Chapter 2 - Neuroscience Flashcards Preview

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Flashcards in Chapter 2 - Neuroscience Deck (66)
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1
Q

Point out the lobes.

A

Frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital.

2
Q

Where is the cerebellum located?

A

Slightly behind/below the cerebral cortex.

3
Q

What is the cerebellum known for?

A

It contributes to the coordination of movement.

4
Q

Where is the brainstem?

A

At the base of the brain.

5
Q

What does the brainstem do?

A

Connects brain to the spinal cord, regulating breathing and body temperature.

6
Q

What does the thalamus do?

A

Receives sensory information (touch, sound, sight).

7
Q

What is the basal ganglia responsible for?

A

Planning and producing skilled movements like throwing a football.

8
Q

Hippocampus?

A

Important for learning facts or remembering autobiographical events (what you did last summer).

9
Q

Amygdala is important for what?

A

Adding emotional content to memories.

10
Q

What is comparative neuroanatomy?

A

The study of similarities/differences between organisms’ brains.

11
Q

Only ____ have a CNS and PNS.

A

Vertebrates.

12
Q

____s are the building blocks of the nervous system.

A

Neurons.

13
Q

What are the three main components of a neuron? What do they do?

A

Dendrites - receive signals from other neurons.
Cell body - integrates signals from dendrites.
Axons - transmit information to other neurons.

14
Q

What are glia?

A

Cells that provide functional and structural support to neurons.

15
Q

Phrenology?

A

A study in which skulls of different size and shape were compared with the individual’s (to whom it belongs) personalities/abilities.

16
Q

Brain lesions?

A

Areas of damage in the brain.

17
Q

CT scan?

A

Takes multiple xrays at different angles to see how deep something is, locate an abnormality.

18
Q

MRI?

A

Changes in magnetic fields generate images of internal structure.

19
Q

DTI?

A

Measures the diffusion of water in the brain tissue, allowing bundles of axons throughout the brain to be imaged.

20
Q

A ____ is an involuntary response that does not need to be learned.

A

Reflex.

21
Q

Cerebral cortex?

A

The tissue covering the top and sides of the brain, largest structure of the human brain.

22
Q

Communicating neurons are separated by a narrow 20 nanometer gap called the ____.

A

Synapse.

23
Q

Most synapses are formed between the the axon of the ____ neuron and dendrite of the ____ neuron.

A

Presynaptic (sending), postsynaptic (receiving).

24
Q

Neurons contain molecules called ____ which are chemical substances that can cross a synapse to carry a message to a postsynaptic neuron.

A

Neurotransmitters.

25
Q

____ are molecules embedded in the surface of the postsynaptic neuron that are specialized to bind with and respond to particular kinds of neurotransmitters.

A

Receptors.

26
Q

Several areas in the brainstem contain neurons that send axons widely throughout the brain; when they fire, these neurons release neurotransmitters called ____ that can affect activity in entire brain areas, rather than just a single ____.

A

Neuromodulators, synapse.

27
Q

Neuropsychology?

A

Patients with brain damage psychology b

28
Q

Karl Lashley’s theory of equipotentiality?

A

Memories are not stored in one area of the brain, rather the brain operates as a whole to store memories.

29
Q

Sensory information is initially processed in the cortical regions of the brain for interpreting particular sensory stimuli. Example?

A

Auditory cortex for sounds.

30
Q

Primary motor cortex produces outputs that guide coordinated ____.

A

Movement.

31
Q

Difference image?

A

An image of differences in the brain activity obtained by fMRI or PET image of a person performing a task and then subtracting the image of the dame individual at baseline (not performing a task).

32
Q

PET scans?

A

Track glucose consumption in the brain. Attaches a glucose molecule to a radioactive molecule and as it travels through the brain it releases positrons.

33
Q

fMRI?

A

Detects oxygen by tracking hemoglobin?

34
Q

EEG?

A

Electrodes record changes in electrical activity.

35
Q

Single-cell recordings?

A

Use tiny micro electrodes to measure the firing of a neuron, this micro electrode is inserted into a sleeping animal’s brain.

36
Q

Synaptic plasticity?

A

The ability of synapses to change as a result of experience.

37
Q

Long term potentiation?

A

A process in which synaptic transmissions become more effective as a result of recent activity.

38
Q

Long term depression?

A

Occurs when synaptic transmission becomes less effective as a result of recent activity.

39
Q

What does learning require?

A

Physical changes in neurons.

40
Q

Experiences can have a profound ____ on brain organization.

A

Impact.

41
Q

What is habituation? What is its opposite process?

A

A decrease in strength or occurrence of behavior after repeated exposure to the stimulus that produces that behavior, sensitization.

42
Q

Acoustic startle reflex?

A

A defensive response to a loud and unexpected noise.

43
Q

Orienting response?

A

An organisms natural reaction to a novel stimulus.

44
Q

What is dishabituation?

A

A renewal of a response, previously habituated, that occurs when the organism is presented with a novel stimulus (a way of responding to old stimuli as if it were new).

45
Q

The reappearance or i crease in strength of a habituated response after a period of no stimulus presentation is called ____ recovery.

A

Spontaneous.

46
Q

Sensitization?

A

The phenomenon in which experienced with an arousing stimulus lead to stronger responses in a later stimulus (repeated presentations of stimulus result in a bigger response).

47
Q

Skin conductance response?

A

A change in the skin’s electrical conductivity associated with emotions such as anxiety, feat and surprise.

48
Q

Dual process theory?

A

The theory that habituation and sensitization are independent of each other but operate in parallel.

49
Q

Perceptual learning?

A

Learning in which repeated experiences with a set of stimuli makes hose stimuli easier to distinguish (i.e. chicken sexers who see so many chickens so can distinguish a chicken’s sex with one glance).

50
Q

Latent learning?

A

Latent learning is a form of learning that is not immediately expressed in an overt response; it occurs without any obvious reinforcement of the behavior or associations that are learned.

51
Q

Mere exposure learning?

A

A type of latent learning, learning through mere exposure to stimuli, without any explicit prompting.

52
Q

Training an individual to respond differently to a stimuli is often referred to as ____ training.

A

Discrimination.

53
Q

Learning specificity?

A

The degree to which learning about one set of stimuli transfers to another group of stimuli.

54
Q

Differentiation theory?

A

Suggests that representations of stimuli initially are formed rapidly and vaguely but become more precise over time by incorporating further details as the stimulus is repeated.

55
Q

Spatial learning?

A

The acquisition of information about one’s surroundings.

56
Q

Novel object recognition?

A

An organism’s detection of and response to unfamiliar objects during exploratory behavior.

57
Q

Familiarity?

A

Perception of similarity that occurs when an event is repeated.

58
Q

Priming?

A

A phenomenon in which prior exposure to a stimulus can improve the ability to recognize that stimulus later in.

59
Q

Word-stem completion task?

A

MOT___
If it was just mothers day, one would likely write MOTHER. If someone just went to an insect museum, they will likely write MOTH.

60
Q

Sea hare shit.

A

Tail is touched, activating sensory neuron T (1 of the 3 sensory neurons), sensory neuron T fires and releases a neurotransmitter into the synapse. The neurotransmitter (glutamate) diffuses across the synapse to activate receptors in motor neuron M.

61
Q

Synaptic depression?

A

A reduction in synaptic transmissions; a possible neural mechanism underlying habituation.

62
Q

Homosynaptic?

A

Occurring in one synapse without affecting nearby synapses.

63
Q

Heterosynaptic?

A

Occurring in several nearby synapses simultaneously.

64
Q

The range of stimuli that cause a particular cortical neuron to fire is called the neuron’s ____ field.

A

Receptive.

65
Q

The capacity for cortical receptive fields and cortical spatial organization to change as a result of experience is called cortical ____.

A

Plasticity.

66
Q

Receptive fields in regions of the cortex are sometimes multimodal, what does this mean?

A

The neurons in those areas responded to inputs from more than one sensory modality- i.e. visual AND auditory stimulus.