Neuropsychology

Question 1

Name and locate the CNS and describe their functions

Answer 1

*Central Nervous System:
-Brain and spinal cord

-meninges: protects CNS with cranial bones and coverings

-spinal cord: dorsal horn (grey matter), ventral horn (white matter).

Question 2

Name and locate the PNS and describe their functions

Answer 2

*Peripheral Nervous System:
-Ganglion and Nerves

Question 3

Name and locate the Autonomous NS and describe their functions

Answer 3

-Autonomic: nerves connect to heart, blood vessels, smooth muscles and glands.

(Involuntary movement, fight or flight and controlled by CNS)

Question 4

Name and locate the Somatic NS and describe their functions

Answer 4

-Somatic: nerves connect to voluntary skeletal muscles and sensory receptors.

(Voluntary movement, incoming (afferent) and outgoing (efferent).

Question 5

Name and locate divisions of the brain and describe their functions

Answer 5

*Hindbrain & Cerebellum:
-Medulla: controls unconscious functions

*Midbrain:
-Important system of dopamine releasing neurons.

*Forebrain: (Thalamus & Hypothalamus) complex.
- Thalamus: sensory information and relay station
-Hypothalamus: regulates basic biological needs

Question 6

Locate the 4 lobes of the brain and link them to their general functions

Answer 6

*Frontal lobe - thinking, problem-solving, short-term memory and movement.

*Parietal lobe - sensory information

*Occipital lobe - Process images, colour, objects and face recognition and memory information.

*Temporal lobe - auditory stimuli, memory and emotion.

Question 7

Define localisation of functions and hemispheric specialisation

Answer 7

*Left Hemisphere: speech and language

*Right Hemisphere: emotion and creativity

Question 8

Name and describe the neuron and its parts as well as their roles

Answer 8

*Neuron: individual cells in the nervous system that receive, integrate, and transmit information.

*Function:
-Information transmission at synapse
-Action potential reaches terminal button
-Release of neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft
-Neurotransmitters excite or inhibit the target neuron.

Question 9

Roughly describe the neuron and its parts as well as their roles

Answer 9

*Neuron Parts:
-Nucleus (duh)
-Dendrite (receives information)
-Soma (body that contains nucleus)
-Axon (signal travels along this)
-Myelin Sheath (protects axon)
-Axon Terminal (transmits signal via synaptic cleft to next neuron)

Question 10

Describe how reflexes are elicited, including the role and origin of the different neurons involved in this

Question 11

Roughly describe the link between neurotransmitters and drugs

Answer 11

*Specific types of neurotransmitters either increase or decrease the probability of a neuron becoming active.

*Excitatory (increases AP) vs. Inhibitory (decreases AP).

*Psychoactive drugs act primarily to modulate the effectiveness of neurotransmitters.

Question 12

Describe the split-brain operation, the structure of the brain it involves and the effect it has on naming and perception

Answer 12

*Corpus callosotomy: the thick nerve bundles that connect the left and right hemispheres of the brain and in the operation it is severed to reduce epilepsy behaviours.

*Effects: patients will be unable to name an object due to insufficient exchange of information between the two hemispheres

Question 13

Describe the functions of the hippocampus and amygdala

Answer 13

*Important for regulating emotion, memory, perception of pain and motivation.