Central Nervous System Flashcards by Simon Blum

What is the reticular formation associated with?

Consciousness, arousal, attention, movement, and pain

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Controls speed, intensity, coordination, direction of complex voluntary movements, speech, gives us smoothness and gracefulness to our movements, and balance

Cerebellum

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Problems with this area result in too little movement or too much movement like in Parkinson’s

Basal ganglia

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Having blindsight when this area is damaged

Occipital lobe

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Postcentral gyrus. Part of parietal lobe responsible for touch sensory input

Primary somatosensory cortex

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What do homunculus’ represent?

Different parts of the body have different amounts of brain space for sensory and motor

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Primary visual cortex

Occipital lobe

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What does the reticular formation do?

Stimulates forebrain

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This area is the origin of photosensitive epilepsy

Occipital lobe

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Separates the precentral and post central gyri

Central sulcus

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Why is the brain wrinkly?

Increase surface area

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Associated with motor control and reward

Basal ganglia

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Lowered areas of the brain

Sulci

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Receives sensory info and regulatory info

Thalamus

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What does the medulla do?

Vital processes necessary for life including breathing, HR and BP

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Visual gaze of auditory stimuli. Midbrain

Superior colliculus

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Plays a role in different stages of sleep and decides if we should wake up or not

Thalamus

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Part of the hypothalamus, memory. Limbic

Mammillary bodies

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Primary auditory cortex

Temporal lobe

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What path does smell take that is different than other senses

It goes to the cortex then the thalamus

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Impulse control and delayed gratification (waiting for a reward)

Orbitofrontal cortex

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Where is the periaqueductal gray

Near the area where the CSF would flow through

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Executive functions like attention, working memory, and goal directed behavior

Dorsolateral PFC

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What is cerebellar agenesis?

Never growing a cerebellum. The gap is filled with CSF

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Spatial info processing and stress feedback

Hippocampus

Plays key roles in threat detection, fear, excitement, and arousal by sending messages to other areas

Amygdala

Gateway to the cortex or sensory switchboard

Thalamus

This area is juxtaposed to the somatosensory cortex

Motor cortex

Declarative memory formation and stress. Limbic

Hippocampus

What makes up the myelencephalon?

Medulla

Plays a role in implicit procedural memories (muscle memory is linked)

Basal ganglia

Reward. Limbic

Septal area

What makes up the forebrain?

Diencephalon and telencephalon

Responding emotionally to bad choices. If damaged, people won't care if they make a terrible choice

Orbitofrontal cortex

What are results of damage to the cerebellum?

Movement/balance/coordination problems, speech problems, subtle effects on cognition, possibly autism spectrum disorder

Eye movements, spatial orientation, and memory. Limbic

Posterior cingulate gyrus

Primary somatosensory cortex

Post central gyrus of parietal lobe

Sensory processing, motor commands, higher brain functions

Cerebral cortex

Participates in states of consciousness, learning and memory

Thalamus

The regulatory center responsible for maintaining a constant internal state (homeostasis)

Hypothalamus

What does chordate mean?

It has a backbone and will have a true brain

Bridge that connects the cerebral cortex to the cerebellum

pons

Decision making, knowing you made a mistake, emotion, looking forward to reward, physical and social pain

Anterior cingulate cortex

Visual and auditory association areas

Temporal lobe

Raised areas of the brain

Gyri

This area of the brain controls the pituitary gland through hormones

Hypothalamus

Olfaction (smell). Limbic

Olfactory bulbs

What inputs does the cerebellum receive from the spinal cord?

Current location of body

What is the pons involved in?

audition, balance, sleep, excitatory arousal (general excitatory state), motion sickness

Movement control diseases associated with the basal ganglia

Huntington's and Parkinson's

When does unilateral neglect occur?

Parietal lobe damage almost always on the right parietal lobe

Why can the hippocampus be widely studied?

Its structure is similar in many species

Group of subcortical structures in the forebrain that help to control/filter movement

Basal ganglia

What area is damaged in Wenickes aphasia?

Temporal lobe

Fear, aggression, memory, motivation.Limbic

Amygdala

Natural pain management, highest concentration of endorphin receptors. Midbrain

Periaqueductal gray

Located at the top and sides of the frontal lobes

Dorsolateral PFC

Memory. Limbic

Parahippocampal gyrus

Netlike mixture of neurons and nerve fibers throughout the medulla and pons

Reticular formation (reticular activating system)

This area of the midbrain is reduced in Parkinson's

Substantia nigra

What makes up the hindbrain?

Myelencephalon and metencephalon

Precentral gyrus. Part of the frontal lobe responsible for initiating voluntary body movement

Primary motor cortex

Located above and behind the eyes in frontal lobe

Orbitofrontal cortex

What makes up the diencephalon?

Thalamus and hypothalamus

Dopamine releasing are, motor output pathway. Midbrain

Substantia nigra

What makes up the midbrain?

Mesencephalon

Decision making, error detection, emotion, anticipation of reward, pain and empathy. Limbic

Anterior cingulate cortex

What is unilateral neglect?

Parietal lobe damage that causes you to only be able to have left or right side when viewing things

What makes up the metencephalon?

Pons and cerebellum

Wernickes area

Temporal lobe. Able to understand language but not produce comprehensible language

Outermost part of the forebrain in two hemispheres

Cerebral cortex

What NT releasing centers are in the pons?

Raphe nuclei (serotonin) and locus coeruleus (NE)

What is the goal of the human connectome?

To answer how an individual brain is connected and map the connections at many different scales

Located at the ends of the hippocampus. Will be focused on in emotions, stress, and anxiety

Amygdala

What is contained in the medulla and many other structures?

Reticular formation

Eye movements, spatial orientation, memory, consciousness

Posterior cingulate cortex

Much of the limbic system is here

Temporal lobe

Most rostral/anterior part of the cerebral cortex

Frontal lobe

Four parts of the midbrain

Periaqueductal gray, red nucleus, substansia nigra, and superior and inferior colliculi

How do neurons and brain regions function?

They are part of circuits that influence behaviors, they don't act in isolation

Roles in motor function, language, memory, many executive functions like planning, responsible choices, etc.

Frontal lobe

Many reciprocal connections with limbic system, basal ganglia, and other parts of the cortex

Dorsolateral PFC

Motor output pathway important for eye blinking. Midbrain

Red nucleus

Where are gray and white matter in the cerebral cortex

Gray is superficial and white is deep

Cognitive control diseases associated with the basal ganglia

ADHD and OCD

Regulates eating, drinking, sex, biorhythms (circadian, sleep/wake), temperature control

Hypothalamus

Localization of auditory stimuli. Midbrain

Inferior colliculus

What inputs does the cerebellum receive from the cerebral cortex (pons)?

Intended movements. Implements motor plan and corrects as needed (error detector)

How many layers of the cortex are there?

What is EQ ratio?

Brain size to body size. Humans have the best

What makes up the telencephalon?

Subcortical structures and cerebral cortex

Contains motor cortex, prefrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, oribitofrontal, and Brocas area

Frontal lobe

Association cortex

Dorsal parietal lobe

This area of the brain directs the autonomic nervous system

Hypothalamus

What is blindsight

Not being able to see but you can still tell if something is light or dark

Specialized for skin senses and senses that inform us about body position and movement. Spatial perception

Parietal lobe

Aggression, regulation of hunger, thirst, sex, temp, circadian rhythms, hormones. Limbic

Hypothalamus

The junction between the spinal cord and the brain

Medulla

New declarative memory formation (the things we know we know)

Hippocampus

Large sulcus, often an anatomical landmark

Fissure

Connects the hippocampus to mammillary bodies and other parts of the brain. Limbic

Fornix

This area of the frontal lobe is associated with schizophrenia

Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex