Vocab Flashcards
Motor Neurons
A nerve cell that transmits motor messages, stimulating a muscle or gland; CNS to muscles and glands (efferent(exits CNS))
Sensory Neurons
Neuron that is affected by changes in the environment such as light, odor, or touch; Sensory organs to CNS (afferent(into CNS))
Somatic NS
Controls voluntary movements
Autonomic NS
controls involuntary movements; 2 divisions
Sympathetic Division
Fight or flight
Parasympathetic Division
Rest or digest
Cerebral cortex
outer covering of cerebral hemispheres, part of the telencephalon; has gray and white matter
Gyrus
bumps in brain
Sulcus
grooves in brain
Broca’s area
language production; located in the frontal lobe; damage makes it hard to say things and speak
Frontal lobe
primary motor cortex (precentral gyrus), Broca’s area; olfactory bulbs; emotional expression, memory, language, judgement, sexual behaviors
Parietal lobe
primary somatosensory cortex; primary gustatory cortex; involved in attention, working memory, spacial navigation
Temporal lobe
auditory cortex; object recognition, facial recognition
Wernicke’s area
language comprehension; damage causes words to make no sense
Occipital lobe
primary visual cortex
Limbic system
critical for emotion and learning; contains hippocampus and amygdala
Hippocampus
important for emotion and learning
Amygdala
in temporal lobe; emotional regulation and odor perception
Thalamus
directs almost all incoming sensory information; everything except smell goes to
Hypothalamus
involves hunger, thirst, temperature regulation, sex drive; pituitary gland
Superior colliculi
visual reflexes; gray matter
Inferior colliculi
auditory reflexes; gray matter
Substantia nigra
series of cell bodies in midbrain; brainstem structure that innervates the basal ganglia
Reticular formation
extensive region of the brainstem that is involved in arousal (walking)
Medulla
breathing and reflexes
Pons
regulates sleep
Cerebellum
fine motor movement, balance, learning skills; central regulation of movement
Meninges
3 protective sheets of tissue - dura matter (outermost), pia matter (innermost), and arachnoid (between)
Ventricular system
System of fluid-filled cavities in the brain; filled with cerebrospinal fluid
Anterior
Front of the brain (rostral (nostril))
Posterior
Back of the brain (caudal)
Afferent
An axon or nerve carries information into a region
Efferent
An axon or nerve carries information away from region
Sylvian fissure
aka lateral sulcus; divides temporal lobe from other regions of hemisphere
Central sulcus
fissure that divides frontal lobe from parietal lobe
Longitudinal fissure
separates the two hemispheres
Stroke
Loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain; face drooping, arm weakness, speech difficulty
Tumor
abnormal cells destroy or displace healthy cells
Epilepsy
abnormal discharge of electrical activity from the neurons in the cerebral cortex
Spatial resolution
how detailed across space
Temporal resolution
how often over time
Spatial coverage
how much space
Ionotropic receptor
fast; receptor protein that includes an ion channel that is opened when receptor is bound by an agonist
Metabotropic receptor
slow; receptor protein that doesn’t contain an ion channel, but may, when activated use a G protein
Receptor subtype
any type of receptor having functional characteristics that distinguish it from other types of receptors for the same NT
Agonist
drug that binds a receptor molecule and initiates a response
Antagonist
drug that interferes with or prevents action of a neurotransmitter
Competitive ligand
directly competes with endogenous ligand for same binding site on a receptor molecule
Noncompetitive ligand
alters response to an endogenous ligand without interacting with endogenous ligand’s recognition site
Affinity
natural tendency of molecules of a drug to bind to receptors; how likely and how long it binds
Efficacy
extent to which a drug activates a response when it binds to a receptor; how well does it actually work
down-regulation
decrease of available receptors to which the drug can bind
up-regulation
increase in number of receptors at synapses of neurons
cholinergic
cells that use acetylcholine as their synaptic transmitter
nicotinic
cholinergic receptors that respond to nicotine and acetylcholine
mesostriatal pathway
set of dopaminergic axons arising from the midbrain and innervating the basal ganglia, substantia nigra, and striatum
mesolimbocortical pathway
set of dopaminergic axons arising from the midbrain and innervating the limbic system and cortex
Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA)
portion of midbrain that projects dopaminergic fibers to the nucleus accumbens
Divergent thinking
one stimulus, many responses (Alternative Uses Task)
Convergent thinking
finding one response (Remote Association Task)
Doctrine of Specific Nerve Energies
The nature of a sensation depends on which sensory fibers are stimulated, not on how fibers are stimulated
Vitalism
theory that the origin and phenomena of life are dependent on a force distinct from purely chemical or physical forces.
Somatosensation
body sensation; particularly touch and pain sensation
Mechanoreception
touch; mechanical displacement of skin
Thermoception
temp
Nociception
pain
Proprioception
perception or awareness of the position and movement of the body
Receptive field
the stimulus region of the sensory space in which a stimulus will trigger the firing of that neuron
Primary sensory cortex
receives the most of the info about that modality from the thalamus or nonprimary sensory neurons
Nonprimary sensory cortex
cortical regions receiving direct projections from primary sensory cortex
Primary somatosensory cortex
primary cortex for receiving touch and pain info; where sensory receptors on body surface are mapped
Lateral inhibition
Phenomenon by which interconnected neurons inhibit their neighbors
Dermatome
strip of skin innervated by a particular spinal nerve
Intensity
the amount of sound energy falling on a unit area (decibel)
Frequency
the number of times per second that a pattern of pressure repeats (hertz)
Pure tone
tone with single frequency of vibration
Complex sound
summation of pure tones; most sounds in the world
Loudness
perceptual aspect of sound related to perceived intensity or magnitude (amplitude)
Pitch
our perception of frequency; allows ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale
Timbre
listener can judge that 2 sounds that have the same loudness and pitch are dissimilar; determined by harmonic structure of sounds
Pinna
external part of the ear
Ear canal
tube from the pinna to middle of the ear
Middle ear
consists of tympanic membrane, sealing the end of auditory canal and ossicles
Tympanic membrane
eardrum; partition between external and middle ear
Ossicles
3 small bones that transmit sound across middle ear- incus (anvil), malleus (hammer), stapes (stirrup)
Inner ear
cochlea and vestibular
Cochlea
snail-shaped structure that contains primary receptor cells for hearing
Hair cells
transduce sound energy to neural impulses and send them along to the primary auditory cortex
Vestibulocochlear nerve
cranial nerve which runs from cochlea to brainstem auditory nuclei
Primary auditory cortex
region of superior temporal cortex where auditory processing occurs
Inferior colliculi
Paired gray matter structures of dorsal midbrain that receive auditory info
Vestibular system
inner ear system that encodes orientation and acceleration of head in 3 axes; crucial for sense of balance
Tonotopic Organization
major organizational feature in auditory systems where neurons are arranged as an orderly map of stimulus frequency, with cells responsive to high frequencies located at a distance from those responsive to low frequencies
The Spins
alcohol causes cupula to become lighter than surrounding endolymph; causes system to become sensitive to gravity
Olfactory cleft
narrow space at back of nose into which air flows; where main olfactory epithelium is located
Olfactory epithelium
in human nose with primary function to detect odorants in inspired air
Olfactory sensory neurons (OSNS)
main cell type in olfactory epithelium
Cilia
hair-like protrusions on dendrites of OSNs
Olfactory bulb
blue-berry sized extension of brain above nose where olfactory info is first processed
Primary olfactory cortex
related to sniffing and smelling
Orbitofrontal cortex
related to smell but NOT sniffing
Retronasal olfactory sensation
odor sensations perceived as originating from the mouth; perceived when chewing and swallowing
Sensory transduction
process of converting that sensory signal to an electrical signal in the sensory neuron.
Synesthesia
production of a sense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by stimulation of another sense or part of the body
White meat
fast twitch fibers; high protein, low fat
Dark meat
slow twitch fibers; low protein, high fat
Closed-loop control mechanisms
maximize accuracy
Open-loop control mechanisms
maximize speed
Ballistic movements
rapid muscular movements completed no matter what sensory feedback is received
Golgi tendon organ
detects tension; found in tendon
Muscle spindle
detects stretch or change in amount of stretch; found in muscle
Central Pattern Generators
neural circuitry that is responsible for generating the rhythmic pattern of a behavior (patterned and non-patterned output)
Primary motor cortex
executive region for the initiation of movement
Non-primary motor cortex
made up of supplementary motor area and premotor cortex; anterior to M1
Supplementary motor area (SMA)
initiates sequences of movements
Premotor cortex
contains neurons that fire when motor sequences are guided externally by stimuli
Mirror neuron
active both when an individual makes a particular movement and when that individual sees another make that same movement
Basal ganglia
group of forebrain nuclei, including caudate nucleus, globus pallidus and putamen
Striatum
caudate nucleus and putamen
Cerebellum
structure located at the back of the brain that is involved with central regulation of movement
Direct pathway
net excitation of motor cortex; initiate movement
Indirect pathway
net inhibition of motor cortex; inhibit unwanted movements
Parkinson’s Disease
degenerative neurological disorder; causes tremors, loss of muscle tone and difficulty in initiating motor movements
Huntington’s Disease
progressive genetic disorder with abrupt involuntary movements and profound changes in mental functioning
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
degeneration of motoneurons and subsequent loss of their target muscles
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
localized, noninvasive stimulation of cortical neurons through application of strong magnetic fields (not good spatial res, high temporal res, pretty good spatial coverage)
Angiograms
image of circulatory system; involve injection into blood vessels
Single-cell recordings
great spatial and temporal res; not good spatial coverage
CT scans
series of X-rays; creates 3-D scan of brain; doesn’t differentiate brain matter
Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
injected radioactive; measures blood flow, oxygen use and sugar metabolism (good spatial res and low temporal)
Electroencephalography (EEG)
recording of electrical activity of brain recorded from electrodes placed on scalp (excellent temporal, bad spatial res)
Event Related Potentials (ERP)
averaged EEG recordings (good temporal; bad spatial)
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
noninvasive technique using magnetic energy to generate images that reveal structural details (good temporal and spatial res)
Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI)
viewing white matter tracts with MRI scans
Function MRI (fMRI)
indirect measure of neural activity; cheaper than PET (high spatial res, low temporal)
interneuron
receives input from neurons and sends out output to other neurons; not sensory nor motor
Glial cells
directly affect neuronal functioning by providing neurons with raw materials; communicate with each other and with neurons
Resting membrane potential
difference in electrical potential across the membrane of a neuron during an inactive period
Diffusion
when particles move from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration; move down their concentration gradient
Sodium-potassium pump
energetically expensive mechanism that pushes sodium ions out and pulls potassium ions in (3Na out for every 2K in)
Electrostatic pressure
propensity of charged ions to move toward areas with opposite charge
Equilibrium potential
voltage difference across permeable membrane to counterbalance the diffusion force pushing an ion from one side of membrane with high concentration to side with low concentration
Action potential
propagated electrical message of a neuron that travels along the axon to presynaptic axon terminals
Absolute refractory
immediately following AP and no amount of stimulus can induce another AP
Relative refractory
only a very strong stimulation can produce another AP
Neurotransmitter
chemical released from presynaptic axon terminal that serves as basis of communication between neurons
Postsynaptic potential
when NTs are absorbed by the dendrites or soma
Spatial summation
when you have AP from multiple arriving at the same time
Temporal summation
multiple EPSPs that are summing over time and arriving at different times
