Week 4 Vocab

Question 1

Limbic system

Answer 1

a complex system of nerves and networks in the brain, involving several areas near the edge of the cortex concerned with instinct and mood. It controls the basic emotions (fear, pleasure, anger) and drives (hunger, sex, dominance, care of offspring).

Question 2

Amygdala

Answer 2

a roughly almond-shaped mass of gray matter inside each cerebral hemisphere, involved with the experiencing of emotions.

Question 3

Hypothalamus

Answer 3

a region of the forebrain below the thalamus which coordinates both the autonomic nervous system and the activity of the pituitary, controlling body temperature, thirst, hunger, and other homeostatic systems, and involved in sleep and emotional activity.

Question 4

Olfactory cortex

Answer 4

cortex essential to our sense of olfaction and an area of cortex that is part of the limbic system.

Question 5

Hippocampal formation

Answer 5

an “S” shaped cortex, located in the medial temporal lobe, essential for our memory.

Question 6

Olfactory bulb

Answer 6

a bulb-like terminal expansion of the telencephalon on which the olfactory nerve fibers end.

Question 7

Parahippocampal gyrus

Answer 7

a key structure, located in the medial temporal lobe, which includes several cortical areas with connections to the hippocampal formation.

Question 8

Fornix

Answer 8

a vaulted or arched structure in the body.

Question 9

Declarative or explicit memory

Answer 9

involves conscious recollection of facts or experiences.

Question 10

Nondeclarative or implicit memory

Answer 10

involves nonconscious learning of skills, habits, or other acquired behaviors.

Question 11

Working memory

Answer 11

the part of short-term memory that is concerned with immediate conscious perceptual and linguistic processing.

Question 12

Remote memory

Answer 12

long term memory often examined by asking the patient their previous address or about well-known past news events they lived through.

Question 13

Recent memory

Answer 13

memory that should be examined by giving the patient several words to remember and then testing for recall of these words 4-5 minutes later.

Question 14

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 14

impaired memory of new facts and events occurring after lesion onset.

Question 15

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 15

impaired memory of events for a period of time immediately before lesion onset, with relative sparing of earlier memories.

Question 16

Seizure

Answer 16

an episode of abnormally synchronized and high-frequency firing of neurons in the brain that results in abnormal behavior or experience of the individual.

Question 17

Epilepsy

Answer 17

a neurological disorder marked by sudden recurrent episodes of sensory disturbance, loss of consciousness, or convulsions, associated with abnormal electrical activity in the brain.