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Human Biology > Neurobiology > Flashcards

Neurobiology Flashcards

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AP® Biology flashcards Biology 101 flashcards
1
Q

What are the two sections of the CNS?

A
  • The Brain

- The spinal cord

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2
Q

Which part of the PNS controls involuntary actions?

A

Autonomic nervous system.

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3
Q

What are the two sections of the Somatic nervous system?

A
  • Sensory neurons

- Motor neurons

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4
Q

Which part of the ANS is fight or flight?

A

Sympathetic nervous system.

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5
Q

What are receptors?

A

Receptions are groups of specialised cells. They can detect a change in the environment (stimulus) and produce electrical impulses in response.

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6
Q

What are effectors?

A

Effectors are parts of the body (such as muscles and glands) that produce a response to a detected stimulus.

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7
Q

What does the parasympathetic nervous system increase?

A

Peristalsis and intestinal secretions.

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8
Q

What does the sympathetic nervous system increase?

A

Heart rate and breathing rate.

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9
Q

What is a converging neural pathway?

A

A pathway where impulses from several neurons travel to a single neuron increasing sensitivity.

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10
Q

What kind of pathway would you expect to see for breathing?

A

Reverberating

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11
Q

Name all 3 parts of the brain and their functions.

A
  • Cerebrum (outer layer is cerebral cortex) , controls conscious thought and memory.
  • Cerebellum, controls balance and coordination.
  • Medulla, controls heart rate and breathing.
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12
Q

What does localisation mean?

A

It refers to the idea that functions can be attributed to specific regions of the brain.

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13
Q

What areas are in the cerebrum?

A

Sensory areas, motor areas and association areas.

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14
Q

What is the name of the area where information is passed between the two hemispheres?

A

The corpus callosum.

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15
Q

What are the three steps in memory?

A

Encoding, Storage and Retrieval.

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16
Q

What are the three types of memory and how long do memories stay in each?

A

Sensory memory- for a few seconds
Short-term memory - 7 items for 30 seconds
Long-term memory - unlimited for a long period of time.

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17
Q

Once memories are encoded into the STM what are the two options that happen to them?

A

They are either transferred from STM to LTM or they are discarded.

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18
Q

What are the two ways memories can be lost by?

A

Displacement, when new information takes place of old information
Decay, when memory traces breakdown.

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19
Q

How can we increase the capacity of the STM?

A

By a method called chunking, grouping times together to make a single item, e.g. 0131 447 6085

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20
Q

How can we increase the length of time information is store in the STM?

A

By using rehearsal.

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21
Q

What is meant by our working memory?

A

Working memory is a system for temporarily storing and managing the information required to carry out complex cognitive tasks such as learning, reasoning, and comprehension.

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22
Q

What is meant by the serial position effect?

A

The serial position affect shows that we are more likely to remember items at the start (primary effect) and items at the end (recency effect) better than middle items.

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23
Q

How can transferring information from STM to LTM be enhanced?

A

By rehearsal, organisation and elaboration.

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24
Q

What is a contextual cue?

A

Contextual cues refer to the time and place of original encoding and aid retrieval of information from LTM.

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25
Q

What is another name for nerve cells?

A

Neurons.

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26
Q

What are neurons?

A

Neurons are adapted to carry electrical impulses from one place to another.

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27
Q

What is an axon?

A

An axon is a single nerve fibre that carries nerve impulses away from the cell body which is insulated by a fatty myelin sheath.

28
Q

What is a dendrite?

A

A dendrite is a branched nerve fibre which receives nerve impulses and passes them towards a cell body.

29
Q

What does the fatty myelin sheath help with?

A

The fatty myelin sheath insulates the axon which increases the speed of the nerve impulses along the neuron.

30
Q

What is myelination?

A

Myelination is the process of myelin developing around the axon fibres and happens between birth and adolescence.

31
Q

What happens when diseases such as sclerosis and poliomyelitis cause the myelin sheath to be destroyed?

A

It causes damage to motor neurons which means that muscles no longer retrieve signals from the brain or spinal cord. This results in loss of strength and coordination in the limbs.

32
Q

Where is the myelin sheath produced?

A

By the glial cells.

33
Q

What is a synapse?

A

A synapse is where two neurons meet.

34
Q

The plasma membranes of each neuron in very close contact and are separated by a narrow space what is this space called?

A

The synaptic cleft.

35
Q

Explain the process which happens at a synapse.

A

Firstly an electrical nerve impulse travels along the axon of the first neuron (pre-synaptic neuron). When the nerve impulse reaches the end of the axon chemical messengers cause neurotransmitters are released.
These chemicals defuses across the synaptic cleft. The chemicals bind with receptor molecules on the membrane of the second neuron (postsynaptic neuron). The receptor molecules on the second neuron can only bind to the specific neurotransmitters released from the first neuron. The binding of neurotransmitters to the receptor stimulates the second neuron to transmit electrical impulses along its axon.

36
Q

What are neurotransmitters stored in?

A

Neurotransmitters are stored inside vesicles which are found in the axon ending of the presynaptic neuron.

37
Q

Why are the transmitter molecules rapidly removed from the synaptic cleft?

A

To prevent continuous stimulation of postsynaptic neurons.

38
Q

What are the two types of removal of neurotransmitters from the synaptic cleft?

A
  • Re-uptake - The neurotransmitter is reabsorbed back into the presynaptic neuron and stored inside of a vesicle, ready to be used again (e.g. noradrenaline).
  • Enzyme degradation - Neurotransmitters are broken down by enzymes into smaller inactive products which are then reabsorbed by the presynaptic neuron and resynthesised into active neurotransmitters.
39
Q

Explain what excitatory and inhibitory signals mean.

A

Excitatory signals increase contraction of muscle fibres where is inhibitory signals decrease the contraction of muscle fibres.

40
Q

How are weak stimuli filtered out?

A

A critical number of neurotransmitter is needed in order to affect enough receptors on the postsynaptic neuron. Nerve impulses are only transmitted across the synapse if enough neurotransmitter is released. Weak stimuli don’t reach this critical number as a result not enough neurotransmitter reaches the postsynaptic neuron to generate an impulse.

41
Q

What is summation?

A

Summation is when a series of weak stimuli combine increasing the amount of neurotransmitter released and therefore creating an impulse.

42
Q

What are endorphins?

A

Endorphins are neurotransmitters that stimulate neurons involved in reducing intensity of pain.

43
Q

When does endorphin production increase?

A

In response to severe injury, prolonged and continuous exercise, stress and certain foods.

44
Q

What is dopamine?

A

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that induces the feeling of pleasure and is involved in reinforcing particular behaviour as part of the reward pathway.

45
Q

What happens when there are low levels of dopamine?

A

The part of the brain which controls movement stops working properly.

46
Q

What are agonists?

A

Agonists are chemicals that mimic the neurotransmitter effect. They been to and stimulate receptors, triggering the same response as the neurotransmitter. E.g. morphine for a dull pain.

47
Q

What are antagonists?

A

Antagonist block neurotransmitters from binding and to stimulating receptors. E.g. antihistamines.

48
Q

What are two other examples of drug treatments that affect neurotransmitters at the synapse?

A

There are enzyme inhibiting drugs which degrade the enzymes that breakdown neurotransmitters or drugs that inhibit the reabsorption of neurotransmitters.

49
Q

What are recreational drugs?

A

Recreational drugs can affect neurotransmitters in the reward pathway within the brain. They can act as either antagonist or agonist or can also stimulate the release of neurotransmitters or inhibit the reuptake.

50
Q

What does repeated use of drugs which are agonist lead to?

A

Repeated use of drugs which act as agonists leads to drug tolerance. Agonists cause the nervous system to decrease both the number and sensitivity of receptors.

51
Q

What does repeated use of drugs which act as antagonists lead to?

A

Repeated use of drugs which act as antagonists leads to drug addiction. Antagonists cause the nervous system to increase both the number and sensitivity of receptors.

52
Q

What is desensitisation?

A

Desensitisation is when the sensitivity and number of receptors decreases due to the use of agonist drugs this means the user needs more of the drug to feel the affect.

53
Q

What is sensitisation?

A

Sensitisation is when the repeated use of antagonist drugs lead the receptors to increase in number and sensitivity. This makes the user crave more of the drug.

54
Q

What are motor neurons?

A

Motor neurons take impulses from the CNS to muscles and glands.

55
Q

What are the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous said to be to each other?

A

Antagonistic

56
Q

What is a diverting neural pathway?

A

In a diverging neural pathway, impulses from on neuron travel to several neurons so affecting more than one destination at the same time.

57
Q

What is a reverberating neural pathway?

A

In a reverberating neural pathway, neurons later in the pathway link with earlier neurons, sending the impulses back through the pathway, allowing repeated stimulation of the pathway.

58
Q

What is the cerebral cortex?

A

The cerebral cortex is the centre of conscious thought. It also recalls memories and alters behaviour in the light of experience.

59
Q

What is our memory span?

A

Memory span is the number of discrete items that the short term memory can hold.

60
Q

What is a shallow form of encoding information into the long term memory?

A

Rehearsal

61
Q

What is a deeper form of encoding of information into the long term memory?

A

Elaboration

62
Q

What is an enzyme inhibitor?

A

And enzyme inhibitor is a molecule that bind to an enzyme and decreases its activity.

63
Q

What is a re-uptake inhibitor?

A

A re-uptake inhibitor blocks the transport proteins on the membrane of the pre-synaptic neuron, stopping the neurotransmitters from being absorbed, so the impulse can cause an impulses again and again.

64
Q

Which section of memory receives the information first?

A

Sensory memory

65
Q

What is displacement of memories?

A

When older information is pushed out by new information.

66
Q

What is decay of memory?

A

When memory traces breakdown when groups of neurons are activated.

Human Biology (6 decks)

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