Lecture 5: Nervous System, Traits, And Development

Question 1

Nervous system divisions

Answer 1

1. Central nervous system
   1a. Brain
   1b. Spinal cord
2. Peripheral nervous system
   2a. Autonomic nervous system
   2b. Systemic nervous system

Question 2

Cerebrum: telencephalon: cerebral cortex

Answer 2

1. Frontal lobe: executative function like cognition and motor control
   1a. Prefrontal cortex: executive functioning
   1b. Motor area: voluntary movement
   1c. Broca’s area: linked to the production of spoken language
2. Parietal lobe: somatosensory cortex
3. Occipital lobe: vision
4. Temporal lobe: listening, balance

Question 3

Forebrain: Telencephalon: Subcortical cerebrum

Answer 3

1. Limbic system
   1a. Amygdala: fear
   1b. Hippocampus: memory and emotion
2. Basal ganglia/nuclei: neurons controlling motor function

Question 4

Forebrain: Diencephalon

Answer 4

1. Thalamus: routing system for sensory information (except smell)
2. Hypothalamus: fight, flee, feed, fornication
3. Epithalamus: contains pineal gland that produces melatonin

Question 5

Hindbrain

Answer 5

1. Brain stem: essential for life
2. Pons: neurons that carry info to and from cranial nerves ….sleep, respiration and bladder control
3. Medulla oblongata: involved in physiological functions like BP, HR etc
4. Cerebellum: motor control and coordination

Question 6

Midbrain

Answer 6

1. Associated with controlling our awareness of pain, processing auditory input and regulating fine motor control

Question 7

Primary motor cortex

Answer 7

1. Coordinates voluntary movement
2. The upper motor neurons (UMNs) connect to the primary motor cortex and carry information out of brain to brain stem or spinal cord
3. Can also connect to interneurons

Question 8

Neural development:

Answer 8

1. Rhombencephalon: future hindbrain ->cerebellum, pons, medulla
2. Mesencephalon: future midbrain
3. Prosencephalon: future forebrain -> cerebrum

Question 9

Contralateral control

Answer 9

1. Motor functions are controlled by hemisphere on opposite of body
   1a. If its same: ipsilateral

Question 10

Methods to study the brain: past

Answer 10

1. Autopsies: study of dead people’s brains to see how they differ
2. Lesion study:
   2a. Create less ions in brains of test animals and observe which functions are disturbed by lesions
   2b. Study people affected by brain lesions over time (observational)

Question 11

Methods to study the brain: present

Answer 11

1. For structure
   1a. CT scan: gets cross sectional images
   1b. MRI: uses strong magnetic fields or radio waves to generate images of structures on inside of body
2. For function
   2a. EEG: measures electrical activity
   2b. MEH: measures changes in magnetic fields in brain using SQUIDs
3. Structure and function
   3a. FMRI: sees which parts of brain are active by measuring oxygenated areas
   3b. PET: shows where blood flows by seeing what parts use glucose

Question 12

Peripheral nervous system

Answer 12

1. Somatic nervous system: allows sensing
2. Autonomic nervous system: maintains homeostasis
   2a. Sympathetic nervous system: fight/flight
   2b. Parasympathetic: rest and digest

Question 13

Neurotransmitters: monoamine

Answer 13

1. Dopamine: motivation, cognition, reward system
2. Serotonin: sleep, temperature contour, pain
3. Epinephrine and norepinephrine: by medulla and regulate body functions

Question 14

Neurotransmitters: amino acids

Answer 14

1. Glutamate: excitatory
2. GABA: inhibitory
3. Glycine: inhibitory

Question 15

Neurotransmitters: peptides

Answer 15

1. Endorphins: natural pain killers

Question 16

Acetylcholine

Answer 16

1. Binds to muscarinic receptors (memory, learning) and nicotinic receptors (addition)

Question 17

Endocrine system and nervous system

Answer 17

1. Oxytocin / prolactin: hormones that increase milk
2. Estrogen: woman hormones
3. Ghrelin: increases hunger
4. Leptin: decreases hunger

Question 18

Behavioural genetics

Answer 18

1. Study of genetics that explain why people behave differently from one another

Question 19

Traits

Answer 19

1. Inherited traits: come from parents/differentiates different people
2. Acquired traits: come from interaction in world around is

Question 20

Temperament

Answer 20

1. Includes both biological and environmental components that influence a person

Question 21

How to measure heritability

Answer 21

1. Family studies
2. Twin studies: compare identical and fraternal twins
3. Adoption studies: used to supplement twin studies
4. Genome wide association studies: look at entire genomes to assess if genetic differences are associated w diff traits

Question 22

Adaptive value

Answer 22

1. Tells us how useful a trait is for allowing an organism to survive

Question 23

Ethology: 3 categories of behavioural traits

Answer 23

1. Innate behaviours: not learned actions
   1a. Reflexes
   1b. Fixed action patterns (FAP): like reflexes but more complex
   1c. Orientation movements/taxes: require coordinated actions to be performed
2. Learned behaviours: learned so not at birth
3. Complex behaviour: combination of innate and learned behaviours
   3a. Overt behaviours: obersevd by others
   3b. Covert behaviours: not observable behaviours

Question 24

Agonist vs antagonist

Answer 24

1. Agonist: drug binds and produces same result
2. Antagonist: drug binds and inhibits some response