central nervous system and human behaviours

Question 1

what is the spinal cord responsible for ?

Answer 1

reflex actions (e.g. pulling your hand away from a hot plate

Question 2

what does the spinal cord do ?

Answer 2

passes messages to and from the brain, linking it to the peripheral nervous system

Question 3

what is the spinal cord ?

Answer 3

a tube-like structure

Question 4

what is the brain ?

Answer 4

• source of our conscious awareness

- where decision making takes place

Question 5

how is the brain divided ?

Answer 5

into two near-symmetrical hemispheres

Question 6

what are the two hemispheres connected by ?

Answer 6

corpus callosum

Question 7

how does the brain control the body ?

Answer 7

contralaterally- left hemisphere controls the right side of the body and vice versa

Question 8

what distinguishes our mental activity from other animals ?

Answer 8

our cerebral cortex is highly developed

Question 9

what is the thalamus ?

Answer 9

the brain’s relay station

Question 10

what is the main job of the thalamus ?

Answer 10

receives information from various senses and passes it on to the appropriate areas of the cerebral cortex for high level processing

Question 11

what are some other things that the thalamus does ?

Answer 11

• carries out some initial processing of its own
• acts as a ‘gate’ or filter for information
• thought to play a role in sleep, wakefulness and obsessive compulsive disorder

Question 12

where is the hypothalamus ?

Answer 12

sits below the thalamus

Question 13

what three things does the hypothalamus control motivation for ?

Answer 13

1) hunger
2) thirst
3) sex

Question 14

what subcortical structure is in control of the ‘fight or flight’ system ?

Answer 14

the hypothalamus - key role in the stress response

Question 15

what role does the hypothalamus play in maintaining homeostasis ?

Answer 15

• maintains balance in bodily functions such as body temperature
• regulates the endocrine system through its connection to the pituitary gland

Question 16

what is an example of a structure that is part of the limbic system ?

Answer 16

the amygdala

Question 17

what role does the amygdala play ?

Answer 17

large role in regulating emotional responses (such as aggression)

Question 18

what are two things that the limbic system plays a role in ?

Answer 18

memory and learning

Question 19

what does the limbic system do structurally ?

Answer 19

limbic system is interconnected with areas of the cortex, integrating cortical and subcortical parts of the brain

Question 20

what does cerebellum mean ?

Answer 20

‘little brain’

Question 21

what are two characteristics of the cerebellum ?

Answer 21

• has two hemispheres

- very convoluted (wrinkled)

Question 22

what is the primary role of the cerebellum ? how does it do this ?

Answer 22

1) coordinates posture, balance and movement

2) does this by receiving and integrating information from the spinal cord and other areas such as the motor cortex

Question 23

what is the corpus callosum ?

Answer 23

a dense collection of nerve cells

Question 24

what does the corpus callosum do ?

Answer 24

• physically connects the two hemispheres bellow the cerebral cortex
• allows communication between the two hemispheres by passing signals back and forth

Question 25

why is the corpus callosum so critical to the body ?

Answer 25

the brain controls the body contralaterally and the corpus callosum allows this to happen by allowing the two hemispheres to pass signals between them

Question 26

what three things does the corpus callosum play a vital role in ?

Answer 26

1) self-control 2) impulsive regulation 3) inhibition of aggressive behaviour

Question 27

what did Coccaro et al. 2007 discover about the corpus callosum in terms of aggression ?

Answer 27

they found that patients with psychiatric disorders that feature aggression, activity in the orbifrontal cortex in reduced, which disrupts the corpus callosum by imparing the impulse control function (the patients are more impulsive with their aggressive responses)

Question 28

the two hemispheres have different functions, what is this known as ?

Answer 28

lateralisation

Question 29

within each hemisphere, certain areas are responsible for specific functions and behaviours, what is this called ?

Answer 29

localisation - for example, not only are language functions lateralised to the left side of the brain. they are also localised to certain areas within it

Question 30

what is the most striking characteristic of the cerebral cortex ? and what is it its purpose ?

Answer 30

it is very convoluted - to increase the cortex's surface area, giving it more processing power

Question 31

how is the cerebral cortex structured ?

Answer 31

it is separated into four lobes of each hemisphere named after the bones under which they lie (so eight in total and four in each hemisphere)

Question 32

what do the frontal lobes control ?

Answer 32

- high level cognitive functions such as: 1) thinking 2) planning 3) problem-solving 4) decision-making

Question 33

what do the frontal lobes contain ?

Answer 33

the motor cortex

Question 34

what is the motor cortex ?

Answer 34

a long strip of neurons that runs down along the central sulcus of both hemispheres

Question 35

what does the motor cortex control ?

Answer 35

each motor cortex controls voluntary actions for the opposite side of the body

Question 36

what is the left frontal lobe known as ?

Answer 36

Broca's area

Question 37

where are the parietal lobes ?

Answer 37

on the other side of the central sulcus, further back in the brain

Question 38

what lies directly alongside the central sulcus in the parietal lobes ?

Answer 38

the somatosensory cortex

Question 39

what does the somatosensory cortex do ? and in what manner ?

Answer 39

processes sensory information from the skin (e.g. touch, temperature and pressure), does this contralaterally

Question 40

where are the temporal lobes ?

Answer 40

beneath the lateral sulcus of each hemisphere

Question 41

what does each temporal lobe contain ?

Answer 41

an auditory cortex which deals with sound information coming mainly from the opposite ear

Question 42

what do the temporal lobes do ? and what does this mean ?

Answer 42

they process the location, volume and pitch of sounds - have a role in understanding language

Question 43

where are the occipital lobes ?

Answer 43

located at the back of the brain

Question 44

what does each occipital lobe contain ?

Answer 44

a primary visual cortex

Question 45

how does our vision work ?

Answer 45

everything we see in our right field of vision is initially processed by the left visual cortex before sharing (via corpus callosum) with the right visual cortex