Neuroscience Flashcards
Features of action potential
All-or-none law: either total potential or no potential (like light switch)
Refractory period: time needed to regenerate potential in order to fire again (like toilet flushing)
Neuronal excitation
Increasing the firing of a neuron
Neuronal inhibition
Decreasing the firing of a neuron
Medulla
Lower area of brain
Breathing, heart rate, swallowing/digestion
Hypothalamus
Lower area of brain
Aggression, sex drive
Cerebellum
Lower area of brain
Coordination of motor movements, multitasking/ switching from one activity to the next
Thalamus
Lower area of brain
Transportation of raw sensory data to higher order processing regions of brain
Neocortex/cerebral cortex/cortex
Higher order processing regions of brain
Corpus callosum
Connects right and left sides of brain
Occipital lobe
Located in back portion of cortex (touching temporal and parietal lobes)
Sight
Location of visual cortex
Temporal lobe
Located in bottom portion of cortex (touching parietal, frontal, and occipital lobes)
Hearing and language
Parietal lobe
Located in top middle portion of cortex (touching frontal, temporal, and occipital lobes)
Touch
Location of somatosensory cortex
Frontal lobe
Located in front portion of cortex (touching parietal and temporal lobes)
Higher order cognition (focusing, shifting focus, decision making, problem solving)
Location of primary motor cortex
Hippocampal region
Towards center of brain, but below cortex
Important for memory (particularly forming new memories)
Interior to temporal lobe
Why smells can be such powerful memory triggers
Area for processing smell is near area for processing memories
Amygdala
Emotion processing (particularly fight or flight) Social processing
Location of Broca’s area
Temporal lobe (near frontal lobe)
Location of Wernicke’s area
Temporal lobe (near parietal lobe)
Organization of somatosensory cortex
Touching a certain area of this region of the brain corresponds to touching a certain body part
Homunculi: “little men” (represent body parts that correspond to a certain area of this region)
Methods used to study brain anatomy
CT and MRI
Methods used to study loss of brain function
Neuropsychology, TMS
Methods used to measure brain activity indirectly
PET, fMRI
Methods used to measure brain activity directly
EEG, MEG, ERP, single cell recording
CT and MRI
Used to detect brain damage
MRI is more detailed than CT
CT is better at picking up certain things (brain bleeding, etc.)
MRI can be used to detect disease pathology over time
Neuropsychology
Studying effects of brain damage
Often looks at double dissociation (tells us that 2 processes that normally go together are separate and independent)
Example: perception without sensation (blindsight) vs. sensation without perception (prosopagnosia- face blindness)
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
Magnetic field temporarily induces damage to 1 specific area of brain
Can be used to further study functions of specific areas of brain
Low spatial resolution (whole parts of brain), high temporal resolution (millisecond to second)
Positron emission tomography (PET)
Indirectly measure brain functioning
Radioactive tracer in bloodstream is detected by scanner
Blood flow increases in areas of brain that are active during a cognitive process
Low spatial (whole brain regions) and low temporal (minutes to hours) resolution
fMRI
Indirectly measure brain functioning
Measure blood flow in brain without radioactivity
Uses magnet to line up hemoglobin molecules
Activity: loss of O2 causes stronger magnetic response
More accurate than PET
Low spatial (whole brain regions) and low temporal (minutes to hours) resolution
Single cell recording
Recording electrode positioned near neuron
Reference electrode positioned outside of tissue
Difference in charge between recording and reference: action potential
High spatial (single neuron) and temporal (milliseconds to seconds) resolution
Event-related potential (ERP)
Directly measure brain functioning
Small electrodes placed on person’s scalp
Each electrode picks up signals that fire together
Ideal for investigating fast processes (can pick up rapid signals)
Disadvantage: hard to pinpoint exact areas of brain
High temporal (milliseconds to seconds), but low spatial (whole areas of brain) resolution
