Chapter 1: Biology and Behavior Flashcards
(87 cards)
1
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Organization of human nervous system
A
Central
- Brain and spinal cord
Peripheral
- Somatic
- Autonomic > Sympathetic and parasympathetic
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Sensory neurons
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Afferent neurons; transmit sensory info from receptors to spinal cord and brain
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Motor neurons
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Efferent neurons; transmit motor information from the brain and spinal cord to muscles and glands
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Interneurons
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Located between other neurons, most commonly found in brain and spinal cord; often linked to reflexive behavior (e.g. reflex arcs)
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Reflex arc
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In response to sensory info, interneurons send efferent motor signal to muscles before sensory info reaches brain
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Somatic nervous system
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Sensory and motor neurons distributed throughout skin, joints, and muscles
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Autonomic nervous system
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- Regulates heartbeat, respiration, digestion, temperature, and glandular secretions (involuntary/automatic muscles associated with many internal organs and glands)
- Subdivided into sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems
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Parasympathetic nervous system
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- “Rest and digest”
- Conserves energy, associated with resting and sleeping states; slows heart rate, stimulates digestion, constricts bronchi, contracts bladder
- Response mediated by acetylcholine
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Sympathetic nervous system
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- “Fight or flight”
- Activated by stress
- Increases heart rate, increases blood flow to required muscles, increases blood glucose concentration, relaxes bronchi, decreases digestion, dilates eyes, releases epinephrine into blood stream
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Meninges (function and layers)
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- Cover the brain with thick sheath of connective tissue
- Protect the brain, keep it anchored in skull, resorb cerebrospinal fluid
- 3 layers (inside to outside): pia mater, arachnoid mater, dura mater
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Cerebrospinal fluid
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- Aqueous solution in which the brain and spinal cord rest
- Produced by specialized cells that line the ventricles (internal cavities of the brain)
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Hindbrain (components and functions)
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- Medulla, pons, cerebellum, reticular formation
- Balance, motor coordination, breathing, digestion, general arousal process (sleeping, waking)
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Cerebellum (location, function, and symptoms of damage)
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- Hindbrain
- Balance and refined motor movements, speech, movement of eyes
- Damage: clumsiness, slurred speech, loss of balance (affected by alcohol)
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Medulla (location and function)
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- Hindbrain
- Vital functioning (breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, digestion)
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Reticular formation (location and function)
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- Neurons somas scattered throughout brainstem
- Arousal and alertness
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Pons (location and function)
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- Hindbrain
- Sensory and motor pathways between cortex and medulla
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Midbrain
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- Receives sensory and motor information from rest of body
- Involuntary reflexes in response to visual (superior colliculus) or auditory stimuli (inferior colliculus)
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Forebrain
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- Complex perceptual, cognitive, and behavioral processes
- Emotion and memory
- Components: cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, limbic system, thalamus, hypothalamus, posterior pituitary gland, pineal gland
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Cortical maps
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Cortex is stimulated with small electrode > individual neurons fire > behavioral or perceptual processes are activated; used by neurosurgeons
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Electroencephalogram (EEG) (purpose and method)
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- Measures electrical activity generated by larger groups of neurons
- Noninvasive; recorded by placing electrodes on scalp
- Used for research on sleep, seizures, brain lesions
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Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) (purpose and method)
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- Detects broad patterns of neural activity based on increased blood flow to different parts of brain
- Assumption: active regions have increased blood flow
- Noninvasive; patient inhales harmless radioactive gas, radioactivity is then correlated with blood flow
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Computerized tomography (CT)
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Multiple X-rays taken at different angles and processed by computer to produce cross-sectional slice images of tissue
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Positron emission tomography (PET)
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- Radioactive sugar is injected and absorbed into body, dispersion and uptake throughout target tissue is imaged
- Can’t give detailed structure, but can if combine with CAT and MRI
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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
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- Uses magnetic field to interact with hydrogen and map out hydrogen dense regions of the body
- Dependent on reaction of hydrogen to magnetic field (same concept as NMR)
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Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
- Same technique as MRI, but measures changes associated with blood flow. Useful for monitoring neural activity
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Radiofrequency lesions
- Used to destroy tissue on surface of brain and deep inside brain
- Wire inserted into brain to determine area, high frequency current heats up wire and destroys cells and axons
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Neurochemical lesions
- Excitotoxic lesions: cause influx of calcium that excites the neuron to death
- Kainic acid: destroys cell bodies but not axons
- Oxidopamine: selectively destroys dopamine and norepinephrine neurons; models Parkinson's disease
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Cortical cooling (cryogenic blockade)
- Lesion method: cool neurons until they stop firing
| - Cryoloop: surgically implanted between skull and brain; reversible unlike other techniques
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Techniques for imaging brain structure, function, and both
Structure: CAT scan (CT), MRI
Function: EEG, MEG
Both: fMRI, PET (esp. when combined with CT/MRI)
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Thalamus
- Forebrain
- Relay station for all sensory information except smell
- Receives sensory info and then transmits to appropriate area of cerebral cortex
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Hypothalamus (general overview)
- Forebrain
- Controls 4 Fs: feeding, fighting, flighting, and mating
- Regulates autonomic nervous system to serve homeostatic functions: metabolism, temperature, water balance
- Integrates with endocrine system through hypophyseal portal system connecting it to anterior pituitary
- Further divided into lateral, ventromedial, and anterior hypothalamus
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Lateral hypothalamus
- Hunger center; receptors detect when body needs food or water
- When this part is destroyed one [Lacks Hunger]
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Ventromedial hypothalamus
- Satiety center; provides signals to stop eating
- Lesions to this area usually result in obesity
- [Very Much Hungry] when destroyed
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Anterior hypothalamus
- Controls sexual behavior, regulates sleep and body temperature
- Damage inhibits sexual behavior
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Posterior pituitary gland (location and function)
- Comprised of axonal projections from hypothalamus
| - Site of release of antidiuretic hormone (i.e. vasopressin) and oxytocin
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Pineal gland
- Secretes hormone melatonin, which regulates circadian rhythms by receiving direct signals from retina
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Basal ganglia (function and effects of damage)
- Coordinate muscle movement as they receive info from cortex and relay (via extrapyramidal motor system) to the brain and spinal cord
- Essentially make movements smooth and posture steady
- Damage associated with Parkinson's
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Limbic system (location, overall function, and components)
- Interconnected structures looped around central portion of brain
- Primarily associated with emotion and memory
- Primary components: septal nuclei, amygdala, hippocampus
- [Hippo wearing a HAT]
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Septal nuclei (location and function)
- Limbic system
- One of the primary pleasure centers of the brain. Mild stimulation is intensely pleasurable
- Association between these nuclei and addiction
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Amygdala (location, function, and effects of damage)
- Limbic system
- Aggression center; stimulation produces anger/violence + fear/anxiety. Destruction causes mellowing effect
- Kluver-Bucy syndrome: bilateral destruction of amygdala, can result in hyperorality (put things in mouth a lot), hypersexuality, and disinhibited behavior
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Kluver-Bucy syndrome
Bilateral destruction of amygdala, can result in hyperorality (put things in mouth a lot), hypersexuality, and disinhibited behavior
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Hippocampus (location, function, effects of damage)
- Limbic system
- Consolidates info from short term memory to long term memory; damage prevents formation of new memories (anterograde amnesia)
- Can redistribute remote memories to cerebral cortex
- Communicates with limbic system through projection called fornix
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Anterograde amnesia
- Unable to form new long-term memories, but memories from before brain injury remain intact
- Caused by damage to hippocampus
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Retrograde amnesia
- Memory loss of events that transpired before brain injury
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Cerebral cortex
- Outer surface of brain
- Divided into two halves called cerebral hemispheres; positive emotions evoke more activity in left side, negative emotions evoke more activity in right side
- Divided into four lobes [F-POT]: frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal
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Frontal lobe (location, divisions, overall functions)
- Part of cerebral cortex
- Two basic regions: prefrontal cortex, motor cortex
- Executive function, impulse control, long-term planning, motor function, speech production
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Prefrontal cortex
- Part of frontal lobe
- Supervises processes associated with perception, memory, emotion, impulse control, long-term planning, decision-making, problem solving
- Damage to Phineas Gage caused him to be rude and inappropriate
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Association area
Area that integrates input from diverse brain regions
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Projection area
Perform rudimentary or simple perceptual and motor tasks (vs. association area)
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Motor cortex
- Part of frontal lobe
- Initiates voluntary motor movements by sending neural impulses down spinal cord toward the muscles
- Considered projection area
- Neurons arranged systematically according to the part of the body they control
- Areas requiring finer motor control take up more space in motor cortex
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Broca's area AND Wernicke's area
Broca's area:
- Part of frontal lobe, found only on dominant hemisphere (usually the left)
- Speech production ["Brocering" a deal]
Wernicke's area:
- Part of temporal lobe
- Language reception and comprehension
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Parietal lobe (location and function)
- Part of cerebral cortex; located just behind frontal lobe
- Somatosensory cortex projection area processes all incoming signals for tough, pressure, temperature, and pain
- Closely related to motor cortex (leads to name sensorimotor cortex)
- Central region associated with spatial processing and manipulation (for objects, maps, etc.)
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Occipital lobe (location and function)
- Part of cerebral cortex; located at rear of brain
- Contains visual cortex
- May also be implicated in learning and motor control
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Temporal lobe (location, function, key components)
- Part of cerebral cortex, located at sides of brain
- Auditory cortex: sound processing, including speech, music, etc.
- Wernicke's area: associated with language reception and comprehension
- Memory processing, emotion, and language
- Electrical stimulation can evoke memories for past events (hippocampus located deep inside parietal lobe)
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Cerebral hemisphere laterality
- Motor neurons work contralaterally, hearing works ipsilaterally
- Dominant hemisphere (usually left): language (Broca, Wernicke), logic, and math skills
- Non-dominant hemisphere (usually right): intuition, creativity, music cognition, and spatial processing, mood recognition
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Visual system laterality
Dominant (L): letters, words
| Non-dominant: faces
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Auditory system laterality
Dominant (L): language
| Non-dominant: music
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Language laterality
Dominant (L): speech, reading, writing, arithmetic
| Non-dominant: emotions
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Movement laterality
Dominant (L): complex voluntary movement
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Spatial processing laterality
Non-dominant (R): geometry, sense of direction
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Acetylcholine
- CNS: Released by basilis and septal nuclei in frontal lobe to cerebral cortex; attention and arousal
- PNS: Released to somatic system for voluntary muscle control, autonomic (parasympathetic) nervous system
- Loss of cholinergic neurons connecting with hippocampus is associated with Alzheimer's disease
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Epinephrine and norepinephrine
- Primary catecholamine neurotransmitter of sympathetic nervous system; promote fight-or-flight response
- Norepinephrine acts as local neurotransmitter; low levels = depression, high levels = anxiety/mania; secreted by locus cereleus in pons
- Epinephrine secreted from adrenal medulla to act systematically as hormone
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Dopamine
- Catecholamine that plays important role in smooth movement and posture, esp. in basal ganglia
- Imbalances cause schizophrenia and Parkinson's (esp. in basal ganglia)
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Serotonin
- Secreted by raphe nuclei in midbrain/medulla
- Regulates mood, eating, sleeping, dreaming
- Oversupply = mania; undersupply = depression
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GABA (brain) and Glycine (spinal cord)
- Most common inhibitory neurotransmitters
- GABA causes hyperpolarization of postsynaptic membrane
- Glycine also causes hyperpolarization of postsynaptic membrane: by increasing chloride influx
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Glutamate
- Secreted by reticular activating system to cerebral cortex for consciousness
- Most common excitatory neurotransmitter
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Peptide neurotransmitters
- A.k.a. neuromodulators, neuropeptides
- Endorphins and enkephalins: natural painkillers
- Requires more complicated chain of events in postsynaptic cell than regular neurotransmitters; slow response, longer effects
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Hormones
- Chemical messengers of endocrine system
- Slower response than neurotransmitters because they travel through bloodstream to reach target
- Release controlled by hypothalamus and the hypophyseal portal system of pituitary gland
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Pituitary gland (location and function)
- Located at back of brain
| - Anterior pituitary: controlled by hypothalamus; releases hormones that regulate activities of endocrine glands
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Adrenal glands (location, sub-divisions, and functions)
- Located on top of kidneys
- Adrenal medulla: releases epinephrine and norepinephrine as part of sympathetic nervous system
- Adrenal cortex: produces corticosteroids (like cortisol), sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen)
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Gonads
- Sex glands (testes in males and ovaries in females)
- Produce testosterone and estrogen
- Increase libido
- High testosterone => aggressive behavior
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Innate behavior
Genetically programmed as a result of evolution and is seen in all individuals regardless of environment or species
Examples: Reflexes, taxis (bugs fly toward light), kinesis (rats' random scurrying)
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Learned behavior
Behaviors based on experience and environment rather than heredity
Examples: Habituation (response to stimulus decreases over time), classical conditioning, operant conditioning, insight learning (solving a problem using past skills), latent learning (learned behavior not expressed until required)
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Adaptive value
The extent to which a trait or behavior positively benefits a species by influencing evolutionary fitness of species, thus leading to adaptation through natural selection
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Family studies
Assume similar genotype; compare rates of trait among family members to those of unrelated individuals. Limited because families share both genetics and environment
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Twin studies
Compare concordance rates (likelihood of sharing same trait) for trait between monozygotic (identical) and dizygotic (fraternal) twins.
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Adoption studies
Compares biological and adoptive relatives to adopted child to investigate nature vs. nurture
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Reflex (general)
Behavior that occurs in response to given stimulus without higher cognitive input
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Primitive reflex
Reflexes that disappear with age
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Rooting reflex
Primitive reflex; automatic turning of head in direction of a stimulus that touches the cheek
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Moro reflex
Primitive reflex; Infants react to abrupt movement of head by flinging out arms, then slowly retracting arms and crying
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Babinski reflex
Primitive reflex; causes toes to spread automatically when sole of foot is stimulated
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Grasping reflex
Primitive reflex; occurs when infant closes fingers around object placed in hand. Also present in adults with diseases that cause demyelination.
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Developmental milestone trends in gross motor skills, social skills, language skills
Motor skills
- Progress in head to toe order
- Skills at core develop before skills at extremities
Social skills
- Move from being parent-oriented to self-oriented
Language becomes more complex and structured
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Stranger anxiety and separation anxiety ages
7 months, 1 year, respectively
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Cortisol
Stress hormone produced by adrenal cortex
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Neurulation process
- Notochord stimulates overlying ectoderm to fold over, creates neural tube topped with neural crest cells
- Neural tube becomes CNS
- Neural crest spreads and differentiates throughout body
