Neuroscience

Question 1

What is an EEG or Electroencephalography

Answer 1

A device that monitors the electrical activity of the brain over time by means of recording electrodes attached to the surface of the scalp

Question 2

Alpha Activity

Answer 2

-A brain wave pattern that occurs when a subject is physically and mentally relaxed and awake
-It’s a patterned basal wave of activity- only 70% of the population can cause this

Question 3

TMS

Answer 3

-Involves stimulating the brain with a large current through a wire coil that is placed on a person’s head
-Allows scientists to temporarily enhance or depress activity in a specific area of the brain.
-This gives insight into the purpose of specific areas of the brain and their importance for certain functions
-May be helpful to treat depression, anxiety and eating disorders

Question 4

PET or Positron-Emission Tomography

Answer 4

Examine brain function; map activity in the brain over time
Patient is injected with a substance that contains radioactive properties and when a certain area of the brain is active, it shows the liquid
Record biochemical changes, and maps the brain function with activity tracking overtime

Question 5

What is the Nervous System Made of?

Answer 5

The Nervous system is made up of cells called Neurons (Nerve cells), they are the nervous systems communication specialists, they transmit information to, from and within the nervous system

Question 6

Neuron Definition

Answer 6

Neuron: Individual cells in the nervous system that receive, integrate and transmit information

Question 7

Glia Definition

Answer 7

Glia: cells that support, nurture and insulate neurons, remove debris when neurons die, enhance the formation and maintenance of synapses and modify neural functioning
- 90% of the brain cells are glia
-Communicate chemically with each other
Neurons rely on glial cells

Question 8

Neuron Facts (5)

Answer 8

1. Building blocks of the nervous system
2. Each is unique and delicate like a snowflake
3. Microscopic
4. About 86 Billion in one brain
5. Communicates between 5000-200,000 other neurons

Question 9

Dendrite purpose/Def

Answer 9

Branches that receive information from other neurons and transmit it to the cell body

Question 10

Soma or Cell body purpose/Def

Answer 10

Soma or Cell body: Keeps the neuron alive and decides whether it will fire
-Shaped like a sphere or pyramid
-Depends on input whether the message is fired
-Either the neuron fires or does not, it is not a spectrum of strength in firing

Question 11

Axon Purpose and def:

Answer 11

Axon (Talkers): Extending fibre that conducts impulses away from the cell body and transmits them to other neurons

Question 12

Myelin Shieth Purpose/Def

Answer 12

-Fatty insulation that may surround the axon of a neuron
-Helps protect the message being transported to avoid it interfering with a different message transfer
-Depending on the thickness, it can help increase the speed that which the impulse travels
-MS causes a lack of myelin

Question 13

What language do Neurons speak

Answer 13

Neurons communicate through chemical and electrical languages

Question 14

How do Neurons communicate

Answer 14

-When a neuron is stimulated, a change occurs between the inside and outside of the cell
-A sudden flow of +Na (positivity charged sodium) ions across a cell membrane, followed by an outflow of +K (positively charged potassium) ions

Question 15

Synaptic cleft

Answer 15

minuscule space between neurons

Question 16

Synapse

Answer 16

The site where transmission of a nerve impulse from one nerve cell to another occurs; it includes the axon terminal, the synaptic cleft and receptor sites in the membrane of the receiving cell

Question 17

Synapse facts (5)

Answer 17

-When we are born, most synapses are not yet formed, but as we grow, they develop rapidly ( especially in infancy)
-Synapses grow through new learning experiences and stimulating environments
-Learning and stimulation also produce the greatest increases in synaptic complexity
With time, axons and dendrites continue to grow, and more and more connections grow in the brain’s neuro cells
-Unused synaptic connections prune away as the cells or branches die
-Brain circuits are continually changing in response to information, challenges, and changes in the environment

Question 18

Action Potential

Answer 18

Action potential: A brief change in electrical voltage that occurs between the inside and outside of an axon when a neuron is stimulated; it serves to produce an electrical impulse

Question 19

Neurotransmitter

Answer 19

Neurotransmitter: A chemical substance that is released by a transmitting neuron at the synapse and that alters the activity of a receiving neuron.
-What any neuron does at any moments depends on the net effect of the messages being sent by other neurons
-Thousands of messages of different kinds are sent to each neuron

Question 20

How a Neurotransmitter Works

Answer 20

-Exist within the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves and in certain glands
-When a neural impulse reaches the axon terminals button like tip it has to get its message across the synaptic cleft to another cell
-To do this, synaptic vesicles which are tiny sacs in the tip of the axon terminal open, and release a few thousand molecules of a chemical substance called a neurotransmitter
-These molecules diffuse across the synaptic cleft
The neurotransmitter binds briefly with receptor site, a special molecule in the membrane of the receiving neurons dendrites
-Neurotransmitters fit like a key in a lock within the receptor sites
-Upon receiving the neurotransmission, the receiving neuron holds a change which is either excitatory or inhibitory depending on the neurotransmitter

Question 21

Excitatory and Inhibitory

Answer 21

INHIBITION AND EXCITATION: Excitatory increases likelihood of the receiving neuron firing and inhibitory does the opposite

Question 22

Serotonin: Affects neurons involved in sleep, appetite, pain suppression and mood
Depression is related to low serotonin levels

Answer 22

Low levels of serotonin and norepinephrine have been associated with severe depression

Question 23

Dopamine

Answer 23

Dopamine: Affects neurons involved in voluntary movement, learning, memory and emotion

Parkinson’s disease involves a loss of cells that produce dopamine (dopaminergic neurons: nerves that produce dopamine)

Question 24

Acetylcholine

Answer 24

Acetylcholine: Affects neurons involved in muscle action, cognitive functioning, memory and emotion
ONLY neurotransmitter with conversation to the body and movement

Question 25

Norepinephrine

Answer 25

Norepinephrine: Affects neurons involved in increased heart rate and the slowing of intestinal activity during stress, and neurons involved in learning, dreaming and waking from sleep

Question 26

GABA

Answer 26

GABA: The major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain (used to relax)

Very widely distributed, may be present at about 40% of synapses that occur, involved in learning and anxiety regulation

Abnormal GABA levels have been related to sleep and eating disorders and to convulsive disorders such as epilepsy

Question 27

Glutamate

Answer 27

Glutamate: The major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain

Question 28

Treatment Assumptions

Answer 28

Just because there is correlation does not always mean that its a direct causation, there is functional overlap
Medications that treat one disorder in relation to the neurotransmitter, do not always have effect because it may not be the sole causation or even a direct causation in the first place

Question 29

Neural Networks

Answer 29

Neurons work in a network, one neuron does not make a difference on its own, they must fire together in networks of thousands (cell assemblies) to make an impact
These networks become the building blocks for memory and complex cognitive function such as planning and conflict resolution

Question 30

Longer-term potentiation

Answer 30

Long-term Potentiation: A phenomenon where repeated stimulation of certain nerve cells in the brain greatly increases the likelihood that the cells will respond strongly to future stimulation

-Explains how we learn something new
-Do Not Cram, time is key, use distributed practice
-Repeated exposure to the same material is very important