The Biology of Mind (Ch 2) Flashcards

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1
Q

all-or-none response

A

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

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2
Q

Excitatory transmitter

A

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

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3
Q

Acetylcholine (Ach)

A

-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

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4
Q

Serotonin

A
  • neurotransmitter
  • affects food, hunger, sleep, and arousal
  • undersupply -> deperssion
  • Prozac

Sarah Tonan the turkey made me feel happy, sleepy.

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5
Q

Agonist

A
  • 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
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6
Q

Sensory neurons

A

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…)

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7
Q

Myelin Sheath

A

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

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8
Q

dendrite

A

the bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages from other cells and conduct impulses toward the cell body

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9
Q

action potential

A

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

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10
Q

threshold

A

the minimum intensity (excitatory signals minus inhibitory signals) nedded to trigger an action potential

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11
Q

reuptake

A

when a neurotransmitter in a synapse is taken back up into the sending neuron’s end bulb

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12
Q

somatic nervous system

A

controls voluntary movements of skeletal muscles
part of the peripheral nervous system

Somatic (not automatic) vs. AUTOnomic
Skeletal

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13
Q

adrenal glands

A
  • 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
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14
Q

fMRI (functional MRI)

A

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

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15
Q

medulla

A
  • 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

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16
Q

reticular formation

A
  • 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”

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17
Q

amyglada

A
  • 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

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18
Q

hypothalamus

A
  • 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.

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19
Q

glial cells

A
  • 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

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20
Q

aphasia

A

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

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21
Q

Broca’s aresa damage

A

impaired speaking

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22
Q

Wernicke’s area damage

A

impaired understanding (of language)

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23
Q

Wernicke’s area

A

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

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24
Q

plasticity

A

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

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25
Q

neurogenesis

A

the formation of new neurons

neuro- neuron
genesis - beginning, birth

26
Q

visual association area

A
  • in occipital lobe
  • transofmrs basic sensations into complete, meaningful visual perceptions (ex: your dog)
  • problems can cause a person to see parts, but cannont combine into a whole

img

27
Q

Thalamus

A
  • brain’s sensory switchboard, located on top of the brainstem
  • directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in het cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla

the thalamus is to sensory input as what London is to England’s trains: a hub through which traffic passes en route to various destinations

28
Q

everything psychological is

A

simultaneously biological

29
Q

Plato believed them ind was

A

inside of your skull

30
Q

aristotle blieved the mind was in

A

the hart which pumps warmth and vitality to the body

31
Q

phrenology

A

a popluar but illfated theory that claimed bumps on the skull could reveal our mental abilities and our character traits (popular in britain for a time)

32
Q

biopsychosocial approach

A

to understand our behavior we need to study how these biological, psychological, and social- cultural systsems work and interact

33
Q

neurons

A

building blocks of the nervous system

34
Q

senosry neurons

A

neurons that carry incoming information from the sensory receptors to hte brain and spinal cord

-aka. afferent neurons

35
Q

motor neurons

A

neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and psinal cord to the muscles and glands

36
Q

interneuron

A

neurons within te brain and spinal cord that ommunicate intersnally and intervene bteween the sensory inputs andm otor outputs

37
Q

if the myelin sheath degenerates,

A

multiple sclerosis results: communication to muscles slow,s with eventual loss of muscle contro

38
Q

brain is vasly more omplex than a computer

A

but slower at executing simple responses

neural impulses travel from 2 mph to 200mph

39
Q

the fluid interior of a resting axon has

A

an excess of negatievly charged ions

while the fluid outside the axon membrane has more posively charged ions

40
Q

how do we detect the intensity of a stimulus

A

as the neuron’s reaction is an all-or-none response, the way we distinguish a gentle touch from a big hug is that a strong stimulus can trigger more neurons to fire and to fire more often. but it does not affect the action potetial’s strength or speed.

41
Q

how neurons communicated

A

neurotransmitters travel across synaptic gap and lange on receptor sites on the recieving neuron, exciting or inhibiting the receiving neuron’s readiness to fire. then in a process called repuptake, the sending neuron reabsorbs the excess neruotransmitters

42
Q

endorphines

A

endogenous ([produced within] morphine) - natural, opiatelike neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure

43
Q

Dopamine

A

influecenes movement, leearning, attention, and emotion (LAME = learning, attention, movement, and emotion)

Examples of Malfunctions: excess dopamine receptor activity is linked to schizophrenia. starved of dogamine, the brain produces the tremors and decreased mobility of parkinson’s disease.

44
Q

Diagrams of the brain

A

Imgs

45
Q

Acetylcholine (ACh)

A

enables muscle action, learning, and memory

with Alzheimer’s disease, ACh- producing neurons deteriorate

46
Q

Dopamine

A

Influences learning, attention, movement, and emotion (LAME)

Excess dopamine receptor activity is linked to schizophrenia.

47
Q

Starved of dopamine

A

the brain produces the tremors and decreased mobility of Parkinson’s disease.

48
Q

Serotonin

A

Affects mood, arousal, sleep, and hunger (MASH).

Undersupply linked to depression. Prozac and some other antidepressant drugs raise serotonin levels.

49
Q

Undersupply of serotonin is

A

linked to depression.

50
Q

Prozac and some other antidepressant drugs

A

raise serotonin levels.

51
Q

Norepinephrine

A
  • Helps control alertness and arousal

- undersupply can depress mood

52
Q

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)

A
  • A major inhibitory neurotransmitter

- Undersupply linked to seizures, tremors, and insomnia.

53
Q

Undersupply of GABA is

A

linked to seizures, tremors, and insomnia.

54
Q

Glutamate

A
  • A major excitatory neurotransmitter; involved in memory
  • Oversupply can overstimulate brain, producing migraines or seizures (which is why some people avoid MSG, monosodium glutamate, in food)
55
Q

Black widow spider venom does what causing what?

A

floods synapses with Ach causing violent muscle contractions, convulsions, and possible death.

56
Q

Nervous System

A

body’s speedy electrochemical communicatons network, consisting of all the nerve cells of theprepheral and central nervous systems

57
Q

Nervous System Layout

A

Nervous System
>Peripheral
»Autonomic (controls self-regulated action of internal organs and glands)
»>Sympathetic (arousing)
»>Parasympathetic (calming)
» Somatic (controls voluntary movements of skeletal muscles)
>Central (Brain and Spinal cord)

58
Q

Autonomic nervous system can be

A

consciously ovrerridden, but usually opreates on itws own (autonomously)

59
Q

Curare

A

a poison certain South American Indians have applied to hunting-dart tips, occupies and blocks ACh receptor sites, leaving the neurotransmitter unable to affect the muscles. Struck by one of these darts, an animal becomes paralyzed.

60
Q

Sympathetic nervous system

A
  • dilates pupil
  • accelerates heartbeat
  • inhibits digestion (stomach and pancreas)
  • stimulates glucose release by liver
  • Andrenal gland: stimulates secretion of epinephrine, norepinephrine
  • relaxes bladder
  • stimulates ejaculation in male
61
Q

a grain-of-sand0sized speck of your brain contains

A

some 100,000 neurons and one billion “talking” synapses

62
Q

epinephrine vs noepinephrine

A

adrenal glands, epinephrine raises the heart rate, constricts blood vessels, dilates pupils and suppresses the immune system.

Read more: http://www.ehow.com/about_5380460_epinephrine-vs-norepinephrine.html#ixzz307Qm11BQ