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AP Psychology > Unit 2 - The Brain > Flashcards

Unit 2 - The Brain Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the lesion process?

A
  • Scientists can lesion (destroy) tiny clusters of brain cells, leaving surrounding tissue unharmed)
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2
Q

What does it reveal when stimulating brain parts?

A
  • Can be done electronically, chemically, or magnetically
  • Depending on the stimulated part, people may experience different things (giggle, turn the head, hear voices, etc).
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3
Q

What is an electroencephalogram (EEG)?

A

An amplified read out of electrical activity in your brains neurons
(is a cap with electrodes covered with a conductive gel)

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4
Q

What is a CT scan?

A
  • Takes x-ray pictures of your brain
  • Can reveal brain damage
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5
Q

What is a PET scan?

A
  • Shows each brain area’s consumption of its chemical fuel
  • Can see which parts of the brain are active with different stimuli
  • Used to find diseases in the brain
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6
Q

What is an MRI scan?

A
  • Uses magnetic field to make scan showing areas of soft tissues
  • Used to make pictures of structures inside our bodies
  • Uses magnetic field and radio wave energy pulses
    fMRI: Shows the brain’s functioning, structure, and blood flow (can determine exactly what part of the brain is handling critical functions)
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7
Q

What are the older parts of the brain?

A
  • Brain stem (medulla + pons)
  • Thalamus
  • Reticular formation
  • Cerebellum
  • Limbic system (amygdala, hypothalamus, hippocampus)
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8
Q

What is the medulla?

A
  • The base of the brain stem
  • Controls a persons heartbeat and breathing
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9
Q

What is the pons?

A
  • Located above the medulla and bridges the two hemispheres
  • Helps with movement coordination
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10
Q

What is the thalamus?

A
  • On the top of the brain stem
  • Receives information from all the senses except smell and directs it to the higher brain regions that deal those senses
  • Can direct information from the higher brain to the medulla and cerebellum
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11
Q

What is the reticular formation?

A
  • On the inside of your brainstem between your ears that extend from the spinal cord through the thalamus
  • Some sensory input from the spinal cord flows through the reticular formation and it filters the stimuli, relaying information to other brain areas.
  • Enables arousal (makes you awake and alert)
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12
Q

What is the cerebellum?

A
  • Two wrinkled halves at the back of the brain that extends from the rear of the brainstem
  • Enables nonverbal learning memory.
  • Helps us judge time, modulate our emotions, and coordinate voluntary movement and balance
  • Can process sensory input
    Process sounds and textures
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13
Q

What is the amygdala?

A
  • Two lima-bean-sized neural clusters in the limbic system
  • Linked to emotion
  • Responds when stressed
  • If damaged, the person will no longer exhibit the fear they once felt towards something before the accident
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14
Q

What is the hypothalamus?

A
  • Part of the limbic system
  • Located below the thalamus
  • Directs maintenance activities such as eating, drinking, and your body temperature
  • Works with the pituitary gland to regulate the endocrine system
  • Linked to emotion and reward
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15
Q

What is the hippocampus?

A
  • A neural center located in the limbic system
  • Helps process explicit memories for storage
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16
Q

What is the cerebral cortex?

A

A thin surface layer of interconnected neural cells and is the brains ultimate control and information-processing center
- Includes the language brain areas

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17
Q

What are glial cells?

A

Cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons

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18
Q

How are lobes separated?

A

Lobes are separated by prominent features

19
Q

What is the motor cortex?

A

An area in the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movement

20
Q

What is the somatosensory cortex?

A

The area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch with movement sensations

21
Q

What is the visual cortex?

A
  • Located in the occipital lobes
  • Receives visual information and it travels to other areas that specialize in tasks.
22
Q

What is the auditory cortex?

A
  • Located in the temporal lobes
  • If stimulated, you may hear a sound
23
Q

What are association areas?

A
  • Areas involved in higher mental functions like learning, remembering, and thinking
  • Area in all four lobes
24
Q

What lobes make up the brain?

A
  • Frontal lobe
  • Temporal lobe
  • Parietal lobe
  • Occipital lobe
25
Q

What is the frontal lobe?

A
  • Located just behind the forehead
  • Involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgments
  • Damage could alter personality and remove a person’s moral compass
26
Q

What is the parietal lobe?

A
  • Portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the top of the head and toward the rear (b/w the frontal and occipital lobes)
  • Receives sensory input for touch and body position
  • Enable mathematical, and spatial reasoning, and our intentions
27
Q

What is the temporal lobe?

A
  • Portion of the cerebral cortex lying roughly above the ears
  • Including the auditory areas, each receiving information primarily from the opposite ear
  • Enables us to recognize faces
28
Q

What is the occipital lobe?

A
  • Portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the back of the head
  • Includes areas that receive information from the visual fields
29
Q

What is plasticity?

A

The brains ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience

30
Q

How does plasticity help blind/ deaf people?

A

It helps them use unused brain areas for other uses
- Disease/damage frees up other brain areas normally dedicated to specific functions

31
Q

What is neurogenesis?

A
  • The formation of new neurons
  • The brains attempt to bend itself
32
Q

What are the language brain areas?

A
  • Broca’s area: Helps with a person’s ability to speak
  • Wernicke’s area: Helps with a person’s understanding of languages
33
Q

What is lateralization?

A

The tendency for some functions to be specialized in certain hemispheres

34
Q

What is the corpus callosum?

A

The large bond of neural fibers, connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them

35
Q

Who conducted the experiment where they divided the brain’s hemispheres to stop seizures?

A

Philip Vogel and Joseph Bogen

36
Q

What happens if the corpus callosum is split?

A
  • It can cause you to do one thing while processing another
  • Hemispheres can’t communicate messages
  • Can cause a person to fail to name a picture of a familiar object
37
Q

What is the left hemisphere for?

A

Speaking/calculating and interpreting

38
Q

What is the right hemisphere for?

A

-Making inferences
- modulating our speech
-orchestrating our sense of self
- Facial recognition

39
Q

What is cognitive neuroscience?

A
  • The study of the brain activity linked with cognition
  • Cognitive neuroscientists can “read your mind” based on cortical activation patterns
40
Q

What is dual processing?

A

The principle is that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks

41
Q

What is the visual perception track?

A

Enables us to think about the world, to recognize things and to plan future actions

42
Q

What is the visual action track?

A

Guides our moment-to-moment movements

43
Q

Lateral hypothalamus vs ventromedial hypothalamus

A

Lateral hypothalamus: When stimulated, it makes you hungry (when destroyed you’ll never be hungry again)
Ventromedial hypothalamus: When stimulated, you’ll feel full (when destroyed, you’ll never feel full again)

AP Psychology (12 decks)

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