Unit Two Test Flashcards
Central Nervous System (CNS)
includes brain and spinal cord
Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
all nerves outside the brain and spinal cord
Somatic Nervous System
nerves that connect sense organ to CNS and CNS to muscle and glands. Includes movement
Autonomic Nervous System
neurons that control involuntary muscles like heart, intestines ect. Important for homeostasis
Sympathetic Nervous System
a network of nerves that prepare the body for vigorous activity-‘fight or fight’. Increase respiration and heart rate, decrease digestion
Parasympathetic Nervous System
network of nerves that facilitate non-emergency responses, ex. increase digestion, decrease heart rate, decrease respiration-rest and digest
Mirror Neurons
neurons in the premotor cortex fire when performing an action as well as seeing someone else perform the action (they do not respond well to video or picture of movement)
What are the brain areas?
forebrain
midbrain
hindbrain
Pons
located in the hindbrain, bulge in brainstem relays information from cerebrum, plus has nuclei that deals with sleep, arousal and facial expression
Medulla
located in the hindbrain, an enlarged extension of the spinal cord. Involved in blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, vomiting, coughing, sneezing and salivating (contains part of the reticular formation)
Cerebellum
large hindbrain structure that is involved with control of movement accuracy and timing. More nerve cells are here than the rest of the brain combined
Tegmentum
many areas involved in reflexes
Reticular Formation
located in midbrain-large structure with many nuclei that occupies the core of the brain stem, involved w/sleep, arousal, attention, muscle tone, movement and other reflexes
Periaqueductal Gray Matter
involved with species-typical behaviors like fighting or mating, also with pain sensitivity
Cerebral Cortex
located in the forebrain-convoluted outer layer the cerebrum, and subcortical structures
What does the cerebral cortex consist of?
Thalamus Basal Ganglia Hypothalamus Hippocampus Cingulate Cortex Amygdala Nucleus accumbens
Thalamus
relay station of the brain, all sense (except olfaction) pass through thalamus before continuing on to the cerebral cortex
Basal Ganglia
group of structures involved in cognition and voluntary movement
Huntington’s Chorea and Tourette’s Syndrome
characterized by involuntary twitches or ties
What is Parkinson’s disease
is caused by degeneration in structure of the basal ganglia
Cingulate gyrus
cortex that is found in the longitudinal fissure (splits brain in half from front to back)
Cingulate Cortex
is involved with formation of long term memories coordination of sensation with emotion, emotional response to pain, aggression, shifting attention from one task to another, motivation, detecting errors
Akinetic Mutism
individuals with lesions in the cingulate cortex are awake and vigilant, but do not speak or move (aka vigilant coma) those that recover claim they heard requests
Cerebrum
the large area that we generally think of as the “the brain”
Cerebral Cortex
outer covering of the cerebrum
What are the brains four lobes?
Frontal
Occipital
Temporal
Parietal
Frontal Lobe
contains primary motor cortex (initiation of movement) and prefrontal cortex
Occipital Lobe
contains primary visual area, damage to part of the occipital lobe leads to blindness in related visual field (on opposite side)
Temporal Lobe
involved with processing auditory information, and also more visual aspects such as recognition of faces
Parietal Lobe
contains primary somatosensory cortex which relays information about touch, and body positions
Corpus Callosum
connects the 2 hemisphere of the brain and allows them to communicate, leads to a unified experience (perceptions, memory)
Orbitofrontal Cortex
Part of prefrontal cortex involved with decision making, emotion and reward
Broca’s
area in the frontal lobe involved with speech
Sensation
when a sensory system detects a stimulus, light strikes the retina sound vibrates the inner ear
Perception
when the brain process and interprets a sensation
Transduction
the process of translating a stimulus into a neural signal
Selective Attention
focusing on some information while excluding other infor
Sensory Adaptation
reduction in response to a repeated stimulus
Bottom-up Processing
use of incoming signals to construct perceptions
Top-down Processing
use of prior knowledge to perceive information
Cornea
clear outer covering at the front of the eye
Iris
muscle controlling the amount of light entering the eye, what gives our color
Pupil
opening in the iris through which light passes
Lens
structure behind the pupil that can change shape
Retina
light sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the eye
Cones
receptors in the retina that specialize in color and detail
Rods
receptors in the retina that specialize in light
Fovea
area in the center of the retina used for sharp, central vision
Optic Disk
where all backward facing light sensing cells bundle together and exit the eye at one central point. Leads to a blind spot where the optic nerve leaves the back of the retina
Figure and Ground
we tend to identify main objects and background
Proximity
things that are close together are grouped together
Continuity
points that form a smooth line probably belong to the same object
closure
people see an unbroken image even when there are gaps
Simplicity
we usually assume the simplest solution
Pareidolia
when a vague stimulus is perceived as being important or relevant even when it’s not
Myopia
can see things close but not far away (nearsightedness) due to a horizontally elongated eye
Hyperopia
Can see things far away, but not up close (farsightedness) due to a vertically elongated eye
Ultrasound
sounds above the frequency of human hearing
Infrasound
sounds below the frequency of human hearing
Primary Somatosensory Cortex
direct perception of pain
Anterior Cingulate Cortex
immediate emotional reaction to pain
Prefrontal Cortex
long-term emotional component of pain
Olfactory Nerve
takes information from the nose directly to the olfactory bulb and amygdala in the brain
Papillae
bumps on the tongue that contain taste buds
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
symptoms of depression associated with shorted days of winter
Melatonin
hormone secreted by the pineal gland at night which has regulated the sleep/wake cycle
REM
rapid eye movement when sleeping
N-REM
non rapid eye movement when sleeping
