unit 1 outcome 1 - brain Flashcards
Brain ans neurons
what is the cerebral cortex?
- is where high order thinking and information processing takes place
what does the cerebral cortex look like?
- high folded
- 3mm thick
- 80% of the brains volume
- large salvo ration
what do sensory areas do?
receives and processes information from the senses
what do motor areas do?
receive, process and send information about movement
what do association areas do?
integrates sensory, motor and other information and are included in complex mental abilities
what separates our left and right hemispheres?
longitudinal fissure
what is the corpus callosum?
- band of nerve fibres, 10cm long
- allows to transfer information between the two hemispheres
right hemisphere functions
- voluntary movement of the left side
- non verbal tasks
- spatial awareness
- creative ( art, music, beauty)
- facial recognition and emotion
- sensations from the left side
left hemisphere
- controls voluntary movement of the right side
- verbal task
- analysing
- logical reasoning
- sensations from the right Side
what does the primary motor cortex do?
- voluntary movement of skeletal muscles
- top part of the cortex moves the bottom part of body e.g.
- functions contralaterally
- in the frontal lobe
broca’s area
- left frontal lobe
- clear and fluent speech
- grammatical structure of sentence
association areas of the frontal lobe
- high order thinking, planning, judgement, personality and emotion
- phones gage
what does the primary somatosensory cortex do?
- receiving and processing sensation such as touch, pain and temperature
- functions contralaterally
- top part of the cortex control the bottom part of body
parietal lobe association area function
- spatial awareness and spacial skills e.g. parking, rubric cube
what does the primary visual cortex do?
- seeing the visual stimuls e.g. orange circle
occipital lobe association areas
- articulate what you see
- integrating visual info with other lobes
- forming memory of visual stimuli
primary auditory cortex
- receives and process auditory information
left= verbal
right= no verbal
wernickes area
- located in the left temporal lobe
- responsible for language comprehension and production of meaningful speech
association area in the temporal lobe
- memory
- facial recognition
Brian development
- birth
- 6 months
- 2 years
- 6 years
- mid 20s
birth= 1/4 adult size 6 months = 1/2 adult size 2 years= 3/4 6 years= 90-95% mid 20s= adult size
what is myelination?
- the growth and development of the white fatty myelin around the axon
what is synaptogenesis?
- the formation of new synapses between the brain’s neurons
what is synaptic pruning ?
- is the elimination of excess neurons and synapse that are not being used and have not established a connection with other neurons
- use it or lose it
what is brain injury ?
- any brain damage that impart or interfere with normal functioning of the brain
- temporary or permanent
what happens when you damage your frontal lobe?
biological - physical changes - impairments with motor activity psychological - changes in emotion ans personality - cognitive impairment social - difficulty to establish new relationships - breakdown of relationships
parietal lobe damage- what is spacial neglect?
what causes it?
- an attentional disorder in which the patient ignores stimuli on one side of the world ( usually left) ( damage of the right)
- stroke or accident victim
what is brain plasticity?
is the ability for the brain to change its structure or function in response to stimulation from the envirnment
- neural connections can be modified for different reasons
what is adaptive plasticity?
- the ability of the brain to compensate for the lost function and/or to maximise remaining functions in the event of brain injury
- rerouting and sprouting
what is Parkinson’s disease?
- is a progressive , degenerative, neurological condition that affects the control of body movement
- destroys neurons in the substantia nigra ( no dompomine)
symptoms of Parkinson’s disease
- tremors
- postural instability
- slowness of movement
- muscle rigidity ( stiffness)