C3: The Brain

Question 1

What are afferent nerves?

Answer 1

Nerves that carry messages to the brain or spinal cord.

Question 2

What are agnosias?

Answer 2

Due to damage of Wernicke’s area. An inability to recognize objects, words, or faces.

Question 3

What is aphasia?

Answer 3

Due to damage of the Broca’s area. An inability to produce or understand words.

Question 4

What is the arcuate fasciculus?

Answer 4

A fiber tract that connects Wernicke’s and Broca’s speech areas.

Question 5

What is the autonomic nervous system?

Answer 5

A part of the peripheral nervous system that connects to glands and smooth muscles. Consists of sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions.

Question 6

What is Broca’s area?

Answer 6

An area in the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere. Implicated in language production.

Question 7

What is the central sulcus?

Answer 7

The major fissure that divides the frontal and the parietal lobes.

Question 8

What is the cerebellum?

Answer 8

A nervous system structure behind and below the cerebrum. Controls motor movement coordination, balance, equilibrium, and muscle tone.

Question 9

What is the cerebrum?

Answer 9

Consists of left and right hemispheres that sit at the top of the nervous system and engages in a variety of higher-order functions.

Question 10

What is the cingulate gyrus?

Answer 10

A medial cortical portion of the nervous tissue that is a part of the limbic system.

Question 11

What is computerized axial tomography?

Answer 11

A noninvasive brain-scanning procedure that uses X-ray absorption around the head.

Question 13

What is the ectoderm?

Answer 13

The outermost layer of a developing fetus.

Question 14

What are efferent nerves?

Answer 14

Nerves that carry messages from the brain to glands and organs in the periphery.

Question 15

What is electroencephalography?

Answer 15

A technique that is used to measure gross electrical activity of the brain by placing electrodes on the scalp.

Question 16

What are event-related potentials?

Answer 16

A physiological measure of large electrical change in the brain produced by sensory stimulation or motor responses.

Question 17

What is the forebrain?

Answer 17

A part of the nervous system that contains the cerebral hemispheres, thalamus, and hypothalamus.

Question 18

What is the fornix?

Answer 18

(plural form, fornices) A nerve fiber tract that connects the hippocampus to mammillary bodies.

Question 19

What is the frontal lobe?

Answer 19

The most forward region (close to forehead) of the cerebral hemispheres.

Question 20

What is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)?

Answer 20

A noninvasive brain-imaging technique that registers changes in blood flow in the brain during a given task.

Question 21

Globus pallidus

Answer 21

A nucleus of the basal ganglia

Question 22

Hippocampus

Answer 22

(plural form, hippocampi) A nucleus inside (medial) the temporal lobe implicated in learning
and memory.

Question 23

Gray matter

Answer 23

Composes the bark or the cortex of the cerebrum and consists of the cell bodies of the neurons (see also white matter).

Question 24

Gyrus

Answer 24

(plural form, gyri) A bulge that is raised between or among fissures of the convoluted brain.

Question 25

Homo habilis

Answer 25

A human ancestor, handy man, that lived two million years ago.

Question 26

Homo sapiens

Answer 26

Modern man, the only surviving form of the genus Homo.

Question 27

Hypothalamus

Answer 27

Part of the diencephalon. Regulates biological drives with pituitary gland.

Question 28

Immunocytochemistry

Answer 28

A method of staining tissue including the brain, using antibodies.

Question 29

Lateral geniculate nucleus (

Answer 29

or LGN) A nucleus in the thalamus that is innervated by the optic nerves and sends signals to the visual cortex in the occipital lobe.

Question 30

Lateral sulcus

Answer 30

The major fissure that delineates the temporal lobe below the frontal and the parietal lobes.

Question 31

Lesion studies

Answer 31

A surgical method in which a part of the animal brain is removed to study its effects on behavior or function.

Question 32

Limbic system

Answer 32

A loosely defined network of nuclei in the brain involved with learning and emotion.

Question 33

Magnetic resonance imaging Or MRI

Answer 33

is a brain imaging noninvasive technique that uses magnetic energy to generate brain images (also see fMRI).

Question 34

Magnification factor

Answer 34

Cortical space projected by an area of sensory input (e.g., mm of cortex per degree of visual field).

Question 35

Medulla oblongata

Answer 35

An area just above the spinal cord that processes breathing, digestion, heart and blood vessel function, swallowing, and sneezing.

Question 37

Neural crest

Answer 37

A set of primordial neurons that migrate outside the neural tube and give rise to sensory and autonomic neurons in the peripheral nervous system.

Question 38

Neural induction

Answer 38

A process that causes the formation of the neural tube.

Question 39

Neuroblasts

Answer 39

Brain progenitor cells that asymmetrically divide into other neuroblasts or nerve cells.

Question 40

Neuroepithelium

Answer 40

The lining of the neural tube. Occipital lobe The back part of the cerebrum, which houses the visual areas.

Question 41

Parasympathetic nervous system

Answer 41

A division of the autonomic nervous system that is slower than its counterpart—that is, the sympathetic nervous system—and works in opposition to it. Generally engaged in “rest and digest” functions.

Question 42

Parietal lobe

Answer 42

An area of the cerebrum just behind the central sulcus that is engaged with somatosensory and gustatory sensation.

Question 43

Pons

Answer 43

A bridge that connects the cerebral cortex with the medulla, and reciprocally transfers information back and forth between the brain and the spinal cord.

Question 44

Positron Emission Tomography (or PET)

Answer 44

An invasive procedure that captures brain images with positron emissions from the brain after the individual has been injected with radio-labeled isotopes.

Question 45

Primary Motor Cortex A strip of cortex just in front of the central sulcus that is involved with motor control.