The Biology of Mind (Ch 2) Flashcards
all-or-none response
a neuron’s reaction. a stimulus eithe causes an action potential to fire or it doesn’t
-incraesing the stimulus above the threshold does not increase the action potential’s intensiy
ex: a bullet eithe fires or it doesn’t. pulling the gun’s trigger harder doesn’t change the speed of the bullet
Excitatory transmitter
a transmitter, or signal, sent form one nueron to another that “push on the neuron’s accelerator”
- glutamate
- causes the next cell to fire
exciting thinngs make you think faster
Acetylcholine (Ach)
-one of hte best understood nuerotransmitters
-role in learning, menory, muscle action
-w/ Alzheimer’s disease, Ach-producing nuerons deteriorate
-most understood
-is the messenger at every juenction between a motor neuron and skeletal muscle
-when ACh is released to our muscle cell receptors, the muscle contracts. if ACh transmissioni is blocked, as happens during sme kinds of anesthesia, the muscles cannot contract and we are parlyzed.
—-
Actelycholine
Academics
Athletics
Serotonin
- neurotransmitter
- affects food, hunger, sleep, and arousal
- undersupply -> deperssion
- Prozac
Sarah Tonan the turkey made me feel happy, sleepy.
Agonist
- a drug/cemcial
- excites
- may be similar ehough to a neurotransmitter to mimic its effects or it may block the neurotransmitter’s reuptake
ex: opiates: heroine, morphine
Sensory neurons
carry incoming information from the sense receptors to het central nevrous system
-send information from body’s tissues & sensory organs to CNS’s brain and spinal cord
SENSory neurons transmit information from the SENSE receptors
SAME (Sensory Afferent M… E…)
Myelin Sheath
a layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons
-enables vastly greater transmission speed of neural impluses as the impluse hops from one node to nte next
img
dendrite
the bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages from other cells and conduct impulses toward the cell body
action potential
a neural impulse
a brief electrical charge that travels down an acon
generated by the movement of positively charged atoms in and out of channels in hte axon’s membrane
img
threshold
the minimum intensity (excitatory signals minus inhibitory signals) nedded to trigger an action potential
reuptake
when a neurotransmitter in a synapse is taken back up into the sending neuron’s end bulb
somatic nervous system
controls voluntary movements of skeletal muscles
part of the peripheral nervous system
Somatic (not automatic) vs. AUTOnomic
Skeletal
adrenal glands
- pair of endocrine glands just above the kidneys
- secrete hte hormones epinephrine (adrenaline) and norephinephrine (noadrenaline), whic helps to arous the body in times of stress
- helps trigger flight or fight response
- increases heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar - a surge of enery
AdrENal glaNds
Adrenaline = Epinephrine Noadrenaline = Noepinephrine
fMRI (functional MRI)
reveals brain’s funcitoning as well as its structure
reveals blood flow with successive MRI’s
blood goes to arctive areas of brain
f > ferrum
Ferrum = iron > blood
medulla
- controls heartbeat and breathing
- base of brainstem
- -if top of brainstem is severed animal can still survive as hte more vital parts of the brainstem are lower
img
reticular formation
- filters incoming stimuli and relays important information to other areas of the brain
- important role in controlling arousal
- in brain stem
- as spinal cord’s sensory input travels up to the thalamus, some of it travels through the reticular formation
“reticular formation. it filters information”
amyglada
- two lima bean sized clusters that are components of the limbic system and are linked to emotion
- helps form and remember emotional experience (especially fear and agression)
–when monkeys with their amyglada removed were pinched or hit, they did not become angry
hypothalamus
- a neural structure lying below (hypo) the thalamus
- directs several maintenance activities (eating, drinking, body temperature) helps govern the endocrine system via . . .???
hypo means below. but ill say it means everything. because the hypothalmaus handles a lot of functions.
glial cells
- cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons
- einstein had many glial cells
- play a role in learning and htinking
-glial cells are like worker bees
aphasia
impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damge eihter to Broca’s area (imparing speaking) or to Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding)
like plantarfasia - damage to the feet
Broca’s aresa damage
impaired speaking
Wernicke’s area damage
impaired understanding (of language)
Wernicke’s area
controls language reception - a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in hte left tenporal lobe
“Describe this photograph”
Patient: “mother is away her working her work to get her better, but when she’s looking the two boys looking the other part”
—patient has damaged wernicke’s area
plasticity
the brain’s ability to change especially during childhoot, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience
like pastic, the brain is reshapable