The Brain (Unit 2) Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
1
Q

Hippocrates

A

recognized that people’s injuries to the head altered their thoughts and actions
(the brain is the center of human functioning)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Phineas Gage (1848)

A

dynamite hit him in the head and he didn’t die

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

electroencephalogram (EEG)

A

records electric activity in the brain using electrodes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Stimulation

A

Areas of the brain can be stimulated electrically, chemically, or magnetically to observe outcome

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Lesions

A

cut tiny parts of an animal’s brain to observe the resulting behavior

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

CT scans

A

computed tomography

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

PET scans

A

use radioactive glucose injections

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

MRI

A

(magnetic resonance imaging) shows soft brain tissue

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

fMRI

A

(functional MRI) shows brain activity

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Hindbrain

A

reptilian or old brain; basic homeostatic function

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Midbrain

A

mammalian brain; contains the limbic system, regulates appetite and sex drive

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Forebrain

A

Also called the human or new brain; processes information from the external world

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

The Primitive Brain

A

The brainstem is the oldest part of the brain from the swelling spinal cord to its entry into the skull; responsible for automatic survival functions

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Medulla

A

controls breathing, heart rate, and some of the body’s reflexes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Pons

A

Serves as a bridge between the brain and the spinal cord, produces chemicals the body’s need for sleep

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

reticular formation

A

in brainstem (extending from spinal cord to thalamus); filters out irrelevant stimuli to conserve energy;

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

thalamus

A

on top of brainstem; directs messages to sensory areas in cortex and transmits replies to cerebellum and medulla

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Cerebellum

A

controls posture, balance, coordinates voluntary movements; role in memory, regulating emotions, and processing environment

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

The Limbic System

A

system of neural structures; at border of brainstem and cerebrum; associated with emotions like fear, aggression, drives for food and sex

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

Amygdala

A

controls violent emotions such as rage and fear

21
Q

Hippocampus

A

forms memories, damage may cause amnesia

22
Q

Hypothalamus

A

keeps body at homeostasis by regulating hunger, thirst, sexual behavior; controls “fight or flight” response

23
Q

The Forebrain

A

associated with thinking and memory; 80% of brain’s weight

24
Q

Cerebral Cortex

A

1/4 thick outer which allows us to learn and store complex info., read, and make projections

25
Q

Cerebrum

A

largest part of brain containing frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal lobe

26
Q

frontal

A

thinking, personality

27
Q

parietal

A

body sensations

28
Q

occipital

A

vision

29
Q

temporal lobe

A

hearing, smell, vision

30
Q

Epilepsy

A

central nervous system disorder in which brain activity becomes abnormal, causing seizures

31
Q

Seizures

A

from simply staring blankly for a few seconds to a complete loss of consciousness and violent convulsions

32
Q

Division of labor

A

called lateralization or hemispheric specialization

33
Q

how are the two hemispheres connected?

A

by the corpus callosum; information is shared and processed by both sides of the brain

34
Q

left brain functions

A

right side of body control, math, and science skills. written and spoken language, objectivity, analytical, logic, reasoning

35
Q

right brain functions

A

left side of body control, 3D shapes, music, art, intuition, creativity, subjectivity, synthesizing, Emotion, Face recognition

36
Q

The Split Brain Operation

A

disrupt the major pathway between the brain hemispheres, but leave each hemisphere functioning almost completely independently; prevents seizures from spreading from one hemisphere to another; by Micheal Gazzniga and Roger Sperry; affects reading and speaking coordination

37
Q

cognitive neuroscience

A

attempts to understand the divide between our conscious interpretation and automatic perception of external stimuli

38
Q

parallel or dual processing

A

filtering simultaneously occurring events into our cognitive awareness or automatic perception

39
Q

Behavioral genetics

A

studies how individual differences arise through the interaction of genes and the environment

40
Q

Twin studies

A

compare the rates that a given behavioral trait is shared among identical and fraternal twins

41
Q

Adoption studies

A

compare those rates among biologically related relatives and adopted relatives

42
Q

Chromosomes

A

Long strands containing DNA situated in the nucleus of a cell

43
Q

Genes

A

Pieces of DNA inside each cell that tell the cell what to do

44
Q

Genome

A

The set of complete instructions for making an organism, containing all the genes in that organism

45
Q

The ultimate question about adoption studies

A

How much of an effect does parenting have?

46
Q

Temperament Studies

A

a person’s stable emotional reactivity and intensity. Identical twins express similar temperaments, suggesting heredity predisposes temperament

47
Q

Heritability

A

the extent to which the differences among people are attributable to genes; % of the variability in a population due to genetics

48
Q

Genes and how they work

A

can influence traits that affect response; the environment can affect gene activity; stressful environment can trigger genes to manufacture neurotransmitters leading to depression

49
Q

Molecular Genetics

A

tries to identify genes that put people at risk for disorders; helps parents decide whether to abort or not