Topic 1

Question 1

3 reasons to study the brain

Answer 1

1. Controls behaviour and consciousness
2. Most complex living organ
3. Behavioural disorders

Question 2

Components of the CNS

Answer 2

Brain and spinal cord
- both are encased in bone

Question 3

Components of the PNS

Answer 3

Spinal nerves (movement), cranial nerves (senses), and enteric nervous system (digestive system)

Question 4

Divisions of the PNS

Answer 4

Somatic (voluntary)

Autonomic (involuntary)
- sympathetic (stress)
- parasympathetic (rest and digest)

Question 5

Components of cerebrum (forebrain)

Answer 5

Hemispheres and brainstem

Question 6

Components of cerebellum

Answer 6

Little brain that has just as many neurons as the rest of the brain

Question 7

Neuroanatomical directions

Answer 7

Superior - top
Inferior - bottom
Anterior - front
Posterior - behind
Lateral - edges
Medial - inside

Rostral - front
Caudal - back and bottom

Dorsal - top
Ventral - bottom

Ipsilateral - same
Contralateral - opposite
(Refer to notes for diagram)

Question 8

Neuroanatomical planes

Answer 8

Coronal - cut down the middle for a front and back half

Sagittal - cut down the middle for a left and right half

Horizontal - cut down the middle for a top and bottom half

Question 9

What is behaviour

Answer 9

• pattern of movements, vocalizations, thoughts in time
• learned or inherited ways of responding
• main difference in a simple vs. complex nervous system

Question 10

Mentalism - Aristotle

Answer 10

• behaviour is a function of a nonmaterial mind
• brain cools the blood and has no role in behaviour
• behaviour is controlled by the psyche, the nonmaterial entity that governs our body

Question 11

Dualism - Descartes

Answer 11

• brain is the seat of the mind
• mind and body are linked
• physical forces explain function
• nonmaterial mind governs behaviour
• mind-body problem

Question 12

Afferent vs efferent

Answer 12

Afferent - nerves carrying info from stimulus to the brain

Efferent - nerves carrying info from the brain to the stimulus

Question 13

Mind-body problem

Answer 13

Difficulty explaining the interaction between the nonmaterial mind and a physical brain

Question 14

Materialism - Darwin

Answer 14

• behaviour can be explained as a function if the nervous system - no mind leading behaviour
• evolution by natural selection
• noticed similar anatomy and behaviour in animals
• if all species are related then brain and behaviour must be related

Question 15

When did the first modern human brain evolve?

Answer 15

200,000 years ago

Question 16

Define cladogram

Answer 16

Diagram of an evolutionary sequence (phylogeny)

Question 17

Nervous system evolution

Answer 17

1. Nerve net
   - no brain, simple
2. Segmented nerve trunk
   - bilaterally symmetrical
3. Ganglia
   - resemble and function like a brain
4. Brain and spinal cord

Question 18

3 traits of chordates

Answer 18

Bilateral symmetry, segmentation, spinal cord and brain (both encased in bone)

Question 19

What are primates?

Answer 19

Hominids (5 million yrs ago)
- walk upright
- include all forms of humans
- heightened visual sense and hand movements
- larger brains

Question 20

What is EQ and who discovered it?

Answer 20

Jerison - 1973
Measure of brain size