Ch. 2: Brain Structure & Processes

Question 1

What does the central nervous system consist of?

Answer 1

brain and spinal cord

Question 2

What is role of the peripheral nervous system (PNS)?

Answer 2

carrying messages to and from the CNS. It’s seperated into two divisions: somatic NS and autonomic NS

Question 3

What is the somatic nervous system responsible for? (2)

Answer 3

• transmit messages from sensory receptors to the CNS e.g. eyes or ears
• controls voluntary movement of skeletal muscles

Question 4

What is the autonomic nervous system responsible for?

Answer 4

• controls involuntary and automatic internal functions e.g. heart rate, digestion
• divided into sympathetic and parasympathetic NS

Question 5

what is the sympathetic division responsible for?

Answer 5

• arousing and energising body in times or stress or physical activity
• activating flight/fight response

Question 6

what is the parasympathetic division responsible for? (2)

Answer 6

• calms body and returns systems to normal functioning after sympathetic response
• keeps body in state of homeostasis

Question 7

what happens to the pupils in S & PS nervous system?

Answer 7

symp
- dilates pupils

parasymp
- constricts pupils

Question 8

what happens to salivation in S & PS nervous system?

Answer 8

symp
- decreases production of saliva

parasymp
- normal production of saliva

Question 9

what happens to heart rate in S & PS nervous system?

Answer 9

symp
- accelerates heart

parasymp
- inhibits heart

Question 10

what happens to respiration in S & PS nervous system?

Answer 10

symp
- increases respiration, increases oxygen levels

parasymp
- Decreases oxygen production and constricts airways

Question 11

what happens to digestion in S & PS nervous system?

Answer 11

symp
- decreases contractions and slows digestion

parasymp
- stimulates digestion

Question 12

what happens to bladder in S & PS nervous system?

Answer 12

symp
- relaxes bladder (may wet yourself)

parasymp
- contracts bladder

Question 13

what happens to genitals in S & PS nervous system?

Answer 13

symp
- stimulated

parasymp
- untimulated

Question 14

what are the 3 main types of neurones involved in the somatic nervous system?

Answer 14

sensory neurons
motor neurons
connector nuerons

Question 15

what are 3 facts about the human brain?

Answer 15

• our cerebrum is split into 2 hemispheres
• each hemisphere controls opposite side of the body (contralateral organisation)
• An adult brain weighs 1/5kg and contains approx 100 billion neurons

Question 16

what is the frontal lobe responsible for? (4)

Answer 16

• higher order mental functions e.g. planning, initiative (association areas)
• personality and emotions (association areas)
• involuntary movement (primary motor cortex)
• producing clear, fluent speech (broca’s area)

Question 17

what is the parietal lobe responsible for? (3)

Answer 17

• receives and processes sensory info (primary somatosensory cortex
• monitors the body’s position in space e.g where your limbs are (association areas)

Question 18

what is the occipital lobe responsible for? (2)

Answer 18

• receives and processes visual info (primary visual cortex)
• bringing together visual info from other areas of the cerebral cortex (association)

Question 19

what is the temporal lobe responsible for? (4)

Answer 19

• receives and processes auditory info (primary auditory cortex)
• plays a role in memory, especially ability to recognise human faces (association areas)
• comprehending human speech (wernicke’s area)

Question 20

what are the sensory areas and motor area? (4)

Answer 20

sensory areas:

• somatosensory cortex (parietal)
• primary visual cortex (occipital)
• primary auditory cortex (temporal)

motor area:
- primary motor cortex (frontal)

Question 21

what is wernicke’s area responsible for?

Answer 21

woman - wernicke’s
truly - temporal
love - left
money - meaning

Question 22

what is broker’s area responsible for?

Answer 22

big - broca’s
fat - frontal
lazy - left
slob - speech production

Question 23

what is the corpus colosseum?

Answer 23

a thick band of nerve fibres in the middle of the brain that connects left and right hemispheres

Question 24

what is the left hemisphere usually responsible for? (logic left) (3)

Answer 24

• movement and sensation of right side of body
• verbal functions: Language
• AnaLytical functions: logical thinking e.g. maths, science

Question 25

what is the right hemisphere responsible for?

Answer 25

- movement and sensation of left side of body | - non-verbal functions: Reading maps, Rotating objects, cReativity, Recognising facial expressions

Question 26

what is blain plasticity?

Answer 26

the brains ability to 're-wire' itself

Question 27

What are 2 symptoms of broca's aphasia?

Answer 27

- can understand what is said to them and know what they want to say, but they cannot say it. - speaks in short sentences, mainly consisting of nouns and verbs

Question 28

what are 2 symptoms of Wernicke's aphasia?

Answer 28

- still able to speak fluently and string together long sentences - speech is usually meaningless

Question 29

what is spatial neglect caused by stroke or brain injury? (2)

Answer 29

- attention disorder, failure to notice anything on left or right side (attention disorder, not visual disorder)

Question 30

what causes spatial neglect?

Answer 30

- occurs from damage to the parietal lobe, usually when right hemisphere is damaged (causing failure to notice left)

Question 31

apart from articulate production of speech, what is one other thing broca's area is responsible for?

Answer 31

analysing the grammar in sentences & structure of sentences

Question 32

what happened when split brain patients only got info to right visual field?

Answer 32

right visual field - travelled to left hemisphere and patients could verbally name and identify objects (if it starts in right eye, rather than right visual field it goes to right hemisphere)

Question 33

what happened when split brain patients received info only the left visual field?

Answer 33

left visual field - travelled to right hemisphere and patients could not say what they had seen but could identify it with left hand

Question 34

what is the role of the CNS?

Answer 34

- receives sensory info from PNS, processes and responds

Question 35

what are motor (efferent) and sensory (afferent) neurons?

Answer 35

motor (efferent) - transmit motor messages from brain to the skeletal muscles sensory (afferent) - transmit sensory messages to the CNS

Question 36

what is aphasia?

Answer 36

impairment of language as a result of damage to the brain