Week 2 - Neuronatomy Flashcards
What are Efferent nerves?
Nerves that travel FROM CNS
What are Afferent nerves?
Nerves that travel TO CNS
What cells are part of the nervous system?
Nerve cells such as neurons which are electrical
Supporting cells such as glia
What is the spinal cord divided into?
Dorsal - afferent nerves such as sensory roots
Ventral - efferent nerves such as motor roots
How many spinal nerve pairs are there?
31 pairs
How many cranial nerve pairs are there (in the brain)?
12 pairs
What is the brainstem?
Connects brain and spinal cord
Responsible for automatic survival functions such as breathing, heart rate etc
The brain stem is made up of 3 parts
What 3 parts make up the brain stem?
Midbrain
Pons
Medulla
What does the midbrain do?
(Part of brain stem)
Associated with vision, hearing, sleep, wakefulness, temperature regulation and motor control
What does the pons do?
(Part of the brain stem)
Helps to regulate breathing
What does the medulla do?
(Part of the brain stem)
Controls heart rate, breathing, blood pressure and vomiting
Receives sensory input and gives out motor output to some of the cranial nerves
What is the reticular formation?
Has widespread connections throughout the brain
Maintains consciousness and alertness
Functions in sleep and waking up from sleep
What is the thalamus?
Above the brainstem
Directs messages to sensory receiving areas
Transmits replies to cerebellum and medulla
What is the cerebellum?
Controls voluntary movement and balance
Contributes to cognitive, emotional, sensory , motor and speech processing
What is the limbic system?
It deals with basic drive, emotion and memory
Made up of areas such as the hypothalamus, hippocampus etc
What is the hypothalamus?
(Part of the limbic system)
Lies just below the thalamus
Helps control the endocrine system via the pituitary gland
Directs activities such as body temp, eating/drinking etc
What is BSR - Brain Stimulation Reward?
(Part of the limbic system)
What is the amygdala?
(part of the limbic system)
The amygdala consists of 2 almond shaped clusters
Linked to fear, anxiety, aggression
Fight or flight response begins in the amygdala
2 examples of how scientists shown the amygdala was linked to fear, aggression etc?
Charles Whitman, who committed a mass shooting, was found to have a tumour in his amygdala, showing that as his amygdala was larger due to the tumour, he shown more aggression
Patient SM - she had bilateral damage to her amygdala, so found it hard to show fear
What is the hippocampus?
(Part of the limbic system)
Located in each temporal lobe
Involved in formation and retention of memories - so if you had bilateral damage to the hippocampus’ it can lead to amnesia
Also involved in learning/emotion
Give 2 example of how scientists found out the hippocampus was responsible for memories?
Patient HM - had his hippocampus removed due to seizures, but afterwards he developed amnesia
Clive Wearing - he had a brain infection that damaged his hippocampus, so developed amnesia
What is the cerebral cortex and what parts does it consist of?
It is the ultimate control and information processing centre
It consists of the:
Frontal lobe
Parietal lobe
Temporal lobe
Occipital lobe
What does the frontal lobe do?
(part of the cerebral cortex)
Also known as the motor cortex
Involved in speaking, muscle movement, making plans/judgement
What does the parietal lobe do?
(part of the cerebral cortex)
Also known as the sensory cortex
Involved in:
sensing
spatial mapping
visuospatial processing
What does the occipital lobe do?
(part of cerebral cortex)
Also known as the visual cortex
Involved in processing vision
What does the temporal lobe do?
(part of the cerebral cortex)
Also known as the auditory cortex
Involved in:
hearing
understanding language
memory
facial recognition
What are the 2 speech areas?
Broca’s area
Wernicke’s area
What is the Broca’s area?
In the left frontal lobe
Involved in speech production
What is the Wernicke’s area?
In the left temporal lobe
Involved in language comprehension
What is an aphasia?
An impairment in language or speech
What are the 4 types of aphasias?
Broca’s aphasia - impaired speaking
Wernicke’s area - impaired language comprehension
Global aphasia - when you have damage to Broca’s and Wernicke’s area
Anomic aphasia - word retrieval failure
What are the 3 techniques to examine brain function?
fMRI - functional MRI
Examine brain damage patients
Remove part of the brain due to reasons such as tumours/epilepsy and see the effect it has on behaviour
What is the corpus collosum?
large bundle of neural fibres that connects the 2 hemispheres of the brain
What does contralateral division mean?
The right side of the brain controls the left side of the body/visual field
The left side of the brain controls the right side of the body/visual field
What are split brain patients?
These patients have had their corpus collosum severed, so the 2 brain hemispheres are not joined together
What issues do split brain patients have?
They have trouble naming objects in their left visual field
What is fMRI?
Detects blood oxygen levels in the brain in response to neural activity
What is sensation?
This sis where the CNS receives input from the environment
What is perception?
This is how the brain interprets sensory information
What is the retina?
At the back of the eye
Consists of rods for brightness and cones for colour
Other than the 5 senses what other senses are there?
Vestibular - balance and motion
Proprioception - identifying the relative position of your body parts
Thermoreceptors - detecting temperature throughout the body
Nociceptors - detecting pain throughout the body
