Lesson 8 - 12: Unit 1 Flashcards
Adrenaline
Known as the “stress hormone,” is released during intense emotional states such as stress, fear or anger, or during strenuous physical activity. The body reacts in this way to an increased need for energy to face danger, resist pain, or overcome a lack of oxygen.
Leptin
Helps prevent hunger and regulate energy balance so that your body doesn’t trigger a hunger response when it doesn’t need energy.
Ghrelin
Your stomach releases ghrelin when it’s empty to signal to your brain that it’s time to eat. Also signals to release of growth hormones, and insulin and protects your cardiovascular health.
Melatonin
Controls the sleep-wake cycle in the body. A small group of nerves located in the hypothalamus (SCN) take in information from the eyes about outside light. When morning light is registered the SCN instructs the body to stop producing melatonin and start producing serotonin.
Oxytocin
“The love hormone”
- Enables contractions during birth
- Supports milk flow to the breasts
- Facilitates orgasms during sexual intercourse
- Supports social relationships by promoting bonding, social trust, group cohesion and attraction
(Is released by the pituitary gland)
Psychoactive Drugs
Any chemicals that change the functions of the nervous system and alter perception, mood, thinking and behavior
Addictive
Changes the brain chemistry, creating a psychological dependence to avoid withdrawal symptoms
Tolerance
Can be developed with continued regular use of the same dose…
Withdrawal
Describes the intense discomfort and distress one experiences after stopping drug usage
Stimulants
Excite neural activity; increasing levels of serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine
Caffeine
- Excites neural activity and increases levels of serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine
- A stimulant that increases alertness, wakefulness, confidence and energy but can also increase anxiety, restlessness, and withdrawal-related symptoms
Cocaine
- Excites neural activity and increases levels of serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine
- A stimulant that increases alertness, wakefulness, confidence and energy but can also increase anxiety, restlessness, and withdrawal-related symptoms
Depressants
Reduce the activity of the CNS and induces feelings of relaxation
Hallucinogens
These drugs alter moods, distort perceptions and create sensory images (also called psychedelics)
Marijuana
A hallucinogen that enhances sensation, distortion of time and relaxation but also impairs learning and memory and increases the risk of developing psychological disorders.
Agonist
Any drug that binds to a receptor site on a postsynaptic neuron, causing it to fire. It increases a neurotransmitter’s actions. (Ex. Opioids act as agonists - Heroin is an agonist drug that binds to opioid receptors causing them to fire…causing individuals to quickly feel pain relief…)
Antagonist
Any substance or chemical that fits into a receptor site on the postsynaptic neuron, inhibiting it. It can decrease a neurotransmitter’s action by blocking production or release.
Opioids
Offer pain relief
Reuptake Inhibitors
A type of drug that is used to treat depression and some other conditions. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are chemicals which prevent the reuptake of excess serotonin by binding to the sites that reabsorb, this increases the synaptic concentration of serotonin and prolongs its effects.
Brainstem
The crossover point where most of the nerves from each side of the brain hemispheres connect to the opposite side. Controls heartbeat and breathing
Medulla
Where your cardiovascular and respiratory systems link together into a united system that controls your heart rate, breathing, blood pressure and more.
Pons
Sit just above the medulla and help coordinate movements and control sleep
Reticular Formation
Deep inside the brainstem, is located in the pons region.
- Helps with managing the brains reward centre, some voluntary movement, multitasking and controlling arousal.
Thalamus
At the top of the brainstem, acts as the brain’s sensory control centre. Receives information from all the senses, except smell and directs the information to the higher brain regions to deal with seeing, hearing, tasting and touching.
Cerebellum
Extending from the bottom of the brainstem. Helps with:
- Non-verbal learning
- Skill memory
- Judging time
- Modulating emotion
- Discriminating sounds and textures
- Helps the pons coordinate voluntary movement (helps with agility)
Amygdala
- Linked to aggression and fear (regulates emotional responses)
- Excessive activity of the amygdala causes heightened fear, aggression and fear response
(Removing it can make you more calm)
Hypothalamus
Regulates body maintenance (thirst, body temp, sexual behaviour), influences hunger, helps maintain a steady internal bodily state (pays attention to incoming orders from the brain…)
Hippocampus
Processes conscious, explicit memories and decreases in size and function as we grow up
Limbic System
Contains the amygdala, hypothalamus, hippocampus, thalamus and pituitary. Which are all responsible for emotion, motivation and memory processing
Contralateral hemispheric organization
Each hemisphere (right and left) controls the opposite side of the body
Hemispheres
- There is a left hemisphere and a right hemisphere, each controls the opposite side of the body.
- They ‘talk to each other’ through the corpus callosum
- Each hemisphere contains 4 different lobes which are responsible for different things
Lobes
Each hemisphere contains 4 lobes:
- Frontal lobe
- Partietal lobs
- Temporal lobe
- Occipital lobe
All are responsible for different things
Cerebral Cortex
Your body’s ultimate control and information processing centre (thinking ‘crown’) It is what the hemispheres are a part of… referred to as the white and gray matter.
Corpus Callosum
Is the ‘neural bridge’ that allows the 2 hemispheres of your brain to work together and communicate with each other
Executive Functioning
Is a set of mental skills. It includes working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control. We use these skills every day to learn, work, and manage daily life.
Occipital Lobes
Controls the visual information and is located in the back of the brain. Information from the left half of the visual field is processed in the right occipital lobe and information from the right field is processed in the left occipital lobe
Temporal Lobes
Controls auditory (sounds and hearing) and linguistic processing. Located on the sides of the brain.
Wernicke’s area is located there and responsible for understanding language and forming meaningful sentences
Parietal Lobes
Dedicated to all touch sensations (touch, heat, pressure) and movement sensations. At the from of the lobe is the Samoatosensory strip… This lobe is also organised contralaterally
Frontal Lobes
At the back of the frontal lobe is the Motor Cortex and it is responsible for voluntary skeletal movement in the opposite part of the body.
Broca’s area is found in the frontal lobe and controls the production of speech.
Association Areas
Parts of the cerebral cortex that help with higher functioning such as learning, remembering and thinking
Prefrontal Cortex
The most frontal part of the frontal lobe.
It enables judgment.
Is responsible for:
- personality and self-identity
- planning and processing of new memories
- thinking and decision-making (higher-order thinking)
- organization
-time management
- motivation (executive functioning)
Higher-order Thinking
It goes beyond basic observation of facts and memorization
Hemispheric Specialisation
The idea that 2 hemispheres of the brain are functionally different and that certain mental processes and behaviours are mainly controlled by one hemisphere (language in the left hemisphere)
Split Brain Research
A surgery where they split the corpus callosum in half - splitting up the 2 hemispheres.
- Is done on people suffering from epileptic seizures; a disorder where abnormal brain activity bounces across both hemispheres
- This research allows researchers to see how the 2 hemispheres are specialized for certain things
Broca’s Area & Aphasia
- Broca’s area controls speech production
- Brocas aphasia is the difficulty with speech production
- It is located in the frontal lobe
Wernicke’s Area & Aphasia
- Wernicke’s area controls language comprehension
- Wernicke’s aphasia is the difficulty with language comprehension
- It is located in the temporal lobe on the left side
Brain Plasticity
The brain’s ability to change, especially during childhood, by recognizing after damage or by building new neural pathways when exposed to new environment stimulus
EEG
Electrodes placed on the scale measure electrical activity in neurons and send information to a computer, to record/present
fMRI
When a region of the brain becomes active it uses oxygenated blood. An fMRI measures this blood flow to identify areas of activity
Lesioning
An abnormal change in the structure of an organ or part due to injury or disease.
Brain lesioning is a treatment option where they purposefully damage tiny clusters or defective brain cells (leaving the surrounding area unharmed)
