Psych Midterm 1.1 Flashcards
What acts as a cushion for the brain, providing it protection against sudden impacts or jolts?
The CSF: cerebrospinal fluid.
The brain has many pain receptors. True or false?
False, it has no pain receptors. Neurons within the brain don’t sense pain signals.
The brain’s protective coverings, the meninges, contains pain receptors. True or false?
True.
What is the brain stem?
A vital part of the brain that’s responsible for controlling essential functions like heartrate, breathing, and consciousness.
Any damage can lead to immediate death.
What does neuroplasticity allow?
It allows healthy brain regions to compensate for damaged ones.
For example, if one area is injured, neighbouring regions can take over its functions.
What are the 4 main structures of the brain? What does each do?
- Brainstem - Serves as a communication hub, sending information in and out of the brain.
- Hindbrain - Controls the absolute functions we need to survive and is the first part to evolve in all humans.
- Midbrain - Involved in dopamine regulation and contributes to visual and auditory processing.
- Forebrain - Largest part of our brain where all our thinking and sensory information is processed, and where our motor commands are produced.
Which part of the brain is unique to humans and what does it do?
The frontal cortex is larger in humans and controls our ability to plan, rationalize, and engage in complex decision-making.
Where is the cerebellum in the brain and what does it do?
It’s behind the pons, near the brainstem and is responsible for motor control, balance, and posture, eye movements, and our learning and cognitive abilities.
The cerebellum only produces motor commands, but does not fine-tune them. True or false?
False, it fine-tunes them but does not produce them.
What does the pons do in the brain?
It serves as a bridge between the brain and spinal cord.
It’s responsible for sleep regulation, pain signals and sensation, and cranial nerve connections.
It is very active while we’re sleeping.
Neurons in the cerebellum are constantly changing and adapting. This neuroplasticity allows the brain to adjust and learn from experiences. True or false?
True.
What is the role of the medulla in the brain?
It’s located at the base of the brain and is connected to the spinal cord. It regulates essential processes which keep us alive, such as cardiovascular control, respiratory regulation, autonomic processes, and nerve connections.
Any damage to it can have life-threatening consequences.
What is reticular formation?
A complex network of neurons that extends from the spinal cord to the thalamus.
It ensures that we’re awake and sufficiently aroused to take in information and send it throughout our body.
What are the 3 parts of the midbrain?
- Superior Colliculi, which is responsible for orienting our visual attention.
- Inferior Colliculi, which is responsible for orienting our auditory attention.
- Substantia Nigra, which produces dopamine that has significant effects on our movement and muscle tone; it’s responsible for our voluntary movement and reward processing. It’s involved in cognitive functions like learning, judgement, and decision-making.
What are the 4 sub-cortical structures? (Thalamus, hypothalamus, pituitary gland, limbic system).
- Thalamus, which is the brain’s relay station for all sensory information except smell. It processes and organizes the information from our sensory nerves.
- Hypothalamus, which plays a crucial role in maintaining our stability and balance (homeostasis). It controls/communicates with our pituitary gland.
- Pituitary Gland, which releases hormones throughout the body. It regulates our metabolism, water and salt balance, and labour/childbirth.
- Limbic System, which controls our emotion and memory.
What are the 2 parts of the Limbic System?
- Amygdala, which plays a crucial role in processing emotions; mostly fear and aggression. It controls our emotions related to our flight or fight response.
- Hippocampus, which stores our declarative and spatial relationship memories. It converts short-term memories to long-term ones and sends them elsewhere.
What are declarative memories?
Memories related to facts and events.
What are spatial relationship memories?
Memories involving pathways or routes.
What is the largest part of your brain?
The cerebrum, arguably the most important part of the brain to us humans.
What are the parts of the cerebrum?
The 2 cerebral hemispheres, the corpus callosum, frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, and occipital lobe.
What is the corpus callosum?
The bundle of nerve fibers that connects the 2 hemispheres and allows them to communicate.
What is the cerebral cortex?
The outermost layer of the cerebrum, covering the entire surface like a wrinkled sheet.
It’s responsible for our conscious experiences, thoughts, and perceptions.
What are the 4 major LOBES of the brain?
- Frontal Lobe - Located just behind the forehead, and is the powerhouse of our cognitive processes.
- Parietal Lobe, which plays a crucial role in sensation, perception, integration, and interpretation.
- Temporal Lobe - Processes auditory information and is involved in our perception of time. It also stores smell memories.
- Occipital Lobe - The visual processing centre.
What are the parts and their functions in the frontal lobe? (Primary motor cortex, prefrontal cortex, broca’s area)
The Primary Motor Cortex plans and initiates our voluntary movements.
The Prefrontal Cortex is responsible for executive functions like memory, reasoning, problem-solving, attention, concentration, and self-awareness.
The Broca’s Area controls speech production.
What are the parts and their functions in the parietal lobe? (Somatosensory cortex, and visual association cortex)
The Somatosensory Cortex is made of afferent sensory nerves that process touch and proprioception (our awareness of our body position).
The Visual Association Cortex (V2) gives meaning to visual information (recognizing objects, interpreting spatial relationships, and understanding visual scenes).
What are the parts and their functions in the temporal lobe? (Primary auditory cortex, visual association cortex, and wernicke’s area)
The Primary Auditory Cortex processes sound from our ears.
The Visual Association Cortex (V2) gives meaning to visual information.
The Wernicke’s Area is in the LH and is focused on language comprehension.
What are the parts and their functions in the occipital lobe? (Primary visual cortex, and visual association cortex)
The Primary Visual Cortex (V1) controls our initial processing of visual information. (When you seen an image, the V1 stars deciphering it, turning light patterns into meaningful neural signals).
The Visual Association Cortex (V2) processes the features of visual stimulus. (It analyzes shapes, colours, and textures).
What is lesioning?
Deliberately damaging specific areas of the brain to study the resulting behavioural changes.
What is electrical stimulation of the brain (ESB)?
It studies brain function by applying weak electrical currents to specific brain regions.
They implant small devices, like metal plates, into specific brain regions, which control electrical stimulation.
The external validity of these studies is low.
What happened when ESB was used on cats? On rats?
On cats, it made them super angry when their amygdala was stimulated.
On rats, it showed that people put pleasure before pain.
What is electrocephalography (EEG)?
A way to study brain activity measuring electrical signals generated by neurons.
Electrodes are placed on the scalp to detect electrical fluctuations.
What are the different brain waves that EEG measure?
Alpha waves, which are seen during wakefulness when your eyes are closed and the mind is relaxed. A low amplitude.
Beta waves, which are associated with active thinking, problem-solving, and alertness. Also a low amplitude.
Theta waves occur during light sleep, daydreaming, or deep relaxation. A moderate amplitude.
Delta waves, which are associated with deep sleep and healing. A high amplitude.
What is a Computerized Axial Tomography (CT scan)?
A non-invasive diagnostic imaging procedure that uses special x-rays to produce horizontal images (like slices) of the brain.
It provides detailed information about brain tissue and structures.
The person will take a contrast in order to enhance the visibility of specific brain areas.
What is a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)?
It uses a large magnet, radio waves, and a computer to create high-quality images of the brain and brainstem without using ionizing radiation. It can create 2D or 3D images of the brain structures.
What is a Positron Emission Tomography (PET scan)?
A nuclear medicine imaging, where you inject a small amount of radioactive tracer, like glucose, into the bloodstream. This tracer emits positrons (positively charged particles), and when they collide with an electron, they will release gamma rays, which the PET scan can detect.
The radioactive tracer will accumulate in areas with high metabolic activity, so it can show functional activity.
What is a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)?
It tracks blood flow in different brain regions. It’s the same as an MRI, but with a specialized focus.
When neurons in the brain are active, they consume more oxygen, which the fMRI can see.
It is not skilled at one specific aspect.
What is lateralization?
The unequal distribution of functions between the L and R hemispheres of the brain.
What is contralateral processing?
The way our brain handles sensory information and motor commands: when you do something on the left side of your body, the signals will be sent to the right hemisphere of your brain.
What is vision lateralization?
When we fix our gaze on a specific point, our visual field will be divided into our left and right visual field. If a bird flies in your left VF, the information from both eyes will go and be processed in your right hemisphere.
What is the optic chiasm?
A crucial structure where the optic nerves from both eyes intersect, and is located down the corpus callosum, which is the bundle of nerves that connect the 2 hemispheres.
What is a corpus callosotomy?
Cutting the corpus callosum because of severe seizures, to stop communication between the 2 hemispheres of the brain.
What does hemispheric lateralization do?
It ensures efficient processing by allowing each hemisphere to specialize in specific functions.
Which hemisphere is visual letter recognition more pronounced in?
The left, by around 20%
Which hemisphere is visual face recognition more pronounced in?
The right, by around 20%
Which hemisphere is auditory letter recognition more pronounced in?
The left, by 80%
Which hemisphere is auditory melody recognition more pronounced in?
The right, by around 20%
What are psychoactive drugs? What are the 3 types?
Substances that affect the brain and can alter awareness, thoughts, mood, and behaviour.
They’re substances that contain chemicals, like neurotransmitters, that effect synapse.
Depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens.
What can depressants do?
They can slow down brain activity and cause sedation.
They work by inhibiting/depressing the CNS function, which can lead to drowsiness, decreased inhibition, and impaired coordination.
What are two examples of depressants and what is the difference between them?
Morphine and heroin. Morphine goes through the metabolism, whereas heroin hits the brain at full effect.
What can stimulants do?
They can increase the activity of the brain and spinal cord. They’ll enhance alertness, attention, motivation, cognition, mood, and physical performance.
They work by affecting the levels of certain neurotransmitters in the synapses between neurons.
What are some examples of stimulants?
Nicotine, amphetamines (used to treat ADHD), cocaine and caffeine.
What do hallucinogens do?
They alter the way people perceive reality by affecting the brain’s perception areas.
What are the 3 types of hallucinogens?
Psychedelics like psilocybin and LSD
Dissociates like ketamine and PCP
Deliriants like estacy or plants.
What are the 5 ways that psychoactive drugs can affect the process of a synapse?
- They can increase or prevent the synthesis and storage of neurotransmitters.
- They can alter the release of neurotransmitters into the synaptic left.
- Certain drugs can mimic neurotransmitters and bind at receptor sites, either activating or blocking them.
- They can activate or remove neurotransmitters, affecting how long they linger in the synaptic cleft.
- They can block reuptake and keep neurotransmitters in the synaptic cleft.
What do agonistic drugs do? What are the 3 things agonistic drugs can influence?
They enhance or mimic the effects of neurotransmitters.
They cause neurotransmitters to be more active and have a greater effect.
1. They can cause a neuron to synthesize, store, and release more neurotransmitters.
2. They can bind to receptor sites and cause action.
3. They can block reuptake and prevent the cleaning up of used neurotransmitters.
What is acetylcholine (ACh) and what 3 drugs affect it? Are they agonistic or antagonistic drugs?
It’s a neurotransmitter that plays a role in voluntary movement, attention, and arousal.
The venom from a black widow spider will stimulate the release of ACh, causing massive post-synaptic potentials. It’s lethal because it causes our nervous system to become overloaded, and we die. It’s an agonistic drug.
Botox prevents the release of ACh, so it’s an antagonistic drug.
Nicotine causes more action potentials and mimics the effects of ACh, so it’s an agonist of ACh.
What do antagonistic drugs do?
They inhibit or block neurotransmitter effects.
They interfere with and impair a neuron’s ability to synthesize neurotransmitters, store them properly, and release them into the synaptic gap.
They can bind to receptor sites, but they don’t activate them.
What is dopamine and what 2 drugs affect it? Are they agonist or antagonist drugs?
Dopamine is a chemical messenger that is involved in voluntary movements and our reward and pleasure centres.
Cocaine blocks the reuptake of dopamine, leading to more post-synaptic potentials and is an agonist of dopamine.
Amphetamines are stimulants that both increase the release of dopamine and block its reuptake, and it’s an agonist of dopamine.
