Physiological/Behavioral Neuroscience

Question 1

Hindbrain

Answer 1

myelencephalon/medulla: reflexes, sleep, attention, movement
metencephalon: pons (connects brain to spine), cerebellum (muscle coordination, balance, posture)
reticular formation: oldest part of brain: alertness, thirst, sleep and involuntary muscles e.g. heart

Question 2

mesencephalon (midbrain)

Answer 2

tectum: vision & hearing
tegmentum: reticular formation, sensorimotor system, analgesic effect of opiates

Question 3

diencephalon

Answer 3

thalamus: channels sensory info to cerebral cortex
hypothalamus: controls ANS biological motivationsn e.g. hunger & thirst, pituitary gland

Question 4

telencephalon

Answer 4

limbic system: four F’s: - fleeing, feeding, fighting, fornicating
hippocampus: memory
amygdala: emotional reactions like fear and anger
cingulate gyrus: links areas dealing with emotion and decisions

Question 5

cerebral cortex

Answer 5

frontal: speech, reasoning, problem solving
occipital: vision
parietal: somatosensory
temporal: hearing, Wernicke’s (speech)
gyri (bumps) and sulci (fissures)

Question 6

meninges

Answer 6

connective tissues protecting brain and spinal cord

Question 7

superior and inferior colliculus

Answer 7

superior: controls visual reflexes
inferior: controls auditory reflexes

Question 8

basal ganglia

Answer 8

large, voluntary muscle movements. degeneration in Parkinson’s & Huntington’s

Question 9

aphasia

Answer 9

language disorder
Broca’s: left frontal lobe - difficulty speaking
Wernicke’s: left temporal lobe - doesn’t understand how to choose words

Question 10

agnosia

Answer 10

difficulty processing sensory info

Question 11

hyperphagia

Answer 11

overeating with no satiation of hunger. damage to ventromedial region of hypothalamus

Question 12

fMRI

Answer 12

oxygen flow in different areas

Question 13

PET

Answer 13

positron emission tomography: scans glucose metabolism

Question 14

glial cells

Answer 14

support neurons
oligodendrocytes: provide myelin in CNS
Schwann: provide myelin in PNS

Question 15

acetylcholine

Answer 15

neuromuscular junction to cause contraction of skeletal muscles, PNS

Question 16

monoamines

Answer 16

indolamines e.g. serotonin

catecholamines e.g. dopamine

Question 17

amino acids: glutamate and GABA

Answer 17

glutamate: excitatory
GABA: inhibitory

Question 18

non-REM sleep

Answer 18

half an hour:

0: alpha waves (neural synchrony) - relaxed, drowsy
1: irregular theta waves - loss of responsiveness to stimuli, fleeting thoughts
2: theta waves - sleep spindles (fast frequency bursts of brain activity), muscle tension, decline in HR, respiration & temperature
3: delta waves appear. fewer sleep spindles
4: delta waves - deepest levels of sleep. growth hormones secreted

Question 19

REM sleep

Answer 19

20% of sleep
dreams
beta waves (as when awake) - neural desynchrony

Question 20

Konrad Lorenz

Answer 20

founder of ethology (study of animal behaviors)

• imprinting
• fixed action patterns: instinctual chains of behaviors triggered by releasing stimuli - uniform, performed by most species members, more complex than simple reflexes, cannot be interrupted

Question 21

Karl von Frisch

Answer 21

dance of the honeybees

Question 22

Wolfgang Kohler

Answer 22

showed that chimpanzees can use insight to solve problems

Question 23

Harry Harlow

Answer 23

Rhesus monkeys: social isolation, maternal stimulation

Question 24

Thorndike’s law of effect

Answer 24

(instrumental learning) successful behaviors are more likely to be repeated (cats in puzzle boxes)

Question 25

Eric Kandel

Answer 25

sea slug Aplysia - learning and memory are evidenced by changes in synapses and neural pathways