The brain Flashcards
What is the cerebral cortex involved in?
Coordinates complex conscious behaviours.
How has the cerebral cortex been studied?
Looking at people who have had strokes and seeing differences in their behaviour.
What is the somatic sensory part of the cerebral cortex involved in?
Receives inputs from sense of touch.
What is the motor part of the cerebral cortex involved in?
Output region that generates action potentials that are involved in movement.
What is the visual part of the cerebral cortex involved in?
Input from the eyes that activate neurones to allow sight.
What is the auditory part of the cerebral cortex involved in?
Input from the ears.
What is the somatosensory cortex?
The pathway that allows touch - the impulse starts in the spinal cord and is transported to one region of the brain and then to the somatosensory cortex.
the somatosensory cortex is a strip of cortex that lies in the parietal lobe
How does the motor cortex work?
Neurones create action potentials that travel down the spinal cord to reach the skeletal muscles to move them.
What is Broca’s area involved in?
Speaking language - understanding what to write or say.
What is the prefrontal cortex involved in?
Risk but also personality and mood.
What is the cerebellum involved in?
Motor memory, which allows us to learn how to move in certain ways. It is also an example of synaptic integration.
What are examples of “fast” neurotransmitters?
Glutamate and GABA.
What are examples of slower neurotransmitters?
5-HT (serotonin), acetylcholine, dopamine and noradrenaline.
What is noradrenaline involved in?
Sleep, arousal, fear and stress.
What is 5-HT involved in?
Pain, mood and emotion.
What do SSRIs do?
Prevent the reuptake of 5-HT to increase the mood of those suffering from depression and anxiety.
What involvement does acetylcholine have in the brain?
Involved in memory - those suffering from Alzeimer’s have these neurones cut off and experience memory problems.
What is dopamine involved in?
Motor control, voluntary movement, euphoria and reward - linked to cravings for recreational drugs after they have been used.
cerebral cortex- what does it consist of?
parietal, occiptal, temporal and frontal lobes
brainstem
controls simple things, necessary for survival
all nerve fibres that relay signals between the forebrain, cerebellum and spinal cord pass through here
cortex
involved in feelings and emotions
cerebellum
controlling posture and balance
memories of movement
how does the somatosensory cortex work?
within it you can map parts of the body from which input is received
endings of axons of specific somatic pathways are grouped according to peripheral location of receptors that give input to the pathways
homunculus
a sensory homunculus represents a map of brain areas dedicated to sensory processing for different anatomical divisions of the body
visual cortex
specific ascending pathways from eyes connect to primary cortical receiving area, in the occipital lobe
secondary visual cortex allows us to interpret what our eyes are telling us
auditory cortex
specific ascending pathways from the ears go to the auditory cortex
basal ganglia
enable different parts of the cortex to communicate, control movement and posture
what is frontal cortex associated with
decision, risk assessment
glutamate
excitatory
opens ligand gated Na+ channel
GABA
inhibitory
opens ligand gated Cl- ion channel
slow neurotransmitters
activate G-protein coupled receptors
what is ach involved in
memory
what serotonin involved in
control of mood
excitatory effect on pathways that control muscles, and inhibitory on ones that mediate sensations
