Unit 3, Topic 1 - Localisation of function in the brain

Question 1

Central nervous system

Answer 1

Brain and spinal cord. Receives sensory info from the PNS and sends motor info to the PNS.

Question 2

Peripheral nervous system

Answer 2

Muscles, organs, glands - somatic and autonomic nervous systems.

Question 3

Somatic nervous system

Answer 3

• Transmits sensory messages from receptors to CNS
• Transmits motor messages from the CNS to skeletal muscles, controlling voluntary movement.

Question 4

Autonomic nervous system

Answer 4

Responsible for unconscious communication between the CNS and organs/glands, to regulate automatic processes.

Question 5

Sympathetic nervous system

Answer 5

Controls fight/flight/freeze response and prepares body for action, e.g. raising heartrate

Question 6

Parasympathetic nervous system

Answer 6

Maintains homeostasis (i.e. balance in automatic day-to-day functions) - rest and digest

Question 7

Spinal reflex

Answer 7

An unconscious, involuntary response to certain stimuli that is initiated in the spinal cord, independent of the brain.

Question 8

Frontal lobe

Answer 8

Responsible for initiating body movement, language, planning, judgement, problem solving, personality, and emotion.

Question 9

Occipital lobe

Answer 9

Located at rear of brain. Responsible for processing visual stimuli, and face and object recognition. Contains primarily visual cortex.

Question 10

Parietal lobe

Answer 10

Located at top back of brain. Responsible for receiving and processing sensation (e.g. touch, pressure, pain, temp.), and for body and spatial awareness. Contains primary somatosensory cortex.

Question 11

Temporal lobe

Answer 11

Located at below temples and above ears. Responsible for auditory analysis (contains primary auditory cortex), language comprehension (contains Wernicke’s area), encoding memory (contains hippocampus).

Question 12

Broca’s area

Answer 12

Speech production - damage results in difficulty articulating words fluently and with correct grammar.

Question 13

Wernicke’s area

Answer 13

Speech comprehension/interpretation - damage results in difficulty understanding language and production of fluent but meaningless sentences.

Question 14

Geschwind’s territory

Answer 14

Connects Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas.
Involved in multimodal processing, and enables brain to interpret and classify language stimuli.

Question 15

Primary motor cortex

Answer 15

Located at rear of frontal lobe.
Communicates with basal ganglia and cerebellum, then generates neural impulses that execute movement.

Question 16

Basal ganglia

Answer 16

Located at base of forebrain/top of midbrain. Gathers and processes info from many brain regions then sends it back to motor cortex, to regulate fundamentals of movement and inhibit unsuitable movements.

Question 17

Cerebellum

Answer 17

Located in hindbrain. Uses previously learnt sequences of movement to organise muscle groups to produce a smooth, coordinated movement - sends this info to primary motor cortex.

Question 18

Limbic system

Answer 18

Controls our primitive emotional responses. Includes the hippocampus and amygdala, and possibly the thalamus and hypothalamus.

Question 19

Amygdala

Answer 19

Senses threats and activates emotions (particularly anger and fear) by associating current events with emotional memories.

Question 20

Prefrontal cortex

Answer 20

Regulates the emotional response produced by the amygdala to moderate behaviour.

Question 21

Excitatory neurotransmitters

Answer 21

Activate postsynaptic neurons to fire an action potential and perform their functions (e.g. glutamate: enables learning by helping with memory formation and retrieval)

Question 22

Inhibitory neurotransmitters

Answer 22

Block postsynaptic neurons from firing (e.g. gamma-amino butyric acid - GABA: blocks brain signals to calm stress, fear, or anxiety)

Question 23

Acetylcholine physical function

Answer 23

triggers muscle contractions/ stimulates hormones/ controls heartbeat

Question 24

Epinephrine physical function

Answer 24

-“fight-or-flight” response
- fast breathing
- increased strength \blood sugar/heart rate/ metabolism

Question 25

Norepinephrine physical function

Answer 25

-“fight-or-flight” response
- vasoconstriction - narrows blood vessels (to maintain blood pressure in stress)

Question 26

Dopamine physical function

Answer 26

controlling movement, memory and PLEASURE/ motivation

Question 27

Serotonin physical function

Answer 27

-involuntary responses such as sleep-wake cycle. and constricting smooth muscle movement

Question 28

Parkinson’s disease

Answer 28

Symptoms:
Treatments:

Question 29

Alzheimer’s disease

Answer 29

Symptoms:
Treatments:

Question 30

Acetylcholine psychological function:

Answer 30

arousal/ MEMORY / learning
-sustains focus - maintains sleep

Question 31

Epinephrine psychological function

Answer 31

panic/ excitement/ anxiety/ focus/ attention

Question 32

Norepinephrine psychological function

Answer 32

• increases Alertness/ Arousal/ Attention
• increased energy during stress