PSYC355 Exam 1 Flashcards
What is the role of synapses ?
Connection between one neuron to an other
What is the role of axons ?
Transmits information between a neuron to an other
What is the definition of neuroscience ?
The study of the nervous system
What is the definition of Behavioral Neuroscience ?
The study of the biological bases of behavioral and mental processes
What is Trepanation ?
Procedure to know if subjects had mental disorders.
they thought that evil spirits was disrupting the brain and behavioral
True or False
Egyptians thought that the heart was the main part of the soul.
True
True or False.
Egyptians thought that the brain was not important.
True
Who developed the Theory of Humors and what is it ?
Hippocrates.
Composed of Blood, Yellow Bile, Black Bile and phlegm
What happened if the four Humors are unbalanced ?
Illness
What Herophilus (Father of anatomy) discovered while dissecting humans ?
Each region of the body is connected to separated nerves
How many neurons are in the body ?
Around 86 billions
How Galen discovered that the brain must be very important ?
Gladiators behaviors change a lot after brain injuries
What Galen thought that passed along nerves to all regions of the body ?
Animal spirits
Who was the founder of anatomical drawings and what he is emphasizing on ?
Leonardo de Vinci
He emphasizes on ventricles
Who explained behaviors in terms of machines ?
René Descartes
René Descartes talked about a mind-body dualism, what is it ?
The body is material and the mind is not.
The mid can interact via the pineal gland.
What are the two reasons why Descartes was so interested by the pineal gland ?
1) Animals didn’t have one (which was false)
2) The pineal gland is the only part of the brain that is single. Mostly, brain structures are double.
What animal spirits could do when they are unleashed ?
They can produce motor movements
Why is the white matter is white ?
Because there is a lot of myelinated axons
What the gray matter is made of and what is its role ?
Neuronal cell bodies and dendrites
Role: processing information
Galvani and Emil du Bois-Raymond found out that there was electricity that goes through bodies wire (nerves), how did they found out ?
By studying dead frogs, they sent electrical signals in nerves.
What is the Bell and Magendie Law ?
It states that the ventral spinal roots transmit motor impulses and the dorsal roots sensory impulses.
True or false.
In the end of 18th and early 19th century, they thought that differences between everybody cerebrum where related to abilities.
True
What is phrenology ?
Correlating structures of the head with personality traits.
What was the main argument of phrenology opponents ?
They said that the brain works as a whole because if we took off a part of the brain, everything is shut down.
Who is related to the case of Mr. Leborgne ?
Paul Broca
Explain the case of Mr. Leborgne and what it lead on.
Mr. Leborgne was not able to speak. Broca looked at his brain and I discovered that one of the region of his brain was misfunctioning (which was related to speak and reading region). So, he started noticing that some regions of the brain were related to specific abilities.
What are the three approaches relate brain and behavior ?
Somatic Intervention = Alteration of a STRUCTURE or FUNCTION to see how behavior is altered (ex: administrating a hormone… leads to… strength of mating behavior)
Behavior Intervention = Intervention in a BEHAVIOR to see how structure or function is altered. (ex: put male in presence of female… leads to… changes in hormones levels)
Correlation: Measures how much a body measures varies with a behavioral measure.
- *Two factors might be correlated only because a third, unknown factor affects the two factors measured**
(ex: two students with good grades on an exam)
What is neuroplasticity ?
Describes the ability of the brain to be changed by environment and experience.
What happen on your neurons when you take drugs ?
The morphology changes: dendrites are more dense and there are more dendrites spines.
What are the levels of Analysis in Behavioral Neuroscience ?
- Social Level
- Organ Level
- Neural system Level
- Brain Level
- Circuit Level
- Cellular Level
- Synaptic Level
- Molecular Level
What is the most important part of the nervous system ?
Neurons
What is the role of glial cells ?
Provides support to the brain and process information.
What mitochondria does in a cell ?
Produce energy
What ribosome does in a cell ?
Translate genetic information from the cell nucleus into the protein needed for the construction and operation of the neuron
Cajal said that there were tiny gaps… what is those gaps ?
Synapses
True or false.
Golgi discovered that neurons were separated and there were tiny gaps.
False
What are the three principal forms of neurons ?
Multipolar, bipolar and unipolar
What is a multipolar neuron ?
Nerve cell that has many dendrites and a single axon.
What is a bipolar neuron ?
A nerve cell with a single dendrite and a single axon.
What is an unipolar neuron ?
A nerve cell with a single branch that leaves the cell body and then extends in two directions; one end is the receptive pole and the other is the output zone.
What are the four zones related to information processing and what are their role ?
1) Input zone: collect and integrate information either from the environment or from others cells (dendrites)
2) Integrating Zone: Where the decision to produce a neural signal is made (axon hillock)
3) Conduction Zone: Transmitted over great distances (cell’s axon)
4) Output Zone: Neuron transfers information to other cells (axon’s terminal)
What are the three function that a neuron can have and what are their role ?
Motor nerves: Stimulates muscles, organs, glands (multipolar)
Sensory nerves: Respond to environmental stimuli (bipolar, unipolar)
Interneurons nerves: Neither a motor nor a sensory neuron; it receives input from and sends output to others neurons
What is the cone-shaped area from which the axon originates out of the cell body ? (Integration Zone)
Axon hillock
What is increasing the surface area of the dendrites, allowing for extra synaptic contacts
Dendrites spines