test 1 - part 1 Flashcards
brainstem
- included pone and medulla - extension of the spinal cord
- supports life sustaining bodily functions
Thalamus
- attached to top of the brainstem
Reticular formation
- passes through the thalamus and brainstem
- regulates sleep, wakefulness and levels of arousal
( used when trying to stay up late and drive )
Medulla damaged
- trouble w/basic bodily functions
Medulla
- controls heartbeat and breathing
Pons
- helps control and regulate sleep, respiration, swallowing, bladder, hearing, equilibrium, taste, eye movement, facial expressions and sensation
Pons damaged
- stay alive, but daily life would be severely altered
Reticular formation damaged
- not testable on humans, but a cat would lapse into a permanent coma
What brain region would damage be most likely to disrupt your ability to skip rope?
- Cerebellum
What brain region would damage be most likely to disrupt your ability to hear and taste?
- Thalamus
Covering the cerebral hemispheres is the cerebral cortex
- thin surface layer of interconnected neural cells
- “thinking crown”
- {Ultimate control and info processing center}
Occipital lobes
- visual processing info ( visual cortex )
Parietal lobes
- info about touch ( sensory cortex )
Temporal lobes
- hearing ( auditory cortex ) language
- Located by ears-temples
Frontal lobes
- planning, judgment, memory, reasoning, abstract thinking, movement ( motor cortex )
left brain
- lang., logic, math, grammar, lists, writing, scientific skills, controls right hand
right brain
- interpretation of art and music, perceptual tasks, face recognition, emotional expression, spatial abilities, controls left hand
Sensory ( Somatosensory ) Cortex
located where?
- front of the parietal lobe
Sensory cortex does
- it is a topographical representation of the body, the body is represented upside down in this, represents skin areas on the opposite side of the body — contralateral, larger areas of this are devoted to more sensitive areas of the body
Motor cortex located
- the back of the frontal lobe, next to the parietal lobe
Motor Cortex ( same as sensory except larger areas of motor cortex devoted to body areas requiring more ________.
- precise control
motor neurons
- carry outgoing messages from the CNS to the muscles and glands
Synapse
- junction btw one neuron’s exon and another’s dendrites/cell body
- Neurotransmitters cross it
- plays a fundamental role in the communication btw neurons
Action Potential
- brief electrical charge that traces down the axon of a neuron
- triggered by chemical signals from neighboring neurons or when stimulated by signals from our senses
Excitatory
- accelerator
- go
- green light
Inhibitory
- break
- stop
- red light
How do we distinguish a gentile touch from a big hug?
- strong stimulus can trigger more neurons to fire and to fire more often but it does NOT affect the action potential’s strength or speed
Resting potential
- fluid outside an axon’s membrane has mostly positively charged Na+ ions
- interior has mostly K+ negative ions
- selective about what goes through////permeable
Depolarizations
- When a neuron fires, the security parameters change
- 1) 1st section of the axon opens and Na+ ions food in through the cell membrane
- 2) loss of the inside/outside charges causes the next axon channel to open–domino effect
refractory period
- resting pause
- neuron pumps the Na+ ions back outside then it can fire again
- time following action potential
neurotransmitters
- chemicals that transmit info across the synaptic gap/cleft to bind receptor sites on the receiving neuron
- determining whether or not a neural impulse is generated
reuptake
- nano transmitter’s reabsorption by the sending neuron
When a neuron fires an action potential, the info travels through the axon, dendrites, and the cell body, but not in that order. What order?
- dendrites
- cell body
- axon
What happens in the synaptic gap?
- neurons send neurotransmitters across this tiny space btw one neuron’s terminal branch and the next neuron’s dendrites or cell body
What is reputake?
- occurs when excess neurotransmitters are reabsorbed by sending neuron
function of acetylcholine (ACh)
- enables muscle action, learning and memory
- malfunctions: high lvls linked to schizophrenia, low levels linked to parkinson’s disease
