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Biological Bases Of Behavior > Chapter 2 - Nervous System Fucntions > Flashcards

Chapter 2 - Nervous System Fucntions Flashcards

1
Q

Evolution of Brain Size

and Human Behavior

A 
• Human brain has
optimized its overall size,
(size and number of
neurons, the number and
length of connections,
energy consumption)
• Changing these features
would compromise the
others and neutralize any
performance
improvements
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2
Q

The brain’s primary function is to produce

behavior. To do so, it must:

A 
• Receive information about the world
• Integrate information to create a sensory
reality
• Produce commands to control the
movement of muscles
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3
Q

The brain is plastic:

A

– Neural tissue has the capacity to adapt to the
world by changing how its functions are
organized

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4
Q

Neuroplasticity

A

The nervous system’s potential for physical
or chemical change that enhances its
adaptability to environmental change and its
ability to compensate for injury

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5
Q

Phenotypic Plasticity

A 
An individual’s
genotype (genetic
makeup) interacts with
the environment to elicit
a specific phenotype
from a large genetic
repertoire of
possibilities, a
phenomenon that
results from epigenetic
influences
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6
Q

Functional Organization of the Nervous

System (Recall)

A 
• Brain and spinal cord
together make up the
central nervous
system, and all the
nerve fibers radiating
out beyond the brain
and spinal cord as
well as all the
neurons outside the
brain and spinal cord
form the peripheral
nervous system
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7
Q

Direction of Neural Information Flow is
Important
• Afferent

A 
information is
sensory information
coming into the CNS
(incoming
information)
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8
Q

Direction of Neural Information Flow is
Important
Efferent

A

information is
information leaving
the CNS (outgoing
information)

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9
Q

• Many names for nervous-system structures
include information about anatomical
locations:

A

– with respect to other body parts of the animal
– with respect to their relative locations
– with respect to a viewer’s perspective

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10
Q

“Brain–Body

Orientation”

A 
illustrates brain-structure
location
from the
frame of reference
of the face
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11
Q

“Spatial Orientation”

A

Illustrates Brain-Structure

Location in Relation to Other Body Parts

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12
Q

“Anatomical

Orientation”

A 
illustrates the
direction of a
cut, or section,
through the
brain (part A)
from the
perspective of a
viewer (part B)
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13
Q

Each hemisphere is
divided into four
lobes:

A 
– frontal (executive
function)
– parietal (sensory
integration)
– temporal (auditory,
taste, smell, memory)
– occipital (visual)
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14
Q

Cerebral

Cortex (Recall)

A 
• The cerebral cortex is
a thin sheet of nerve
tissue folded many
times to fit inside the
skull
• Your right fist can
serve as a guide to
the orientation of the
brain’s left
hemisphere and its
lobes
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15
Q

Surface Features of the Brain

• Meninges: Three layers of protective tissue

A

– Dura mater
• “hard mother”; tough outer layer of fibrous tissue
– Arachnoid layer
• “like a spider’s web”; thin sheet of delicate connective
tissue
– Pia mater
• “soft mother”; moderately tough inner layer that clings
to the brain’s surface

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16
Q

Surface Features of the Brain

• Cerebrum

A 
– Major structure of the
forebrain, consisting of
two virtually identical
hemispheres (left and
right)
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17
Q

Surface Features of the Brain

• Cerebellum

A 
\: “Little
brain”
– Involved in the
coordination of motor
and possibly other
mental processes
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18
Q

Gyrus (pl. gyri)

A

– A small protrusion or
bump formed by the
folding of the cerebral
cortex

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19
Q

Sulcus (pl. sulci)

A

– A groove in brain matter,
usually found in the
neocortex or cerebellum

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20
Q

Fissure

A

A very deep sulcus

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21
Q

Brainstem

A

Central structures of the brain, including the
hindbrain, midbrain, thalamus, and
hypothalamus, responsible for most
unconscious behavior

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22
Q

Surface Blood Vessels

A

– Anterior, middle, and posterior cerebral arteries
– Stroke
• Sudden appearance of neurological symptoms as a
result of severe interruption of blood flow

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23
Q

Internal Features of the Brain

– Four Ventricles

A 
(cavities in the brain that
contain cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)
• Two lateral ventricles (left and right)
• Third ventricle
• Fourth ventricle
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24
Q

Internal Features of the Brain

• Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF)

A

– Sodium chloride and other salts
– Fills the ventricles and circulates around the
brain and spinal cord in the subarachnoid space
(located between the arachnoid layer and the
pia mater)
– Cushions the brain
– Meningitis
• Infection of the meninges and CSF

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25
Q

Internal Features of the Brain: Macro

• Gray Matter

A

– Areas of the nervous system predominately

composed of cell bodies and blood vessels

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26
Q

Internal Features of the Brain: Macro

White Matter

A

– Areas of the nervous system rich in fat-sheathed

neural axons

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27
Q

Internal Features of the Brain: Macro

• Corpus Callosum

A

– Fiber system connecting the two cerebral

hemispheres

28
Q

Internal Features of the Brain: Microscopic

Two main types of cells:

A

• Neurons
– Carry out the brain’s major functions
– Approximately 80 billion

• Glial cells
– Aid and modulate neurons’ activities
– Approximately 100 billion

29
Q

Internal Features of the Brain

• Nucleus (pl. nuclei)

A

– A group of cells forming a cluster that can be
identified with special stains to form a functional
grouping

30
Q

Internal Features of the Brain

• Nerve

A

– Large collection of axons coursing together

outside the central nervous system

31
Q

Internal Features of the Brain

• Tract

A

– Large collection of axons coursing together

within the central nervous system

32
Q

Evolutionary Development of the

Nervous System

A

• Human brain is a complex mammalian
brain, yet it still retains most of the features
of other, less complex mammalian brains
• Most behaviors are not the product of a
single locus in the brain, but rather of many
brain areas and levels

33
Q

Spinal Cord

A 
• Controls most body movements
• Can act independently of the
brain
• Spinal reflex:
– Automatic movement
– Hard to prevent (brain cannot
inhibit)
– Example: Knee-jerk reflex (patellar
tendon)
34
Q

Brainstem

A 
• Begins where spinal cord enters the skull
• Receives afferent nerves coming from
senses and sends efferent nerves out to
control movements
• Three regions:
– Hindbrain
– Midbrain
– Diencephalon
Developed as simple animals
evolved a brain
35
Q

Brainstem

A 
Hindbrain integrates both voluntary and
involuntary body movement.
• Evolutionarily the oldest part of the brain
• Contains:
– Cerebellum
– Reticular Formation
– Pons
– Medulla
• Controls various motor functions ranging
from breathing to balance to fine
movements
36
Q

The Brainstem:
Hindbrain
• Cerebellum

A 
– Controls complex movements and cognitive
functions
– Size increases with the physical speed and
dexterity of a species
– Relatively large
cerebellums enable
fine, coordinated
movements such as
flight and landing in
birds and prey
catching in cats
– Slow-moving animals
such as the sloth
have smaller
cerebellums relative
to their brain size
37
Q

The Brainstem:
Hindbrain
• Reticular Formation

A

– Reticular activating system
– Netlike mixture of neurons (gray matter) and
nerve fibers (white matter)
– Stimulates the forebrain:
• Regulation of sleep-wake behavior and behavioral
arousal

38
Q

The Brainstem:
Hindbrain
• Pons (“bridge”)

A

– Connects cerebellum to the rest of the brain

– Controls important movements of the body

39
Q

The Brainstem:

Hindbrain

A

– Rostral tip of spinal cord
– Vital functions:
• Control of breathing and heart rate

40
Q

The Brainstem:
Midbrain
• Tectum (roof of midbrain)

A

– Sensory processing (visual and auditory)
– Produces orienting movements (e.g., turning
head to see source of sound)

41
Q

The Brainstem:
Midbrain
• Tegmentum (floor of midbrain)

A

– Eye and limb movements
– Species-specific behaviors
– Perception of pain

42
Q

The Brainstem:

Diencephalon

A 
• Integrates sensory and motor information
on its way to the cerebral cortex
• The two principal structures include:
1.the hypothalamus
2.the thalamus
43
Q

Hypothalamus

A 
– Hormone function
• Through connections with the pituitary gland
– Feeding
– Sexual behavior
– Sleeping
– Temperature regulation
– Emotional behavior
44
Q

Thalamus

A 
– Gateway for channeling sensory information
to the cortex
– Primary role is sensory processing
– Motor processing
– Integrative functions
45
Q

The two principal structures include:

A

Hypothalamus: temperature regulation, eating, drinking,
and sexual behavior

Thalamus: information from all sensory systems is
integrated and projected into the appropriate region of the
neocortex

46
Q

Forebrain

A 
• Neocortex (cerebral cortex)
– Regulates various mental activities
• Basal Ganglia
– Control of voluntary movement
• Limbic System
– Regulates emotions and behaviors that create
and require memory
47
Q

The Cortex Forebrain

A 
• Neocortex (“new bark”)
– 6 layers of gray matter
– Creates and responds to a perceptual world
• Limbic Cortex
– Evolutionarily older
– 3 or 4 layers of gray matter
– Controlling motivational states
48
Q

forebrain The Neocortical Lobes

A 
• Occipital: Vision
• Parietal: Tactile functions
• Temporal: Visual, auditory, and gustatory
functions
• Frontal: Motor and executive functions
49
Q

forebrain Neocortical Layers

A

• Different layers have different cell types
• Density of cells in each layer varies
• Differences in appearance relate to function
• Cytoarchitectonic Map
– Map of neocortex based on the organization,
structure, and distribution of the cells

50
Q

Cytoarchitectonic Map

A 
• Brodmann defined
areas by organization
and characteristics of
the cells
• The simplest sensory
perceptions of touch
(red), vision (purple),
and hearing (orange)
51
Q

Forebrain
The Basal Ganglia

Basal Ganglia: control and coordination of
movement patterns rather than in activating the
muscles to move

A

• Collection of nuclei just below the white
matter of the neocortex
– 3 principal structures: caudate nucleus,
putamen, and globus pallidus
• Controls voluntary and involuntary movement
• Related disorders
– Parkinson’s disease and Tourette’s syndrome

52
Q

Forebrain

The Limbic System

A 
• Group of structures between the neocortex
and brain stem
– Principal structures: amygdala, hippocampus,
and cingulate cortex
• Regulation of
– Emotional and sexual behaviors
– Memory
– Spatial navigation
53
Q

Cranial Nerves

A

• Afferent functions, such as sensory inputs
to the brain from the eyes, ears, mouth,
and nose
• Efferent functions, such as motor control
of the facial muscles, tongue, and eyes
• Both functions, such as the modulation of
both sensation and movement in the face

54
Q

Spinal Nerves

A

• Dermatome
– Area of the skin supplied with afferent nerve
fibers by a single spinal-cord dorsal root
• Spinal-cord segments are interconnected
so adjacent segments can operate
together to direct complex coordinated
movements

55
Q

Spinal Nerves

A 
• Dorsal fibers are
afferent: they carry
information from the
body’s sensory
receptors
• Ventral fibers are
efferent: they carry
information from the
spinal cord to the
muscles
56
Q

The Autonomic Nervous System

A

• Sympathetic System
– Arouses the body for action (e.g., increase
heart rate and blood pressure)
– Mediates the “fight or flight” response
• Parasympathetic System
– Opposite of sympathetic: prepares the body to
“rest and digest”
– Reverses the “fight or flight” responses

57
Q

Principle 1:

A

• The Nervous System Produces Movement
Within a Perceptual World the Brain
Creates
– Individual realities are rough approximations of
what is actually present
– The brain produces a reality that is adaptive
for that species to survive
– The behavior that the brain produces is
directly related to the world that the brain has
created

58
Q

Principle 2:

A

• The Details of Nervous-System
Functioning Are Constantly Changing, an
Attribute Called Neuroplasticity
– Experience alters the brain’s organization,
and neuroplasticity is required for learning
and memory functions as well as for survival
– Information is stored in the nervous system
only if neural connections change

59
Q

Principle 3:

A

• Many of the Brain’s Circuits Are Crossed
– Each hemisphere receives sensory
stimulation from the opposite (contralateral)
side of the body and controls muscles on
the contralateral side as well

60
Q

Principle 4:

A

• The Central Nervous System Functions
on Multiple Levels
– Simple animals such as worms have a
spinal cord, more complex animals such as
fish have a brainstem as well, and yet more
complex animals have evolved a forebrain
– Each new addition to the CNS has added a
new level of behavioral complexity without
discarding previous levels of control

61
Q

Principle 5:

A

• The Brain Is Both Symmetrical and
Asymmetrical
– The left and the right hemispheres look like
mirror images; they have some dissimilar
features
– Language is usually on the left side, and
spatial functions are usually on the right

62
Q

Principle 6:

A

• Brain Systems Are Organized Both
Hierarchically and in Parallel
– CNS comprises multiple levels of function,
these levels must be extensively
interconnected to integrate their processing
and create unified perceptions or
movements
Subsystems of the brain are organized into
multiple parallel pathways. Yet our conscious
experiences are always unified

63
Q

Principle 7:

A

• Sensory and Motor Divisions Exist
Throughout the Nervous System
– Sensory and motor divisions in the Somatic
Nervous System
– Sensory and motor divisions in the Central
Nervous System

64
Q

Principle 8:

A 
• Sensory Input to the Brain Is Divided for
Object Recognition and Motor Control
– Example: Dorsal and ventral processing
streams in the visual system
– Animals with complex brains evolved
separate systems for producing movement
toward objects and for recognizing them
65
Q

Principle 9:

A

• Functions in the Brain Are Both
Localized and Distributed
– Damage to a small brain region produces
only focal symptoms
– Massive brain damage is required to
completely remove some functions
– A small injury could impair some aspect
of language functioning, but it would take
a widespread injury to completely remove
all language abilities

66
Q

• Functions in the Brain Are Both
Localized and Distributed
– Damage to a small brain region produces
only focal symptoms
– Massive brain damage is required to
completely remove some functions
– A small injury could impair some aspect
of language functioning, but it would take
a widespread injury to completely remove
all language abilities

A 
• The Nervous System Works by
Juxtaposing Excitation and Inhibition
– All neurons have a spontaneous rate of
activity that can be either increased
(excitation) or decreased (inhibition)
– Some neurons excite others, whereas other
neurons inhibit

Biological Bases Of Behavior (2 decks)

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