Ch. 2.3 The Brain Shows Regional Specialization of Functions

Question 1

What does bilaterally symmetrical mean?

Answer 1

The same on both sides

Question 2

Is the brain bilaterally symmetrical?

Answer 2

Yes with the exception of some midline structures like the cops callous, pineal gland and pituitary.

Question 3

Which side of the brain controls the right side of the body?

Answer 3

The left side: each side of the brain generally controls the contralateral (opposite) side of the body.

Question 4

What do you know about the cerebral cortex?

Answer 4

Question 5

How are the neurons of the cerebral cortex arranged?

Answer 5

In 6 layers

Question 6

What is the most prominent kind of neuron in the cerebral cortex?

Answer 6

Pyramidal cell

Question 7

What is a pyramidal cell?

Answer 7

A large nerve cell that has a pyramid-shaped cell body. It is found in the cerebral cortex

Question 8

Describe the pyramidal cell.

Answer 8

Cell body is pyramid-shaped
One dendrite on each cell extends from the top of the cell body called the apical dendrite.
Has several other dendrites called basal dendrites.

Question 9

What is a cortical column?

Answer 9

A column that extends through the layers of the cortex (from white matter to the surface). Within each column, most of the synaptic connections are vertical.

Question 10

Who found that in the cerebral cortex, neurons are organized into regular columns?

Answer 10

Vernon Mountcastle

Question 11

What iso you know about the basal ganglia?

Answer 11

A group of forebrain nuclei found deep within the cerebral hemispheres. They are nuclei and not ganglia (just an unfortunate name)
It includes the:
caudate nucleus
putamen
globus pallidus
substantia nigra
The nuclei are reciprocally connected with the cortex forming a looping neural system.
Very important in motor control.

Question 12

What do you know about the limbic system?

Answer 12

A widespread group of brain nuclei that innervate each other to form a network.
Critical for emotion, memory and learning
It includes:
hippocampus
cingulate gyrus
fornix
septal nuclei
stria terminalis
olfactory bulb
amygdala
mammillary bodies

Question 13

What is the thalamus?

Answer 13

Part of the diencephalon, it is a complex cluster of nuclei that acts like a switch box directing almost all incoming sensory information to the appropriate regions for processing and receiving instructions back from the cortex regarding which further sensory info is to be transfered. (like a telephone switchboard)

Question 14

What is the hypothalamus?

Answer 14

Involve in many vital functions such as hunger, thirst, temperature regulation, sex, and many more. It also controls the pituitary gland and it’s the brain’s main interface with the hormonal systems of the body.

Question 15

What are the superior colliculi (singular colliculus)?

Answer 15

2 bumps (one on each hemisphere) found in the midbrain (above the inferior colliculi). They have specific roles in visual processing.

Question 16

What are the inferior colliculi (singular colliculus)?

Answer 16

2 bumps (one on each hemisphere) found in the midbrain (under the superior colliculi). They process information about sound

Question 17

The top of the midbrain is called?

Answer 17

Tectum (from the Latin for roof)

Question 18

The majority of the midbrain, under the tectum, forms a unified body called?

Answer 18

tegmentum

Question 19

There are several important motor centres in the tegmentum. What are they?

Answer 19

1. substantia nigra (contains neurons that release the transmitter dopamine)
2. Red nucleus (communicates with motor neurons in the spinal cord, forming the rubrospinal track (rubro means red)

Question 20

Along with the substantial nigra and the red nucleus, the tegmentun also has

Answer 20

A. several cranial nerves (including the one for eye movement)
B. periaqueductal gray (key for perception of pain)
C. ventral tegmental area (the point of origin of a dopamine-secreting pathway)
D.the point of origin of a dopamine-secreting pathway

Question 21

What do you know about the periaqueductal gray structure?

Answer 21

It is found in the tegmentum.
It is key for the perception of pain

Question 22

What do you know about the ventral tegmental area?

Answer 22

It is found in the tegmentum.
It is the point of origin of a dopamine-secreting pathway

Question 23

What is the red nucleus?

Answer 23

It is one of two important motor centres in the tegmentum. Red nucleus (communicates with motor neurons in the spinal cord, forming the rubrospinal track (rubro means red)

Question 24

What is the reticular formation?

Answer 24

It stretches from the midbrain down to the medulla and it is implicated in a variety of behaviours including sleep and arousal, temperature regulation and motor control.

Question 25

What do you know about the cerebellum?

Answer 25

The surface is elaborately convoluted (giving it more surface area like the cortex).
Three layers:
Parallel fiber
Purkinje cell
Granule cell
Crucial for motor coordination and control as well as participates in certain aspects of cognition, including learning.

Question 26

What are the parallel fibres?

Answer 26

The outermost layer of the cerebellum.

Question 27

What is the granule cell layer?

Answer 27

The ‘bottom’ layer of the cerebellum.

Question 28

What is the Purkinje cell layer?

Answer 28

The middle layer of the cerebellum

Question 29

What is the substantial nigra?

Answer 29

One of the two motor centres in the tegmentum.

Question 30

What do you know about the medulla?

Answer 30

It is the most caudal (toward the tail end).
In the medulla are the nuclei of cranial nerves XI and XII (motor neurons that control the neck and tongue muscles)
It contains nuclei that regulate breathing and heart rate, damage there is often fatal.

Question 31

How do cortical regions ‘talk’ to one another?

Answer 31

They communicate via tracts of axons looping through the underlying white matter.

Question 32

What is a connectome?

Answer 32

A network map describing all the neural pathways and connections of the nervous system