Still Chapter 2 but BRAIN

Question 1

What are the 3 hierarchical divisions of the brain?

Answer 1

Hindbrain, midbrain, forebrain.

Question 2

What parts does the brain stem consist of (hindbrain)?

Answer 2

Medulla, pons, cerebellum

Question 3

What is the medulla?

Answer 3

Involved in heart rate and respiration-well developed at birth. Also is the point where motor and sensory tracts cross to the opposite side.

Question 4

What is the pons?

Answer 4

“Bridge,” Between lower and higher levels of brain. Involved in sleeping and wakefulness, somewhat involved in respiration.

Question 5

What substance can suppress the medulla?

Answer 5

Extreme alcohol levels.

Question 6

What is the cerebellum? (hindbrain)

Answer 6

Involved in balance, coordination, fine motor movements, walking, muscle memory, learning. REMEMBER: it does not initiate movement, but coordinates timing of the muscles involved.

Question 7

What is walking actually?

Answer 7

Repeated falling-but the cerebellum times it so we never notice!

Question 8

What happens if the cerebellum is damaged?

Answer 8

Jerky, uncoordinated movements.

Question 9

What does the midbrain contain?

Answer 9

Sensory and motor pathways. Relay center for visual and auditory information. Involved in eye movements (motion in peripheral), coordinates body and eye movements

Question 10

What is the reticular formation? (midbrain)

Answer 10

Involved in sleep/wake cycles (partially). Also acts like a gate keeper to help attention. Sends message to forebrain that there is input (ascending portion), then recieves order to “let it through,” or “block it,” (descending portion)-without reticular input, we dont consciously register sensory messages.

Question 11

What is the forebrain also known as?

Answer 11

The cerebrum, which completey distinguishes us from other animals. Contains the 2 halves (cerebral hemispheres).

Question 12

What is the thalamus? (forebrain)

Answer 12

Relay station for sensory input-visual, auditory, and body senses (balance). Specific areas of the thalamus deal with specific senses (like a switchboard)

Question 13

What happens if you have an abnormal thalamus?

Answer 13

You can receive garbled sensory info (could be linked to schizophrenia).

Question 14

What is the basal ganglia (forebrain)?

Answer 14

Group of structures involved in initiating voluntary movement.

Question 15

What is Parkinson’s Disease?

Answer 15

A malfunctioning basal ganglia-includes tremors (involuntary movement), slower, jerkier movements, cannot initiate movement (may sometimes not be able to continue walking after stopping, solution is to PUSH THEM).

Question 16

What is the hypothalamus (forebrain)?

Answer 16

Connects to pit gland and controls many horomones (Stress, metabolism, and sexual development/activity). Also controls basic biological urges (eating, drinking, sex, temp regulation, aggression). NOT the pleasure centre, but used to be thought to be.

Question 17

What is the nucleus accumbens? (forebrain)

Answer 17

Makes us feel good-involved in reward and motivation. Sex, drugs, and favourite food all activate this area

Question 18

What is the amygdala? (forebrain)

Answer 18

Involved in emotional response as well, but with fear and aggression. Can produce emotions without higher brain areas “knowing”- the basis for unconscious fears or other emotional responses.

Question 19

What is the cerebral cortex?

Answer 19

Thin, wrinkly layer on very outside of brain. 3-5mm thick, what really sets us apart from other animals. More cortex=possibly more intelligence. Contains 80% of neurons in our brain.

Question 20

What is the hippocampus? (forebrain)

Answer 20

Involved in forming and retrieving memories. Damage causes one to be unable to form long term memories. Also is critical to processing spatial information-navigating where spaces are, taking someone elses perspective etc.

Question 21

What 3 structures are in the limbic system (forebrain)?

Answer 21

Nucleus Accumbens, Amygdala, and Hippocampus.

Question 22

What are the 3 ways of dividing the brain?

Answer 22

Longitudinal fissure-divides brain into left and right hemispheres
Central Sulcus-Divides brain into front and rear portions
Lateral Fissure-Separates upper part of brain from the lower.
*The central sulcus and lateral fissure define the 4 lobes.

Question 23

What are the 4 lobes of the brain and what are they responsible for?

Answer 23

Occipital-Primary visual cortex
Temporal-Primary auditory cortex-contains part of Wernicke’s area
Parietal Lobe-Primary somatosensory cortex, also contains part of Wernicke’s
Frontal Lobe-Primary motor and olfactory cortex, Broc’s area, speech production, planning, skeletal movements, self awareness, responsibility.

Question 24

What is the somatosensory cortex?

Answer 24

Located just behind the central sulcus, responsible for sense of touch, temperature, pain. Specific body regions activate specifc areas.

Question 25

What is the motor cortex?

Answer 25

Located just in front of the central sulcus, controls voluntary movement..

Question 26

What is the homuncular arrangement?

Answer 26

Our somatosensory and motor cortexes are laid out the same as our body- parts of the leg are laid out side by side in the brain just like on our body. As well, different areas are more sensitive to touch and movement-areas of the brain that control for it are bigger. The soma and motor cortexes are right across from each other in the brain, areas associated with certain senses/movements are right across from each other.

Question 27

What happens in the occipital lobe?

Answer 27

Each eye sends signals to both sides of the brain. Contains feature detectors, visual info then spreads to parietal and temporal areas.

Question 28

What is the association cortex?

Answer 28

Areas of the cortex not directly involved in receiving specific sensory info/voluntary movement. Found in all 4 lobes, around 75% of human cortex. Tends to combine multiple types of sensory info, or sensory with motor info. Involved in “higher” mental processing.

Question 29

What is Broca’s area?

Answer 29

Located in the frontal lobe, bottom part of motor cortex (Facial area). Responsible for speech production, necessary for articulating words and also involved in grammar.

Question 30

What happens when there’s damage to Broca’s area?

Answer 30

Great difficulty speaking, articulating, and finding words. Doesn’t affect comprehension, speech is still sensible, just takes a really long time to come up with the right words to say.

Question 31

What is Wernicke’s area?

Answer 31

Responsible for language comprehension (understanding and using).

Question 32

What happens when there’s damage to Wernicke’s area?

Answer 32

Babbling when trying to speak, words are pronounced correctly but there is no meaning to what they say. There is technically a grammar to their speech, but words make no sense when put together.

Question 33

What is verb impairment?

Answer 33

When someone has difficulty saying verbs, but not nouns or anything else. Interesting fact: When someone with this talks about a watch (object) they have no difficulty, when they talk about watch (as the verb) they can’t say it.

Question 34

What is foreign accent syndrome?

Answer 34

Person sounds like they have an accent but they don’t-suggests there is a specific area for sound of language in the brain.

Question 35

What happens when there’s damage in the frontal lobe?

Answer 35

Lose the ability to plan ahead (can’t carry out sequences of action, can’t judge order of events, can’t predict what will happen IF… impulse control issues)
Lose emotional ability (apathetic)`

Question 36

What is the prefrontal cortex involved in?

Answer 36

Executive functions (planning, setting goals, judging situations)-understanding consequences of action.

Question 37

What is lateralization?

Answer 37

Some mental activities use one side of the brain more than others-especially pronounced in males and right handed people

Question 38

What activities are associated with the two hemispheres?

Answer 38

Left-Language and math-Broca’s and Wernickes areas are usually ONLY on the left side for right handed people
Right-More arts and spatial relations-recognition, navigation, drawing, music.

Question 39

What is split-brain?

Answer 39

Patients with severe epileptic seizures sometimes get the corpus callosum severed-no communication between hemispheres.

Question 40

What happens if you show a split-brain patient an image in the left vs right visual field?

Answer 40

Left- Information sent to the right side of the brain-cannot name the object they see since language is associated with the left brain… but they can pick up the object with their left hand!
Right-Information sent to the left brain-can communicate what they are seeing.

Question 41

What is cortical interference?

Answer 41

When the un-used hemisphere tries to “help” with functions.

Question 42

What is plasticity?

Answer 42

Ability of neurons (brain) to change structure and function. Often the result of early experience or recovery from brain damage.

Question 43

What are some experiences that affect brain development?

Answer 43

• FASD
• Massaging and holding premature babies leads to faster neurological dev
• Chinese language speakers have less lateralized language functions
• Violin players have way more motor cortex dedicated to the left hand

Question 44

What happens in the recovery from brain injury?

Answer 44

Neurons die from lack of stimulation. Surviving neurons try to form new connections to stay alive-they need connections to live!! Leads to cortical reorganization-where other neurons begin to take over the functions of those that were injured.

Question 45

What happens to the brain in blind people?

Answer 45

Visual areas are not stimulated-cortical reorganization. Many become more sensitive to touch and highly sensitive to sounds. Amazingly, these changes can happen within days.

Question 46

What is musical intonation therapy?

Answer 46

Uses the melodic parts of speech to help people become better at speaking.

Question 47

Why do children typically recover faster?

Answer 47

Due to higher number of synapses in early life.