Chapter 4: Genetics, Evolution, Development, Plasticity Flashcards

Question

reciprocal altruism

Answer 1

idea that individuals help those who will return the favor

Answer 2

According to this idea, altruistic groups thrive better than less cooperative ones

Answer 3

production of new cells

Answer 4

Early in development, the cells lining the ventricles of the brain divide. Some cells remain where they are as stem cells, continuing to divide, whereas others migrate to other parts of the nervous system.

Answer 5

Early in development, the primitive cells, not yet identifiable as neurons or glia, begin to migrate (move)

Answer 6

As a cell differentiates into a neuron, it begins to form its dendrites, axon, and synapses

Answer 7

the formation of synapses, begins long before birth, but it continues throughout life, as neurons form new synapses and discard old ones. The process generally slows in older people, as does the formation of new dendritic branches

Answer 8

later and slower stage of neuronal development is myelination, the process by which glia produce the insulating fatty sheaths that accelerate transmission in many vertebrate axons Myelin forms first in the spinal cord and then in the hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain. Myelination continues gradually for decades and increases as a result of learning a new motor skill

Answer 9

Initially, the sympathetic nervous system forms far more neurons than it needs. When one of its neurons forms a synapse onto a muscle, that muscle delivers a protein called nerve growth factor (NGF) that promotes the survival and growth of the axon. An axon that does not receive NGF degenerates, and its cell body dies.

Answer 10

If its axon does not make contact with an appropriate postsynaptic cell by a certain age, the neuron kills itself through a process called apoptosis, a programmed mechanism of cell death

Answer 11

Nerve growth factor is a neurotrophin, meaning a chemical that promotes the survival and activity of neurons.

Answer 12

condition marked by hyperactivity, impulsiveness, difficulty maintaining attention, varying degrees of mental retardation, motor problems, heart defects, and facial abnormalities. Drinking during pregnancy leads to thinning of the cerebral cortex that persists to adulthood

Answer 13

idea is to teach something challenging and hope students get smarter in other ways, too

Answer 14

condition, known as “musician’s cramp”

Answer 15

sharp blow to the head that does not puncture the brain

Answer 16

common cause of brain damage, especially in older people, is temporary interruption of normal blood flow to a brain area

Answer 17

more common type of stroke, result of a blood clot or other obstruction in an artery.

Answer 18

less common type of stroke, result of a ruptured artery

Answer 19

Both ischemia and hemorrhage lead to many of the same problems, including edema (the accumulation of fluid), which increases pressure on the brain and the probability of additional strokes

Answer 20

drug that breaks up blood clots

Answer 21

refers to the decreased activity of surviving neurons after damage to other neurons.

Answer 22

After a cell loses input from an axon, it secretes neurotrophins that induce other axons to form new branches, or collateral sprouts, that take over the vacant synapses

Answer 23

if a certain set of synapses becomes inactive—perhaps because of damage elsewhere in the brain—the remaining synapses become more responsive, more easily stimulated. This process of enhanced response, known as denervation supersensitivity

Answer 24

a continuing sensation of an amputated body part

Answer 25

limb is deafferented because it has lost its afferent (sensory) input

Chapter 4: Genetics, Evolution, Development, Plasticity Flashcards

(49 cards)