experiences and processing emotional content of stimuli
 Hippocampus – a key structure for creating new memories – damage can cause amnesia
 Hypothalamus – regulates body temperature and helps coordinate biological drives, such as sex and aggression by controlling the release of hormones by the pituitary gland – experience of orgasms for both genders
 Thalamus – relay station for receiving and transmitting sensory information from the eyes ears skin and tongue to higher brain areas

Question 6

Cerebral cortex –

Answer 6

Humans neurons in cerebral cortex 19-23 billies —– 100 billie nerons 1000-10000 neural connections
4 lobes
Occipital, parietal, temporal, frontal – see class notes

Question 7

right vs left

Answer 7

Right hemisphere – visual and special skills, musical
Left – language, logic, mathematics
The idea of a division of labour between the hemispheres have some supportive evidence but have also been highly exaggerated – we constantly use and need bot sides of our brain

Question 8

Corpus callosum

Answer 8

connection between two sides for communication

Question 9

Split brain patients

Answer 9

items presented to the right visual field can be verbally identified
—-items presented to the right side of the visual field can be identified verbally — items presented to the left side of the visual field cannot be verbally identified – left hemisphere produces language and right hemisphere is not capable of generating language

Question 10

Neuroplasticity

Answer 10

the brains extraordinary capacity to change its structure as a consequence of experience and learning\

Question 11

the brains extraordinary capacity to change its structure as a consequence of experience and learning\

Answer 11

Neuroplasticity

Question 12

Lesioning

Answer 12

causing brain damage in a non human animals and then measuring what effect the damage has on their behaviour

Question 13

Trans-cranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

Answer 13

directing a magnetic pulse at an area of a persons brain and seeing what affect that has on their mental function

Question 14

Structural neuroimaging

Answer 14

– non invasive technologies that provide information about the state of brain structures

Question 15

Computerized tomography scans (CT

Answer 15

– a set of x rays are taken of the brain by rotating a tube around the persons head

Question 16

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Answer 16

a machine generates a magnetic field that brings all the hydrogen molecules in our brain into alignment – radio waves then get sent through the skull to disrupt this alignment
— when the radio waves are turned off, energy absorbed from the radio waves are released when the hydrogen molecules become aligned buy the magnetic field again.
— different types of brain matter and the ventricles release different amounts of energy and alignment occurs at different speeds for different types of brain matter.
Computers can use this information to create detailed images of the interior structure of the brain

Question 17

Disruption tensor imaging (DTI)

Answer 17

• provides a measure of white matter pathways

- -can diagnose brain disorders

Question 18

Functional neuroimaging

Answer 18

tools for measuring changes in brain activity across time

Question 19

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

Answer 19

involves attaching electrodes to a persons scalp and measuring the electrical activity generated by neurons sending messages to on another

Question 20

Event-related potentials (ERPs)

Answer 20

EEG recordings that follow presentation of a stimulus

Question 21

Magnetoencephalography (MEG)

Answer 21

provides a measure of the magnetic generated from neural activity

Question 22

Positron emission tomography (PET

Answer 22

involves injecting radioactive substance into the bloodstream and then later using a scan to detect which parts of the brain contain more of the substance

Question 23

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI

Answer 23

involves placing a person’s head in a magnetic field and scanning for changes in the consumption of oxygen by different parts of the brain
Areas that generate more deoxygenated blood, and that require more oxygenated blood to replace it are areas that are more active – allows for the creation of images that identify the areas of the brain that are most active when someone is performing some mental function

Question 24

Pros and cons for each technique:

Answer 24

EEG is fast and cheap, but not very precise
MEG more sensitive than EEG but is more expensive
PETis more expensive and slower than EEG and MEG but is also more precise at localizing brain activity
MRI is the most expensive, not as fast as EEG and MEG but is faster and more precise than PET