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Brain Facts > Chapter 1: Brain Basics > Flashcards

Chapter 1: Brain Basics Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the largest part of the brain?

A

Cerebrum

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2
Q

What is the cerebrum associated with?

A

Higher order functioning, including the control of voluntary behaviour like thinking, perceiving, planning and understanding language

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3
Q

How can the cerebrum be divided?

A

Right and left hemispheres

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4
Q

How do the two hemispheres in the cerebrum communicate with each other?

A

Through a bundle of fibres called corpus callosum

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5
Q

What is the outer layer of the cerebrum called?

A

Cerebral cortex, also known as gray matter

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6
Q

What fraction of the cerebral cortex is folded into grooves?

A

Two-third

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7
Q

Why is the cerebral cortex folded into grooves?

A

To increase the brain’s surface area, allowing for the inclusion of more neurons

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8
Q

What is the frontal lobe responsible for?

A
  • initiating and coordinating motor movements
  • higher cognitive skills like problem solving, thinking, planning and organising
  • many aspects of personality and emotions
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9
Q

What is the parietal lobe involved in?

A

Sensory processes, attention and language

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10
Q

What happens when there is a damage to the right side of parietal lobes?

A

Difficulty in navigating spaces, even familiar ones

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11
Q

What happens when there is damage to left side of parietal lobe?

A

Ability to understand spoken or written languages may be impaired

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12
Q

What is the occipital lobe responsible for?

A

Processing visual information like recognising shapes and colours

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13
Q

What is the temporal lobe responsible for?

A
  • processing auditory information and integrating information from other senses
  • short term memory through hippocampal formation
  • emotional responses through amygdala
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14
Q

What is the hippocampal formation?

A

A prominent C-shaped structure in the medial temporal lobe

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15
Q

What is the amygdala?

A

A collection of nuclei found deep within the temporal lobe

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16
Q

What are the key parts of the forebrain?

A
  • frontal lobe
  • parietal lobe
  • occipital lobe
  • temporal lobe
  • basal ganglia
  • thalamus
  • hypothalamus
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17
Q

What is the basal ganglia?

A

Cerebral nuclei deep in the cerebral cortex

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18
Q

What does the cerebral nuclei do?

A

Help to coordinate muscle movements and reward useful behaviours

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19
Q

What does the thalamus do?

A

Prioritise sensory information and pass most sensory information on to the cerebral cortex

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20
Q

What does the hypothalamus do?

A

Control appetites, defensive and reproductive behaviours and sleep-wakefulness

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21
Q

What does the midbrain consist of?

A
  • two small pairs of hills called colliculi

- clusters of neurons that regulate activity in widespread parts of the central nervous system

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22
Q

What is the use of colliculi?

A

It is a collection of neurons that play a critical role in visual and auditory reflexes and relaying this type of information to the thalamus

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23
Q

What is the clusters of neurons in the midbrain important for?

A

Important for mood and reward mechanisms

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24
Q

What does the hindbrain include?

A

Pons and medulla oblongata and cerebellum

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25
What does pons and medulla oblongata do?
Control respiration, heart rhythms and blood glucose levels
26
What does the cerebellum’s two hemispheres do?
It helps to control movement and cognitive processes that require precise timing and play an important role in Pavlovian learning
27
What is Pavlovian learning?
How two stimuli is linked together to produce a learned response in human or animals
28
What is the spinal cord?
It is an extension of the brain through the vertebral column
29
What does the spinal cord do?
- receives sensory information from all parts of the body below the head - relays this sensory information to the brain and its cerebral cortex - generates nerve impulses in nerves that control the muscles and the viscera
30
How does spinal cord generate nerve impulses in nerves?
Through reflex activities and voluntary commands from the cerebrum
31
What are the two great divisions of the nervous system as a whole?
- central nervous system (CNS) | - peripheral nervous system (PNS)
32
What forms the central nervous system?
Forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain and spinal cord
33
What is the brain protected by?
Skull
34
How long is the spinal cord?
17 inches or 43cm
35
What is the spinal cord protected by?
Vertebral column
36
What does the peripheral nervous system consist of?
Nerves and ganglia
37
What is ganglia?
Small concentrations of gray matter
38
Overall, what is the nervous system like?
Network of gray matter regions interconnected with white matter tracts
39
What does the peripheral nervous system consist of?
- somatic nervous system | - autonomic nervous system
40
What is the somatic nervous system made up of?
Neurons connecting the central nervous system with parts of the body that interact with the outside world
41
What is the somatic nervous system?
It is associated with voluntary control of body movements via skeletal muscles
42
What is the somatic nerves in the cervical region related to?
Neck and arms
43
What does the somatic nerves in the thoracic region serve?
Chest
44
What does the somatic nerves in the lumbar and sacral region interact with?
Legs
45
What is autonomic nervous system made up of?
Neurons connecting the CNS and internal organs
46
What does the sympathetic nervous system do?
Mobilises energy and resources during times of stress and arousal
47
What does parasympathetic nervous system do?
Conserves energy and resources during relaxed state, including sleep
48
How are messages carried throughout the nervous system?
Through neurons
49
What is a neuron?
A specialised cell designed to transmit information to other nerve cells, muscle or gland cells
50
What does each neuron consist of?
Cell body, dendrites and axon
51
What does the cell body contain?
Nucleus and cytoplasm
52
What are axons like?
They extend from cell body and give rise to many smaller branches before ending at nerve terminals
53
What are dendrites like?
They extend from the neuron cell body and receive messages from other neurons
54
What are synapses?
Contact points where one neuron communicates with another
55
What are dendrites covered with?
Synapses formed by ends of axons from other neurons
56
What happen when neurons receive or send messages?
They transmit electrical impulses along their axons
57
What are many axons covered with?
Myelin sheath
58
What does myelin sheath do?
Accelerate the transmission of electrical signals along the axon
59
What is the myelin sheath made of?
Specialised cell called gila
60
What are gila that make sheath called?
Oligodendrocytes and in the peripheral nervous system, Schwann cells
61
What is the number of gila compared to neurons?
The brain contains ten times more gila than neurons
62
What is the function of gila?
Transport nutrients to neurons, clean up brain debris, digest parts of dead neurons and help hold neurons in place
63
What do nerve impulses involve?
The opening and closing of ion channels
64
What are ion channels?
They are selectively permeable, water-filled molecular tunnels that pass through the cell membrane and allow ions to enter or leave the cell
65
What does the flow of ions in ion channel result in?
It creates an electrical current that produce tiny voltage changes across the neuron’s cell membrane
66
What does the ability of a neuron to generate an electrical impulse depend on?
The difference in charge between the inside and outside of the cell
67
What happens when a nerve impulse begins?
There will be a dramatic reversal in the electrical potential that occurs on the cell’s membrane as the neuron switches from an internal negative to a positive charge state
68
What is the dramatic reversal in electrical potential that occurs on the cell membrane called?
Action potential
69
How can neurons fire impulses very rapidly?
The action potential potential passes along the axon’s membrane at speeds up to several hundred miles per hour which allows neuron to fire impulses multiple times every second
70
What happens when the voltage change reaches the end of an axon?
It triggers the release of neurotransmitterd
71
How are neurotransmitters released?
Neurotransmitters are released at nerve terminals, diffuse across the synapse and bind to receptors on the surface of target cell
72
What are target cells?
Often another neuron or possibly a muscle or gland cell
73
What does each receptor on a target cell have?
A distinctively shaped region that selectively recognises a particular chemical messenger
74
How does the neurotransmitter fit into the specially shaped region in each receptor of the target cell?
In like a lock and key system
75
What happens when a neurotransmitter is in place in region in receptor?
The interaction alters the target cell’s membrane potential and triggers a response from the target cell
76
What are the potential responses of a target cell when a neurotransmitter is in place?
- generation of action potential - contraction of muscle - stimulation of enzyme activity - inhibition of neurotransmitter release
77
What is the first neurotransmitter identified?
Acetylcholine (ACh)
78
Acetylcholine is released by what kinds of neurons?
- neurons connected to voluntary muscles, causing them to contract - neurons that control the heartbeat
79
How is ACh synthesized in axon terminals?
When action potential arrives at nerve terminals, electrically charged calcium ions rush in and ACh is released into the synapse where it attaches to ACh receptors on the target cell, ACh is then broken down by enzyme acetykcholinesterase and resynthesized in the nerve terminal
80
What happens when ACh attach to receptor in voluntary muscles?
It opens up sodium channels and cause muscles to contract
81
What is myasthenia gravis?
A disease characterised by fatigue and muscle weakness
82
What causes myasthenia gravis?
Antibodies that block one type of ACh receptor
83
What are the main drugs used to treat Alzheimer’s disease?
Drugs that inhibit acetylcholinesterase and increase ACh in the brain
84
What are amino acids?
Building blocks of proteins
85
What can certain amino acids serve as?
Neurotransmitters in the brain
86
Which amino acids serve as neurotransmitters in the brain?
Glycine and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)
87
What do glycine and GABA do
Inhibit the firing of neurons
88
What is the activity of GABA increased by?
Benzodiazepines and anticonvulsant drugs

Brain Facts (2 decks)

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