BS42023 L2

Question 1

what is the peripheral nervous system divided into?

Answer 1

somatic and autonomic

Question 2

what is the somatic nervous system?

Answer 2

all the sensory nerves which come into the spinal cord though the dorsal horn

Question 3

what is the autonomic nervous system?

Answer 3

axons that innervate glands and smooth muscle as opposed to skeletal muscle

Question 4

what is the autonomic nervous system divided into?

Answer 4

sympathetic and para-sympathetic

Question 5

what are the major subdivisions of the CNS? (5)

Answer 5

• cerebral cortex
• diencephalon (thalamus, hypothalamus)
• brain stem (midbrain, pons, medulla)
• cerebellum
• spinal cord

Question 6

what are the principle neuroanatomical axes and what do they refer to? (6)

Answer 6

dorsal (superior)= towards back (up)
ventral (inferior)= towards front (down)
rostral= towards snout
caudal= towards tail
medial= towards middle
lateral= towards edge

Question 7

what are the principle neuroanatomical planes? (3)

Answer 7

horizontal
coronal (through ears)
sagittal (through nose)

Question 8

what are the principle sulci and gyri of the neocortex? (5)

Answer 8

central sulcus
longitudinal central fissure
lateral (sylvian) fissure

precentral gyrus
postcentral gyrus
superior temporal gyrus

Question 9

what cortices are located on the superior temporal gyrus and postcentral gyrus respectively?

Answer 9

auditory cortex

primary somatosensory cortex (motor cortex is anterior to this)

Question 10

name examples of medial brain structures

Answer 10

cingulate gyrus
fornix
corpus callosum

Question 11

name examples of deep brain structures

Answer 11

hypothalamus
thalamus
pineal gland
pituitary gland
basal ganglia
limbic system

Question 12

what is the main role of the thalamus?

Answer 12

relay station- it relays information from all sensory structures onto the right structures in the brain ie. receives input from the ear and sends it to the auditory cortex

Question 13

what type of information doesn’t pass through the thalamus?

Answer 13

olfactory

Question 14

what layer in the neocortex do sensory inputs from the thalamus go into?

Answer 14

layer 4

Question 15

what layer in the neocortex do outputs to the brain and spinal cord go from?

Answer 15

layer 5

Question 16

generally, what is the front/back of the brain concerned with?

Answer 16

motor/sensory

Question 17

what does the dorsal visual system represent?

Answer 17

spatial perception

Question 18

what does the ventral visual system represent?

Answer 18

object recognition

Question 19

what does the infero-temporal cortex represent?

Answer 19

semantic memory (objects, people, words, facts)

Question 20

what is the lateral prefrontal cortex involved in?

Answer 20

executive function, planning and working memory

Question 21

what is the ventromedial/orbitofrontal cortex involved in?

Answer 21

social cognition/decision making

Question 22

what is the anterior cingulate cortex involved in?

Answer 22

reward-based learning and social cognition

Question 23

what structures make up the medial temporal lobe?

Answer 23

entorhinal cortex
perirhinal cortex
parahippocampal cortex

Question 24

what is the general signalling pathway in the hippocampus?

Answer 24

entorhinal cortex --> dentate gyrus via perforant pathway
dentate gyrus --> CA3 
CA3 --> CA1
CA1 --> subiculum
subiculum --> deep entorhinal cortex

Question 25

which layer of the entorhinal cortex provides the main input to the dentate gyrus and CA3?

Answer 25

layer 2

Question 26

what are the first kinds of cells normally affected during alzheimer’s?

Answer 26

medial entorhinal cortex cells (may explain memory loss as first symptom)

Question 27

why is the CA3 auto associative network useful?

Answer 27

may be useful in storing and retrieving information

Question 28

What are the synapses that make up the trisynaptic circuit. And where does the information come from and go to?

Answer 28

EC –> DG –> CA3 –> CA1 –> EC

Question 29

what is the papez circuit?

Answer 29

subcortical projections of the hippocampus. This goes from hippocampus to other cortical structures back to the hippocampus