Test #1 Flashcards
What is neuropsychology?
Scientific study of the relationship between behavior and the brain.
What disciplines does neuropsychology draw from?
Anatomy, biology, pharmacology, and philosophy.
What are the two ideas that influence theoretical investigations of brain function?
The Brain Hypothesis & The Neuron Hypothesis.
What is the brain hypothesis?
The brain is the source of behavior.
What is the neuron hypothesis?
The unit of brain structure and function is the neuron.
What is the brain composed of?
Two symmetrical hemispheres, the right and the left.
What are the hemispheres connected by?
Commissures
What is the largest commissure?
Corpus Collosum
What is the outer layer of wrinkled tissue called?
Cerebral cortex
What are the folds of the cortex?
Gyri
What are the creases of the brain?
Sulci
What are large sulci called?
Fissures
What are the three divisions of the brain?
Forebrain, brainstem, and spinal cord.
What is the forebrain responsible for doing?
Performs higher functions like thinking, perception, and planning.
What is the brainstem and the spinal cord responsible for doing?
Performs regulatory and movement producing functions.
What are the four lobes of the brain?
Frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital.
What is part of the CNS?
Brain and the spinal cord.
What are the parts of the PNS?
Sensory pathways, motor pathways, and the autonomic nervous system (ANS).
What is the job of sensory pathways?
It collects info from the senses and sends it to the cortex via the Somatic Nervous System (SNS).
What is the job of motor pathways?
Nerve fibers that connect the brain and spinal cord to the body’s muscles.
What is the job of the ANS?
Pathways that control the internal organs such as the heart, lungs, and stomach.
What is localization of function?
Idea that different parts of the brain perform different functions.
What is Broca’s area?
Anterior speech region of the brain.
What is lateralization?
Functions are able to be localized to one side of the brain.
What is aphasia?
Inability (partial or complete) to understand or express language.
What is Wernicke’s area?
Posterior speech region located in the temporal lobe
What is Broca’s aphasia or expressive aphasia?
partial loss of the ability to produce language (spoken, manual, or written), although comprehension generally remains intact.
What is Wernicke’s aphasia or fluent aphasia?
characterized by superficially fluent, grammatical speech but an inability to use or understand more than the most basic nouns and verbs
Which hemisphere is dominant for language?
Left
What did Wernicke’s model propose?
Regions of the brain have different functions but must still interact to work correctly
What is hierarchal organization?
Each successively higher level of the nervous system controls more complex areas of behavior
Where is memory located?
There is no one location in the brain for memory
What do neurons send?
An electrical signal
How do neurons communicate with each other?
Via neurotransmitters (chemical signals)
What is glia?
Hold neurons together and carry out supportive functions (insulation)
What is myelin?
Coating of neurons. The greater amount means the better the processing speed.
What are the major parts of the neuron?
Cell body, dendrites, and axons.
What do neurons do?
Acquire information, process information, and act on information.
What is a stroke?
The interruption of blood flow to the brain due to stroke kills brain cells.
What is ischemia?
Deficiency of blood flow to the brain
What is neuroanatomy?
Locations of layers, nuclei, and brain pathways are described within three reference frames:
with respect to other body parts,
with respect to their relative locations, and
with respect to viewer perspective
What is ipsilateral?
Structures on the same side.
What is contralateral?
Structures on the opposite side.
What is bilateral?
Structures that lie in both hemispheres.
What is proximal?
Structures that are close together.
What is distal?
Structures that are far apart.
What is efferent?
Movement away from the brain structure.
What is afferent?
Movement toward the brain structure.
What is part of the CNS?
Brain and spinal cord.
What is the SNS?
To and from the sensory organs and the muscles, joints, and skin
Spinal and cranial nerves
What is the ANS?
Balances the internal organs through the parasympathetic and sympathetic nerves
What are the meninges?
Three layers of membranes inside skull and vertebrae
What is the dura matter?
tough double layer of tissue enclosing the brain in a loose manner
What is the arachnoid membrane?
middle, very thin sheet follows the brain’s contours
What is the Pia mater?
inner and moderately tough tissue that clings to the brain’s surface
What does the CNF circulate through?
4 ventricles, spinal column, and within the subarachnoid space in the meninges
What are nuclei?
Well-defined group of cell bodies
Called “ganglia” in the PNS
What is the tract?
Large collection of axons projecting to or away from a layer or nucleus within the CNS
What are nerves?
Fibers and fiber pathways that enter and leave the CNS
But, once they enter the CNS, they are called tracts
What are ventricles?
Hollow pockets of the brain filled with CSF
What are dermatomes?
Each spinal segment corresponds to a region on body’s surface.
What are the two divisions of the ANS?
Sympathetic and Parasympathetic
What does the sympathetic system do?
Arouses the body for action. “Fight or flight”
What does the parasympathetic system do?
Calms the body down. “Rest and digest”
What are the three regions of the brainstem?
Diencephalon
Midbrain
Hindbrain
What does the cerebellum do?
Coordinates motor learning and other mental processes
What would damage to the cerebellum cause?
equilibrium problems and postural defects; also impairs skilled motor activity
What parts make up the hindbrain?
Cerebellum, reticular formation, pons, & medulla
What would damage to the reticular formation cause?
permanent unconsciousness
Where is the reticular formation?
Lies within the hindbrain’s core mixture of nuclei & fibers
Where is the pons located?
Upper hindbrain
Connects the cerebellum with rest of brain
What does the medulla do?
Regulates vital functions such as breathing and the functioning of the cardiovascular system
Parts of the midbrain?
Tectum and Tagmentum
What is the tectum?
Sensory input from eyes and ears
What does the tagmentum do?
Mediates orientation of movement
What does the red nucleus do?
Controls limb movements
What does the Substantia Nigra do?
Rewards behavior and initiates of movement
What does the Periaqueductal Gray Matter
do?
Contains circuits for controlling species-typical behaviors (e.g., sexual behavior)
Modulates pain response
What does the hypothalamus do?
Effects hormones
Takes part in nearly all aspects of motivated behavior: temp regulation, consciousness, feeding, sex, sleeping, emotional behavior
What does the thalamus do?
Relays sensory information to appropriate targets
Relays information between cortical areas; e.g., visual areas of cortex interconnect with other brain regions through the Pulvinar nucleus
Relays information between forebrain and some brainstem regions
What are the 3 main structures of the forebrain?
Basal Ganglia
Limbic System
Cerebral Cortex
3 parts of the basal ganglia?
Putamen
Globus Pallidus
Caudate Nucleus
What does the basal ganglia do?
Supports stimulus-response learning
Functions in sequencing movements
What does the amygdala do?
Emotion and species-typical behaviors
What does the hippocampus do?
Memory and spatial navigation
What does the septum do?
Emotion and species-typical behavior
What is a fissure?
A cleft in the cortex that is deep enough to indent the ventricles
What is a sulci?
A shallow cleft in the cortex
What is a gyri?
A ridge in the cortex
Prominent rounded elevation on the surface of the brain
What is a neuron?
Info-conducting units of the nervous system
What is a dendrite?
Collects info from other cells
Increase cell’s surface area
What is an axon?
extends out from cell body
What is the terminal button?
at the end of each axon
sits close to the dendritic spine of another neuron
What is a synapse?
space between the dendrite and the terminal button
What is a neurotransmitter?
chemical released from the terminal buttons that carries the message across the synapse
What does the cell membrane do?
Separates extracellular and intracellular substances
regulates movement of substances
regulates concentration of salts and other chemicals
What is an ion?
charged particles
cannot freely enter the cell due to the polar surface
are repelled, blocked, or bound
How do substances cross the membrane?
embedded proteins act as gates to provide influx and efflux to substances such as large ions
What is a chromosome?
contains blueprints for proteins
consists of DNA
double-helical structure
What are the four nucleotide bases?
Adenine & Thymine
Guanine & Cytosine
What is a gene?
segment of DNA
functional units that control the transmission and expression of traits from one generation to the next
What are amino acids?
building blocks of proteins
What are channels?
some membrane proteins create a channel or hole through which a substance can pass
What are gates?
some proteins can change shape, creating gated channels that open and close
changes shape when another chemical binds to them or in response to electrical charge or temperature change
What are pumps?
a shape changing protein that acts as a transporter protein, a molecule that actively moves substances across the cell membrane
What are neurons at rest?
unequal distribution of ions
intracellular fluid has a negative charge relative to extracellular fluid
What is the action potential?
Brief but extremely large flip in the polarity of an axon’s membrane
Voltage across the membrane reverses and the inside becomes positive relative to the outside
When does the action potential occur?
when a large graded potential that causes depolarization of the membrane occurs
What is a nerve impulse?
voltage changes occur at one point on the membrane and bring adjacent points to threshold potential
With large axon there is a _____ transmission of the action potential
quick
With small axon there is a _____ transmission of the action potential
slow
What is the myelin sheath?
insulation around an axon
What makes up the myelin sheath?
Glial cells
What is grey matter?
Neuron’s cell body
What is white matter?
Axon’s that are myelinated
