Unit 2 - Brain and Biology Flashcards
Heredity
characteristics passed down from one generation to the next
Environmental factors
Education, family interactions
Eugenics
evolution towards a specific goal
Nature
Genetic and biological factors
Nurture
Environmental influences
Stimulants
Drugs that excite the nervous system (caffeine, tobacco, meth, ecstasy and cocaine)
Depressants
drugs that reduce neural activity (alcohol)
Hallucinogens
drug that distorts perception and evokes sensory images in the absence of sensory input (LSD, psilocolin, marijuana)
Opiods
drug that represses neural activity temporarily lessening pain and anxiety (methadone, oxytocin, vicodin, morphine, heroin)
Brainstem
Central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull, automatic survival functions
Medulla
Hindbrain structure that is the brain stem’s base, controls heart beat and breathing
Reticular activating system
Nerve network, travels through brainstem into thalamus, filters information and controls arousal
Cerebellum
Hindbrain’s little brain, rear of brain stem, processing sensory input, coordinating movement output and balance, enabling nonverbal learning and memory
Cerebral cortex
body’s ultimate control and information processing center
Right hempisphere
creativity, arts, controls left side of body
Left hemisphere
logic, language, controls right side of body
Limbic system
neural system located mainly in forebrain, associated with emotions and drives
Thalamus
Forebrain’s sensory control center, top of brainstem, directs messages to sensory receiving areas in cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla
hypothalamus
limbic system neural structure below thalamus, maintenance activities, governs endocrine system, linked to emotion and rewards
pituitary gland
just below thalamus, secretes hormones and controls endocrine glands
hippocampus
neural center in the limbic system, helps process explicit, conscious, memories of facts and events for storage
amygdala
2 neural clusters in limbic system, linked to emotion
corpus callosum
large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them
frontal lobe
lying behind forehead of cerebral cortex, enables linguistic processing, muscle movements, higher order thinking, and executive functioning
motor cortex
rear of frontal lobes, controls voluntary movements
prefrontal cortex
more complex cognitive processes, last areas of brain to mature
parietal lobe
lying atop head towards rear, receives sensory input for touch and body position
somatosensory cortex
front of parietal loves, registers and processes body touch and movement sensations
occipital lobe
lying at the back of the head, areas that receive information from visual fields
temporal lobe
roughly above ears, auditory areas, each of which receives information primarily from opposite ear, language processing
split-brain research
from surgery, condition that separates the brains into two hemispheres
broca’s area
left hemisphere frontal lobe, speech production and language processing
wernicke’s area
left side of brain posterior part of temporal lobe, language comprehension and understanding
aphasia
non-fluent speech and loss of comprehension for broca’s or fluent but nonsensical speech for wernicke’s
brain plasticity
ability for brain to reconstruct itslef when a portion is damaged
eeg
measures brain activity in electrical waves - sleep apnea, seizure disorders
mri
uses strong magnetic fields and radio waves to create images of the brain structure, used for strokes or brain trauma injuries
lesions
abnormal changes or removal of tissues
central nervous system
brain and spinal cord, body’s decision maker
peripheral nervous system
sensory and motor neurons that connect the CNS to the rest of the body
autonomic nervous system
part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the l=glands and the muscles of the internal organs (heart), sympathetic division arouses, parasympathetic division calms
somatic nervous system
the division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body’s skeletal muscles
voluntary movement
intentionally preformed movement
glial cells
cells in the neurosystem that support, neurish, and protect neutrons (may play a role in learning, thinking and memory) (makes up the myelin sheet to protect axon)
reflex arc
simple, automatic response to sensory stimulus (heat activates skin receptors, send info to spinal cord, sensory neurons send messages to brain hand pulls away)
sensory neurons
neurons that carry incoming information from the sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord (5 senses)
interneurons
neurons within the brain and spinal cord that communicate internally and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs
motor neurons
neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands (movement)
all or nothing principal
neuron reacts to simulation by either firing with a full strength response or not firing at all
depolarization
the process by which positive and negative ions move into and out of a neuron, creating electricity from the chemical event
refractory period
after a neuron fires, must return to resting potential before it can fire again
resting potential
before a neuron fires, negatively charged ions are inside the neuron and positively charged ions are outside the neuron
threshold
level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse
multiple sclerosis
disorder when extreme degeneration of myelin slows communication between muscles and the brain, resulting in diminished muscle control and impaired cognition
myasthenia gravis
autoimmune disorder, affects communication between nerves and muscles, leads to weakness and rapid fatigue of voluntary muscles
dopamine
rewards, addiction, emotions and pleasure, excess schizophrenia, deficit parkinson’s disease
serotonin
promotes the sense of well being and happiness, mood regulation hunger and sleep, deficit depression and OCD
norepinephrine
stimulating process, arousal and awakeness, excess high blood pressure/schizophrenia, deficit depression
glutamate
memory, excess brain cell damage or death, deficict difficulty concentrating, low energy, adhd symptoms
gaba
increases relaxation, too much = memory loss, linked to drinking, excess impairs learning motivation and movement, deficit anxiety disorders, seizures, insomnia
endorphins
pain relief and feelings of pleasure, inhibits pain, exercise, deficit involved in addiction
substance p
nociception pain reception, excess depression/fibromyalgia, deficit reduces pain sensitivity and mechanical bone stability
acetycholine
voluntary movement and muscle contraction, muscle movements, excess depression, deficit dementia/alzheimer’s
agonists
excites, enhanced cellular activity
antagonists
inhibits, blocked cellular activity
re-uptake inhibitors
drugs that prevent reuptake, increases availability of neurotransmitters in the synapse
cirdcadian rhythm
24 hour biological cycle process
nrem stage 1
theta waves, light sleep
nrem stage 2
spindles and t-complex
nrem stage 3
delta waves, deep sleep, regenerative
hypagogic sensations
hallucinations or sensations that can occur when a person is falling asleep
rem
similar to being awake, dreaming
rem rebound
awake straight to rem, skip 123
activation synthesis
dreams are the minds way of making sense of random neural firings
consolidation theory
sleep helps us consolidate episodic and somatic memories
insomnia
chronic condition due to not being able to sleep
narcolepsy
chronic condition that causes the person to fall asleep when they are overly emotionally stimulateda
rem sleep behavior disorder
disorder where people experience movements or behaviors while being in rem sleep, whereas the majority have paralysis from below their neck during sleep
sleep apnea
disorder where breathing is disrupted during sleep
somnambulism
individuals perform activities during sleep, often with conscious awareness
neurotransmitters
chemical messengers released when a neuron fires
reuptake
neurotransmitters released back into synapse and the originating neuron reabsorbs excess neurotransmitters
