UNIT 2 Flashcards
Acetylcholine
Function is motor movement and memory
Lack has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease
Agonists
Drugs that mimic the actions of a neurotransmitters or hormone to produce a response when it binds to a specific receptor in the brain.
The all-or-none response
Neurons will either transmit an impulse over the synapse to the next neuron completely or not at all.
What is the Amygdala?
Involved in how we process memory
EMOTIONS
What are Axons?
Passes messages away from the cell body to the other neurons, muscles, or glands.
What is Broca’s Area?
Responsible for controlling muscles that produce speech.
What is the Cerebellum?
- Bottom rear of the brain
- Coordinates fine muscle movement
What is the Circadian Rhythm?
- our 24 hour biological clock
- body temp and awareness changes throughout the day
- it is best to take a test or study during your circadian peaks
What are Delta Waves?
- The slowest recorded brain waves in human beings
- DEEP sleep
What are Dendrites?
Receive messages from other cells
What is Dopamine?
- motor movement and alertness
- neurotransmitter that plays a role in hormones
- lack of it leads to Parkinson’s disease
What are Dreams?
A sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person’s mind
What are Endorphins?
- deals with pain and stress control
- we become addicted to endorphin causing feelings
What is the Hippocampus?
Involved in the processing and storage of memories
What are hormones?
Chemical messengers that coordinate different functions in your body.
What is Insomnia?
- Recurring problems with falling or staying asleep
- not your once in a while having trouble getting to sleep episodes
- IS NOT defined by the number of hours you sleep every night
What does it mean when someone has Latent Content of Dreams?
- The underlying meaning of a dream
- example: falling in a dream
~ latent content: feeling out of control in your life or failing at something
What is Lateralization?
A functional dominance of one hemisphere over the other, in which one is more responsible or entirely responsible for control of a function in comparison to the other.
What does it mean when someone had Manifest Content of Dreams?
They remembered the storyline of a dream.
What is Myelin Sheath?
- covers the axon of some neurons and helps speed neural impulses
- deterioration may cause Multiple Sclerosis
What is Narcolepsy?
- uncontrollable sleep attacks
- lapses directly into REM sleep (usually during times of stress or joy)
What are Neurotransmitters?
- Chemical messengers released by terminal buttons through the synapse
- transmit messages between neurons, or from neurons to muscles
What are Night Terrors?
- high arousal (evoke or awaken a feeling, emotion, or response) and appearance of being terrified
- occur in stage 4, not REM, and are not often remembered
What is the Occipital Lobe?
VISION
What is the Parietal Lobe?
- Contains sensory cortex: receives incoming touch sensations from the rest of the body
What is the Pituitary Gland?
- “the master gland”
- produces hormones that regulate other glands such as the thyroid
- GROWTH
What is (Brain) Plasticity?
- The idea that the brain, when damaged, will attempt to find new ways to reroute messages
- Brain shapes itself if a part of it is taken out
What is REM sleep?
REM: Rapid Eye Movement
- active stage of sleep
- composes 20-25% of a normal nights sleep
- breathing, heart rate and brain wave activity quicken
- vivid dreams can occur
- from REM, you go back to stage 2
What is Serotonin?
- deals with mood control
- lack of it has led to depression
What is Sleep Apnea?
- temporary cessation’s (process of ending something) of breathing during sleep and consequent momentary reawakenings
What is the Sleep Cycle?
- Five stages
- takes 90-100 minutes to pass through the five stages
- brains waves will change according to the sleep stage you are in
- first 4 stages and known as NREM (non-rem) sleep
- 5th stage is called REM sleep
What is the Sympathetic nervous system?
- A network of nerves that helps your body activate its “fight-or-flight” response
- systems activity increases when you’re stressed, in danger or physically active
What is the Synapse?
- the space between two neurons
- neurons NEVER touch each other
What is the Temporal Lobe?
- Process sound sensed by our ears
- HEARING
What is the Thalamus?
- switchboard of the brain
- receives sensory signals from the spinal cord and sends them to other parts of the forebrain
- every sense EXCEPT smell
What is Wernicke’s Area?
Interprets written AND spoken speech
