Neurobiology Flashcards
The brain
uses oxygen and metabolites (oxygen and glucose)
- uses 20% of oxygen and calories we consume, only 2% of our total weight
limited cognitive abilities
neurons in visual cortex hooked up in such a way that they inhibit each other
- competitive behaviour of neurons limits how much visual information the brain can reasons to at the same time
brainstem
“trunk of the brain”
- regulation of respiration
- heart rate
- digestion
- loss of function would = braindead
includes: medulla, pons, midbrain, diencephalon - collectively involved in sleep cycle, some sensory and motor functions, growth, and other hormonal behaviours
cerebellum
at the back of brain
- coordinates movement, posture, language
- contains great number of neurons in brain
cerebral hemisphere
responsible for cognitive abilities and conscious experiment
consists of cerebral cortex, subcortical structures
cerebral cortex
outermost matter of cerebellum
- white matter
subcortical structures
lie beneath cerebral cortex, but above brain stem
- basal ganglia, amygdala, hippocampal formation
gyi & sulci
folds & grooves of cortex
occipital lobe
back part of cerebrum
- vision
temporal lobe
lies below lateral sulcus
- auditory processing, memory, multi sensory integration
parietal lobe
just behind central sulcus
- somatosensory (body sensation) cortex
- visual attention, multi sensory convergence zones
frontal lobe
most forward region (forehead)
- houses motor cortex (motor planning, language, judgement, decision making)
basal ganglia
subcortical structures of cerebral hemisphere
* voluntary movement
limbic system
includes amygdala & hippocampal formation
- emotional role, aversion, gratification
corpus callosum
white matter tracts that connect dense bundle of white matter
contralateral
both hemisphere have this
“opposite - side”
left side = movement and sensation on right side of body
right side = movement and sensation on left side of body
split brain patient
have corpus callosum severed
- can simultaneously search for something in right and left visual fields
grey matter
neural cell bodies
- soma contains genes: responsible for metabolism and protein synthesis
white matter
axons of the neurons (axons covered in myelin sheath)
- critical in cell communication
converging evidence
similar finding reported from multiple studies using different methods
phrenology
one of the first organized studies of the brain
- popular in beginning of 19th century
- correlated bumps and indentations of the skull with specific functions of the brain
ex: uneven surface of brain reflects skull
spatial resolution
refers to how small element of an image are
high spatial resolution = device can resolve very small elements
* describes how small of a structure in brain can be imaged
CAT or MRI
detect changes in white and grey matter
changing the brain
lesions and ablate parts of brain in animals to see how It affects behaviour
