Bio unit Flashcards
What are the 7 neurotransmitters
What do they influence
What can a lack/abudance of these cause
Serotonin - Mood control, digestion, sleep.
Lack - clinical depression. Abundance - hypomania (bipolar)
Acetylcholine - Motor movement
Lack - Alzheimer’s disease
Dopamine - Motor movement and alertness
lack - Parkinson’s disease. Abundance - schizophrenia
Endorphins - Pain control
Abundance - Involved in addictions
GABA - inhibitory neurotransmitter
associated with Seizures, sleep problems
Glutamate - Excitatory neurotransmitter involved in memory
Abundance - Migraines, seizures
Norepinephrine - Alertness, arousal
Lack - depression.
Structure of nervous system
Nervous system:
>Central
>Peripheral
>Automatic
>Sympathetic
>Parasympathetic
>Somatic
What organs/parts are in the central nervous system
what is it responsible for
Brain + spinal cord - all reflex actions when body needs to act quickly
What organs/parts are in the peripheral nervous system
responsible for?
Other nerves of the body and the different organs.
3 structures the brain is div into
What is the old brain - what does it consist, why is it called that
what is the new brain - what does it consist of, why is it called that.
Hind brain
Mid brain
Forebrain
Old brain = hind brain + midbrain
Called this since this is what humans got through evolution, even animals have
New brain = forebrain
Only humans have this part of the brain and its responsible for higher order thinking + emotion.
Parts of the hindbrain
what do they do
Medulla - life controlling activities - blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, etc. Connects brain to spinal cord.
Pons - Facial expressions, sleep mechanism (dreaming) - connects medulla to forebrain
Cerebellum - Coordinate habitual muscle movement. Classical conditioned behavior and procedural memory is stored here. Responsible for the balance and coordination of the body.
Parts of the midbrain
What do they do
Midbrain - area between hind and forebrain which integrates sensory information + muscle movement
(hand-eye coordination)
Reticular formation - netlike collection of neurons which controls the arousal and our ability to focus our attention.
2 parts of the forebrain
Cerebral cortex
Limbic system
Parts of Limbic system
Hypothalamus - Hunger, thirst, sexual arousal, metabolic functions, endocrine system, hormones.
Thalamus - relay center of the brain which receives sensory signals from spinal cord and sends to appropriate areas of the forebrain.
Amygdala - emotion
Hippocampus - memories. Don’t store them permanently, but process all memories
2 arm like structures around the thalamus.
What does the cerebral cortex do
has all the lopes - 8 in total
present in 2 hemispheres
what us ab associative area
each sense goes its specific associative area
What is the frontal lobe
what does it control
Emotional control
Higher-order thinking
Brochas area - left hemisphere frontal lobe. Responsible for production of speech.
What is the motor cortex
Thin strip that is responsible for motor movement. Responsible for all voluntary movement.
The top part of the body is controlled by the bottom half of the motor cortex and vice versa.
What is the parietal lobe
Sensory cortex - thing vertical strip that receives touch sensations
Top of the body controlled by bottom of sensory cortex vice versa,
What is the occipital love
Back of the brain which is responsible for vision. Interprets msgs from the visual cortex
Impulses from right halfs of both retinas - processed by visual cortexes in the right occipital love
vice versa
What is the temporal love
Responsible for hearing
Wernicke’s area - Responsible for comprehension, vocab, grammar, etc.
What is laterilisation
Diff functions of the body done by diff parts of the brain
What are the 2 hemispheres
what is each supp to do
what part does each control
Left - controls right side of the body
resp for language and logical thinking
Right - controls left side of the body
resp for creative activities
what is corpus callosum
Part of the brain filled with nerves to connect left and right hemispheres of the brain.
What is neuroplasticity
How does it decline
can everyone have it
What leads to brain plasticity
Opposes brain laterization
States that when one part of the brain is damaged, a diff part of the brain would continue carrying out the damaged part’s function,
Not everyone’s brain can be neuroplastic.
Declines with age
Higher nourishment + resourcefulness leads to more brain plasticity
What does the sympathetic nervous system do
Flight or fight system of the brain
Activated when adrenaline is released and responds to stress
What is the parasympathetic nervous system
Slows down the brain after distress
‘brake medal’
What does the somatic nervous system do
Voluntary muscle movements
How to study the brain
EEG - electroencephalogram
Gives insight of brain activities and functions via brain waves.
