Week 1: Introduction, genes and behavior

Question 1

Big questions of Behavioral Neuroscience

Answer 1

How important are genes for behavior?
How is the nervous system affected by emotions?

Question 2

Central Nervous System

Answer 2

The brain and spinal cord; anything along the midline of the body and encased in bone

Question 3

Peripheral Nervous System

Answer 3

Everything outside of the central nervous system. Sensory and motor nerves to external and internal organs

Question 4

Neurons

Answer 4

Fundamental, interconnected cells that dictate behavior with their activity. Communicate precisely and quickly; 90 billion cells with multiple connections each

Question 5

Glia

Answer 5

Support cells that facilitate neuron activity and allow for connection to other parts of the nervous system

Question 6

Early History of Neuroscience

Answer 6

Brain was ignored in ancient science; only some focus on head trauma changing behavior. Early brain drawings appear during the Renaissance; advancements at this time usually followed machine development.

Question 7

Neuroscience Developments of the 1800s

Answer 7

Localization of function became popular; opposed previous holistic views. Emphasis on phrenology and materialism. Extreme views, but have some modern day support

Question 8

Phrenology

Answer 8

Measuring skull shape to predict behaviors and traits in a human. Defunct science

Question 9

Materialism

Answer 9

Studying observable phenomena rather than theorizing on unobservable brain mechanisms

Question 10

Post-1800s Neuroscience Development

Answer 10

Evolutionary theory and psychology emerged. Experimental tactics (animal studies) and lesion studies became more prevalent.

Question 11

Aphasia studies

Answer 11

Post-1800s; found link between language impairment and brain damage. Broca’s = slow speech, Wernicke’s = meaningless

Question 12

Development of Microscopy

Answer 12

New staining techniques allows cell research to flourish and neurons could be studied close up. Neuron studies were fathered by Ramon Y Cajal

Question 13

1900s developments in Neuroscience

Answer 13

The interconnection of neurons (synapses and neurotransmitters) was being proposed. The Brodmann map was made in 1909. Action potentials were studied in the 40s

Question 14

Broadmann map

Answer 14

Made to study neuron structure to map brain function and differences across the brain. Proposed that brain structure dictates function

Question 15

Current/modern Neuroscience view

Answer 15

Groups of cells communicate to generate thoughts and behaviors and can have multiple functions
Specialization and diversity of function

Question 16

Specialization

Answer 16

Different regions of the brain are specialized for different functions

Question 17

Diversity of Function

Answer 17

One neuron or brain area can serve in multiple different behavior functions

Question 18

Benefits of animal testing

Answer 18

Mice are cheap and small, easy to breed more of; more ethical, simpler to understand, and evolutionarily similar to humans; differences between human and animal nervous systems could explain behaviors

Question 19

Limits of animal testing

Answer 19

High cost, lack of human behaviors/disorders in animals, results are not generalizable

Question 20

Chronic Intermittent Stress

Answer 20

A simulation used to model symptoms of human depression in rodents. Usually done via the swim test or the tail hang test

Question 21

Traits of a good disorder model

Answer 21

Parallels the real disorder in behaviors, biology (brain chemistry), and response to treatment

Question 22

Shortcoming of animal testing

Answer 22

Most animal trials fail in humans, or are overgeneralized to humans

Question 23

History of the Lobotomy

Answer 23

Example of overgeneralized, under-researched animal studies being applied to humans. Based on case studies and thus not representative; was given little follow up research before being widely applied. Administered due to lack of antipsychotic drugs; given to young women without gaining their consent

Question 24

What to learn from the lobotomy

Answer 24

Use the experimental method; follow-up to verify findings; collect data and make it public; stay humble, stay critical, stay cautious

Question 25

Epigenetics

Answer 25

Environmental affects on gene expression throughout life (same gene, different expressions based on environment)

Question 26

Reasons behind genetic research

Answer 26

Tracking if disorders are gene-related and if genetic similarity predicts trait similarity. Most often done with twin studies

Question 27

DNA

Answer 27

Composed of nucleotides. Differences in DNA stem from differences in base pair sequences. Order of the bases determines what kind and how much of a protein the DNA makes

Question 28

Regulatory sequences

Answer 28

Parts of DNA that switch gene expression on and off

Question 29

Coding sequences

Answer 29

Parts of DNA that determine what protein is made by the strand

Question 30

Genes and behavior

Answer 30

Genes are correlated with behavior, but both genetics and environment matter when determining behavior. Genetic proteins are vital to enzymes, receptors, and neurotransmitters that drive behavior)

Question 31

Polygenic vs. Monogenic

Answer 31

Polygenic means the trait is determined by multiple genes. If a trait is determined by one gene (monogenic), it is a disorder

Question 32

Heritability

Answer 32

Estimated proportion of variability explained by genetics (average 0.44-0.55). How much genes matter for expressing a trait compared to environment
Low heritability = more likely to affect anyone given specific environmental situations (like anxiety)

Question 33

Single gene specified disorders

Answer 33

If disorders are linked to one specific gene that can be tested for, there can be preventative measures put in place (PKU example).