neuroscience :0 Flashcards
Acetylcholine
Muscle movement and memory
Excitatory
Not enough causes Alzheimer’s
Glutamate
Main excitatory NT
memory, strengthens synaptic connections, used by more neurons than any other NT
GABA
Main inhibitory NT
sleep, movement, eating, aggression
Without it you cannot relax which causes anxiety
-also caused huntington disease and epilepsy
Dopamine
Inhibitory or excitatory
Reward and pleasure
Dope in the park
-not enough: Parkinson disease
-too much Schizophrenia
Serotonin
Sir rotten
Inhibitory
mood and happiness
Not enough causes Depression
Norepinephrine
Excitatory
Arousal or Alertness
Not enough can cause Depression
Endorphins
Mainly inhibitory
Pain suppression
Substance P
Excitatory
Pain transmission
Central Nervous System
The brain and spinal cord
Peripheral Nervous System
The sensory and motor neurons that connect to the central nervous system
peripheral vision =outside
Somatic Nervous System
Part of peripheral nervous system that controls the body’s skeletal muscles
Somatic=skeleton
Autonomic Nervous System
Part of the peripheral nervous system that controls GLANDS and MUSCLES of internal organs
Sympathetic Nervous System
Part of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body
sympathetic=speeds up
Fight or flight
Taking a test is stressful, heart rate goes up
Parasympathetic Nervous System
Part of autonomic nervous system that CALMS the body, conserving its energy
Rest and Digest
-digestion, salivation, urination, slows heart rate
EEG brain scan
Sleep waves, sleep stages
PET scan
Glucose goes into the blood stream to show dif brain functions
Brain lights up under certain situations
I feed my PET sugar or GLUCOSE
CT or CAT scan
x-ray like used to identifying injuries
MRI
Locates lesion and brain damage
-most detailed imaging available
fMRI
MRI and brain activity measured by changes in blood flow
Brain stem
All unconscious behavior
-basic life functioning
(group)
ex: heart beating and breathing
Medulla
Controls heart rate and breathing
Thalamus
Sensory switchboard- gives you all senses but smell
Relay center
-sends info to correct place and acts as a center for pain perception
Cerebellum
Balance and coordination
-muscle movement and memory
Limbic system
Systems of nerves and network in brain, linked to memory and mood
Instinct and Mood
Amygdala
Plays a key role in emotions such as fear and anger
Angry Amy
Hypothalamus
Hunger and Thirst
-regulate body functions
Cerebral Cortex
Responsible for higher brain processes like perceiving thinking and speaking
Frontal lobe
Holds all parts of brain involved with speaking, muscle movement, personality, decision making
Thinking and decision making
Broca’s area
Produces speech
Apart of the Frontal lobe
Motor Cortex
Apart of the Frontal lobe, controls muscle movement
Voluntary muscle movement
Prefrontal Cortex
Apart of the Frontal lobe
2 Ps: Planning and personality
Parietal Lobe
Touch sensations
processing information about touch.
P.S I want to touch you
Sensory cortex
Processes info coming from muscles, joints, and skin
Sense of touch only!!!
Visual Cortex
Receives and processes sensory nerve impulses from the eyes
Vision
Occipital lobe
Contains visual cortex for vision
All visual tasks
Temporal lobe
Helps you hear and understand what you hear
All hearing tasks
Tempo of music
Wernicke’s area
Apart of the Temporal lobe, controls language reception
Understands speech
Auditory cortex
Apart of Temporal lobe, region of the brain responsible for processing sound
Fusiform Gyrus
Apart of the Temporal lobe, processes faces and visual word forms
F for Face
Corpus Callosum
A broad band of nerve fibers joining the two hemispheres of the brain
Angular Gyrus
Translates words/symbols into auditory code
-reading, math
Reticular formation
Wake up
ticular = tickle
Neuron
basic building block of the nervous system. They respond to signals and send signals of their own
Dendrite
receives messages
Cell body
Cells life-support center
Axon
passes messages to other neurons, muscles, or glands
Myelin sheath
Protective fatty layer around some axons
-Speeds up transmission time or impulses
Terminal branches
form junctions with other cells
Synapse
Space between neurons
Refractory period
Neuron pumps (+) out so it can fire again
end of neuron cycle
new action potential cannot be created
sensory neurons (afferent)
collect messages from sensory organs and carry to spinal cord/brain
Motor neurons (efferent)
Carry messages from spinal cord/brain TO muscles/glands
Action Potential
Brief electrical charge that travels down the axon
-caused by depolarization of neuron
Resting potential or polarized
-70 millivolts
Salty Banana
(-) chloride and potassium
(+) sodium
Threshold
When an impulse reaches a minimum level of excitation
-55mV
afterwards the axon opens its gate and runs through depolarization
All-or-none-response
increasing the signal strength does NOT increase intensity of action potential
neurons will either transmit an impulse to the next neuron completely or not at all.
like firing a gun because once shot you cannot take it back
Reuptake
Many neurotransmitters are recycled by being reabsorbed
process by which neurotransmitters are taken back into the terminal buttons
Corpus callosum
A bundle of neural fibers deep in the center of the brain which connects the left and right cerebral hemispheres to provide communication between the two sides of the brain
Corpus callosotomy
surgical procedure for the treatment of epileptic activity by cutting the corpus callosum
Left side of brain
controls right side of body
language and math
Right side of brain
controls left side of body
spaces and faces
Depolarization
When sodium ions (Na+) rush in to the neuron, a neuron goes from -70mV to -55mV
Neural networks
networks of nerve cells that integrate sensory input and motor output
Hormones
Chemical messengers of the endocrine system
Identical twins separated at birth and raised in completely different cultures would be most likely to have similar
Temperaments
The sequence of brain regions from the evolutionarily oldest to the most recent is:
brainstem; limbic system; cerebral cortex.
Association areas
The parts of the cerebral cortex that bring various pieces of information together
-areas of the cerebral cortex that are composed of neurons that help provide sense and meaning to information registered in the cortex
Glial cell
cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons, make up the myelin sheath
What serves as the bridge between the nervous system and the endocrine system?
Pituitary gland
Phenotype
An organism’s physical appearance, or visible traits
Aphasia
impairment of language
Neuron
a nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system
Neurotransmission process
neuron release neurotransmitters as electrical impulse travels down axon, neurotransmitters cross the synapse and bind to receptor sites. They are then broken down or re-absorbed, in the process of reuptake.
Agonist
A chemical that mimics the action of a neurotransmitter. Example: Cocaine for Dopamine
Antagonist
chemical that opposes the action of a neurotransmitter. Example: Botox for Ach
hemispheric specialization or lateralization
refers to the fact that the left and right hemispheres of the brain have some specific functions that exist only in those hemispheres.
Pituitary Gland
The endocrine system’s most influential gland. Under the influence of the hypothalamus, the pituitary regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands.
heritability estimates
measure the extent to which individual differences in complex traits in a specific population are due to genetic factors
closer to 1.0, more due to genes
Genotype
genetic makeup of an organism
full set of genes, inherited from both parents
Phenotype
An organism’s physical appearance, or visible traits.
Temperament
the enduring characteristics with which each person is born, similar to personality or general disposition
Evolutionary Psychology
the attempt to explain social behavior in terms of genes that have evolved over time according to the principles of natural selection
U GOT THIS
U SMARTIE
Behavior Genetics
the study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior (nature and nurture)
SSRI Agonist
Antidepressants that block the reuptake of serotonin
