Structure and Function Flashcards
1
Q
Triune Brain
A
- Paul McLeod developed in late 1940s of the structures of the brain (not true)
- Survival Brain = reptillain
- Emotional Brain = Limbic
- Thinking Brain = Neo-corte
2
Q
Hindbrain
A
- Primitive (earliest) level of the brain
- Continuation of brain and spinal cord
- Part of brainsteam: Imports vital functions
- Damage can be catastrophic as it supports life dependent functions
3
Q
Brainstem
A
- Total of hindbrain and midbrain
4
Q
3 main structures of the Hindbrain
A
- Medulla
- Pons
- Cerebellum
5
Q
Medulla
A
- Vital role in supporting repiration and managing heart rate
- Part of the path for sensory and motor nerve tracks that come through the spinal cord from the brain
6
Q
Pons
A
- Releases sensory information between the cerebral cortex and cerebellum
- Supports regulation of sleep and helps control respiration
- Huge problems if damaged
- Sits above Medulla
7
Q
Cerebellum
A
- Involved in movement, learning and sequencing
- Physical damage can result in poor coordination and uncoordinated movements (walking can be problematic - movements you don’t have to consciously think about)
- Alcohol has been seen to cause temporary distruption
8
Q
What is this?
A
Hindbrain
9
Q
Midbrain
A
- Sensory and motor neurons running through it
- Involved in consciousness, sleep, attention
10
Q
4 main components of the Midbrain
A
- Reticular Formation
- Superior Colliculus
- Inferior Colliculus
- Substantia Nigra
11
Q
Reticular Formation
A
- Runs from the hindbrain to forebrain and has both sensory and motor ascending and descending fibres
- Taking in information and integrating it and also then sending information on
12
Q
Superior Colliculus
A
- Deals with eye movements, saccadic eye movements, and for that reason, receives input from the retina and from the visual cortex
- Particularly important in fast eye movements, visual reflexes and visual field tracking.
13
Q
Inferior Colliculus
A
- Synapsing point for sound that has both crossed and uncrossed auditory fibres.
- That then continous information into a part of the thalamus that is involved in processing auditory information.
14
Q
Substanita Nigra
A
- Key part of the dopaminergic system that include control, movement and patterns of movement coordination.
- When there is disruption, you can see effects, for example, in Parkinson’s disease, where you can see the effects on motor coordination.
15
Q
Forebrain
A
*
16
Q
7 main components of the Forebrain
A
- Thalamus
- Hypothalamus
- Hippocampus
- Amygdala
- Cingulate Cortex
- Limbic System
- Basal Ganglia
17
Q
Thalamus
A
- Relay station for organising sensory information and routing them to further areas within the cortex
- Made up of a number of different nuclei (cluster/group of cell bodies)
- Damage/distruption in this area plays a role in hallucinations and schizophrenia
18
Q
3 components of the Thalamus
A
- Lateral geniculate nuclei
- Medial geniculate nuclei
- Ventral posterior nuclei
19
Q
Lateral geniculate nuclei
A
- Visual relay station
20
Q
Medial geniculate nuclei
A
- Auditory relay station
21
Q
Ventral posterior nuclei
A
- Somatosensory relay station
22
Q
Hypothalamus
A
- Responsible for hormone secretion, relating to sexual development, sexual behaviour, metabolism and stress responses
23
Q
Hippocampus
A
- Involved in memory
- Forming and retrieving memories - especially spatial learning
24
Q
Amygdala
A
- Involved in emotional behaviours - e.g. fear, agression etc
- Involved in emotional responses, both with and without higher brain regions or the cortex being involved
- Sometimes linked with quick unconscious emotional responses
25
Q
Cingulate Cortex
A
- Realetd to emotion, regulation of responses as part of motion and memory
- Anterior singular cortex - error detection in conflict monitoring
- Posterior cingulate cortex may be more involved in attention
26
Q
Main structures of Limbic System
A
- Hoppocampus
- Amygdala
- Cingulate Cortex
27
Q
Basal Ganglia
A
- Most important components:
- Caudata Nucleus
- Putamen
- Substantia Nigra
- Important in controlling movements, eye movements (such as posture, reaching and grasping), skill learning and rewards systems
28
Q
What is this?
A
- Pons
29
Q
What is this?
A
- Cerebellum
30
Q
What is this?
A
- Brain Stem
31
Q
What is this?
A
- Thalamus
32
Q
What is this?
A
- Hypothalamus
33
Q
What is this?
A
- Hippocampus
34
Q
What is this?
A
- Amygdala
35
Q
What is this?
A
- Cingulate Cortex
36
Q
What is this?
A
- Basal Ganglia
37
Q
Areas of the cortex
A
- Frontal Lobe
- Parietal Lobe
- Temporal Lobe
- Occipital Lobe
38
Q
Frontal Lobe
A
- Motor activity, speech, planning and impulse control
- Includes areas such as:
- Prefrontal cortex
- Frontal eye fields
- Premotor Cortex
- Primary motor cortex
- Broca’s area
39
Q
Frontal eye fields
A
- Control of visual attention and eye movements
40
Q
Premotor Cortex
A
- Uses information from other regions to control movement and prepare our movements
41
Q
Primary Motor Cortex
A
- Intiate and coordinated movement
42
Q
Broca’s area
A
- Important for production of language
- Helped us understanding the specific regions can be very important in supporting particular behaviours or abilities
43
Q
What area of the brain is this?
A
- Frontal Lobe
44
Q
Cortical Organisation
A
- The brain represents the body is called somatotopic organization, it is an orderly way of arranging representation and it has a spatial component, but the spatial representation is not one that reflects what you would observe from externally viewing the body.
45
Q
Frontal Lobe - Dorsolateral Prefrontal cortex and Medial Prefrontal cortex
A
- Both involved in complex executive behaviours
46
Q
Parietal Lobe
A
- Intergrating sensory information and spatial tasks
- Contains superior parietal lobule, the inferior parietal lobule, somatosensory cortex, and precuneus cortex, which is hard to study and involved in memory, particularly episodic memory, visual-spatial processing, etc.
47
Q
Temporal Lobe
A
- Auditory perception, memory and emotion
48
Q
4 main components of the Temporal Lobe
A
- Primary Auditory Cortex
- Wernicke’s Area
- Inferior Temporal Gyrus
- Middle Temporal Gyrus
49
Q
Primary Auditory Cortex
A
- Responsibe for processing sounds
- Damage results in behaviour called agnosia - inability to recognise specific sounds or objects
50
Q
Wernicke’s Area
A
- Comprehension of language
51
Q
Middle Temporal Gyrus
A
- Support for semantic memory processing, language processing
52
Q
Inferior Temporal Gyrus
A
- Association for visual perception, mental imagery, and intergrating information from different senses
53
Q
Corpus Callosum
A
- White matter tracts that connect the right and left hemisphere
- Allows information to move between hemispheres
54
Q
What is this?
A
55
Q
What is this?
A
- Broca’s Area
56
Q
What is this?
A
57
Q
What is this?
A
- Premotor Cortex
58
Q
What is this?
A
- Primary Motor Cortex
59
Q
What is this?
A
- Occipital Lobe
60
Q
What is this?
A
- Parietal Lobe
61
Q
What is this?
A
- Temporal Lobe
62
Q
What is this?
A
- Corpus Callosum
63
Q
What is this?
A
- Middle and Inferior Temporal Gyrus
64
Q
What is it?
A
- Superior Temporal Gyrus
65
Q
What is this?
A
- Wernicke’s Area
66
Q
Working memory - interaction of Frontal and Posterior Cortical Areas
A
- Involves short-term storage maintenance of information when performed in the face of processing information at the same time.
- In a simple form, working memory is memory that we work with it supports our moment-to-moment cognition
- e.g. telling someone a story and using facial expression to work out if they know what we are talking about - if not expanding on it to gain their understanding
67
Q
Single-unit recording
A
- To study single neurons using micro-electrode
- Very sensitive, detects 1 millionth of a volt
- Localised technique
68
Q
Event-related potentials (ERPs)
A
- Electroencephalogram (EEG) records brain (electrical) activity at the surface of the scalp but ‘noise’ obscures stimulus-related activity
- Present same stimulus numerous times, then average the effect on EEG output
- High temporal resolution (ms) but low spatial resolution
- Exactly where the recorded activity is happening is slightly less clear in EEG work, technique is low and spatial resolution.
- Measures are taken at specific points, but the surface recordings can let you know exactly where that activity is happening on the where is being measured
69
Q
Positron emission tomography (PET)
A
- (tiny amounts of) radioactive liquid injected into body, gathers in brain’s blood vessels
- Active areas attract the liquid, scanner then creates image of activity based on the emitted positrons
- Poor temporal but reasonable spatial resolution
- Involves use of a tracer, radioactive tracer. You can detective its emissions, which is attached to biologically active molecule, which is a glucose analogue (glucose can cross the blood-brain barrier) this analogue is taken up by active cells, unable to fully break it down. That enables us to see what regions are engaged in metabolic activity. So that is what bits of the brain are becoming active in response to a task.
- So you can see where glucose is being requested is initially by regions.
70
Q
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI and fMRI)
A
- Radio waves excite atoms in the brain producing magnetic chnages detected by magnet
- Chnages detected by computer which gives 3D image
- Blood oxygenation in the brain can also be detetcted to indicate functional changes
- More spatial and temporal resolution than PET
71
Q
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
A
- Coil delivers pulse which gives area temporary ‘lesion’
- Allows us to target particular areas of the brain by passing electricity through coils in a 1D can create a magnetic field. Apply that short current or pulse to a particular area and create the effects of what is known as a temporary lesion and that can hyperpolarize are depolarized cells
- Results can be excitatory or inhibitory, but essentially what we’re doing is interfering with the electrical activity of cells
- Allows us to test predictions
- Technique that allows us to go beyond the observation and correlation
72
Q
Lesion Studies
A
- Studies that are largely carried out and non-humans, still ethical issues of testing in animals
- There is different types of lesions that can be done.
- Experimental ablation: where part of the brain is removed or damaged through purpose-built.
- Radiofrequency ablation: where part of the brain is sucked out, or where part of the brain is lasered out
73
Q
Limitations of Experimental Cognitive Psychology
A
- Laboratory research lacks ecological validity
- Measures such as RT, accuracy, are indirect
- Need understanding of brain function
- Written theories can be poorly defined
- Problem of individual differences
- No one over-arching cognitive architecture accepted
74
Q
Experimental Cognitive Psychology
A
- Experiments carried out on healthy individuals under controlled laboratory conditions
- Compare one condition with another (or others), then test resulting data statistically
- Nearly all cognitive psychology research carried out in this way initially
- Played major role in development/testing of theories -
- Relatively well developed methods which also influence other areas of psychology
75
Q
Cognitive Neuropsychology
A
- Study of patterns of cognitive performance, (intact and impaired) exhibited by brain-damaged individuals
- To provide knowledge about normal human cognition - complexities revealed when system malfunctioning - e.g. patient HM
76
Q
Patient HM
A
- He had hippocampal removal as a result of medial temporal lobe removal, there was an attempt to deal with epilepsy.
- He was able to recall an a gradient manner the time before he surgery, but no episodic memory following that.
- He could still do form new short-term memory, but not anything that would be a little lasing.
- He revealed a number of complexities about memory but could recall things from his past without being able to create new memories and that therefore indicated certain regions are involved, certain regions damaged in it HM surgery were important for making new memories.
77
Q
Cognitive Neuropsychology - Assumes
A
- Functional & anatomical modularity: cognitive systems domain-specific, in specific identifiable areas
- Uniformity of functional architecture across individuals
- Idea that what we can conclude from observing an individual case study, we’ll generalize across people. When really people differ.
- Subtractivity: impairments cannot add to systems
- The idea that brain damage will remove aspects of functioning, but it won’t lead to new functions, but that’s not necessarily as true as it seems
78
Q
Cognitive Neuropsychology - Limitations
A
- Typically, damage is extensive
- Becomes hard to attribute function to a specific area if damages, diffuse effects, or the one area of time.
- Diverse patients with broadly similar brain damage
- Sometimes damage to the same area can show lots of different difficulties.
- Surprisingly, damage in different areas can produce similar cognitive profiles that’s rarer but does happen.
79
Q
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