Chapter 1 Flashcards
(60 cards)
What are neurons
They are specified in that they interconnect with each other and with the muscles and organs of the body with fevers that can extend over long distances
Glial cells
Support the functions of the neurons
Central nervous system
Encased in bone, made up o f the brain and spinal cord, it is called central because it is both the nervous systems physical core and the core structure mediating behaviour.
Embodied behaviour
Is a line of research and philisophical argument that proposed that the movements we make and the movements we percive are central to our behaviour
Locked-in syndrome
A condition where the brain is intact, functioning, ad sensitive to the external world but with its nerve fibre pathways that produce movement inactivated
Aristotle and Mentalism
Aristide suggested that all human intellectual functions are produced by a perso’s psyche. He argued that it is responsible for life, and its depature from the body result in death. He believed th brain simply cooled the blood and had no role in behaviour. He explained mentalism as an explanation fo behaviour as a function of the non material mind
Descartes and Dualism
Descartes came up with the idea that behaviour is controlled by two entities, a mind and a body known as dualism.
Darwin and Materialism
Materialism advanced the idea that the workings of the brain and the nervous system alone fully explain behaviour
Natural selects
Is the theory explains hwo new species evolve and how existing species chnage over time, a species is a group of organism that can be breed among themselves.
Epigenetics
Studies how gene expression is turned on and off at different times and how environment and experiences influence our behaviour through their effects on our genes
What are the four implications for brain and behaviour
- Because all animals are related they Brian’s must be related
- Because all animal species are related their behaviour must be related
- Brains and behaviours in complex animals such as humans eveolved from simplimer animals
Common ancestor
Is a forebear from which two or more lineages or family group arise.
Nerve net
Consists in entirely of neurons that recive sensory information and connect directly to totter neurons that move muscles
Bilateral symmetry
The nervous system on one side of the animal mirrors that one the others side, in humans too
Segmentation
Division into a number of parts that are similar, refers to the idea that animals including vertebrates, are composed of similarly organized body segments
Ganglia
Clusters of neurons that resemble primitve brains and function somewhat like them in that they are comma centers
Encephalization quotient (EQ)
The ratio of actual brain size to expected brain size
brain size and behaviour
Scientists believe as body size increases so does brain size, and as brain size increases so does behaviour complexity. However it is not only brain size it is also the packing density of neurons, the more neruons the more complex the behaviour
Topographic map
Represents the different functional areas within the CNS
Connect one map
All the pathways connecting regions of the CNS
Explain about th spider monkey vs the howler money diet
Spider monkey gets mot of its nutrients from fruits therefore bigger brain, more slay behaviour, while the howler monkey gets most of its diet from grass
Crows
One of the few animals o demonstrate an ability to construct tools and they have huge brains relative to other birds of similar size
Human brain
Women’s brain typically weigh about 10% less tan men but the two sexes do not differ in measures of average intelligence, brain size can be impacted by overall mass, nutrition, learning, again stress, ASD ect
Hoizontal trasnmission
Sharing information with others in the same generation
