Chapter 4: Neuroscience

Question 1

3 Types of Glial Cells

Answer 1

Astroglia- important for creating blood brain barriers

Oligodendroglia- important for providing myelin

Microglia- important for cleaning up debris of dead cells

Question 2

Resting potential charge

Answer 2

a negative charge of around -70mV

Question 3

Peak potential charge

Answer 3

positive charge of 50mV

Question 4

All-or-nothing Principle

Answer 4

Stimulation will fire if and only if it reaches a specific threshold.

Question 5

Nodes of Ranvier

Answer 5

Action potential travels down axon by jumping on these nodes

Question 6

Absolute refractory period

Answer 6

short time after action potential, during which a neuron is completely unable to fire

Question 7

Relative refractory period

Answer 7

after the absolute refractory period where the neuron can fire if it receives a stronger than normal stimuli

Question 8

Glutamate

Answer 8

Plays major role in learning and memory

Question 9

GABA

Answer 9

primary inhibitory neurotransmitter

Plays role in learning and anxiety regulation

Question 10

Acetylcholine

Answer 10

enables muscle action, learning, and memory

Alzheimer’s disease happen when Ach producing neurons deteriorate

BOTOX is basically adding Ach inhibitor to freeze muscle.

Question 11

Dopamine

Answer 11

primary role in movement and reward learning

cocaine blocks the reuptake of dopamine

Parkinson’s disease occurs when there is not enough dopamine

Question 12

Serotonin

Answer 12

enables positive mood, sleep, and appetite

malfunctions: depression, lack of sleep and appetite

Prozac affect mood by keeping more serotonin in the synapse through blocking serotonin reuptake

Question 13

Norepinephrine

Answer 13

primary role in attention and arousal

Adderall is a stimulant used to treat ADHD

Question 14

Endorphins

Answer 14

lessen the perception of pain and increases positive mood

Heroin is accepted by endorphin receptors on dendrites. Produces similar effect as endorphins. causes reduced production of natural endorphins

Question 15

Central Nervous System

Answer 15

brain and spinal cord

Question 16

Peripheral Nervous System

Answer 16

Somatic and Autonomic

Question 17

Somatic Nervous System

Answer 17

controls voluntary movements and sensory information

needs CNS

Question 18

Autonomic Nervous System

Answer 18

Sympathetic- fight or flight response

Parasympathetic- control basic functions when people are not at risk

Question 19

Spinal Cord

Answer 19

extends from base of brain down the back

important for gathering info from body and sending it to the brain

Question 20

Brain stem/ Medulla

Answer 20

closest to the spinal cord.

important for basic bodily functions like respiration, blood pressure, and heart rate regulation

also important for integrating sensations of pain and touch from head to neck from motor input

Question 21

Reticular formation

Answer 21

sleep and wakefulness

major source of serotonin

Question 22

Pons

Answer 22

connection point of cerebellum

contains locus coerulus

Question 23

Cerebellum

Answer 23

important for motor coordination
important for learning automatic tasks like tying shoelaces and riding a bike
important for eye movement

Question 24

Midbrain

Answer 24

relays information

contains the substantial nigra

Question 25

Substantial Nigra

Answer 25

important for fluidity of movement and inhibiting movement produces dopamine

Question 26

Thalamus

Answer 26

relay sensory information lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN)- relay info on visual stimuli medial geniculate nucleus (MGN)- relay info about auditory stimuli

Question 27

Hypothalamus

Answer 27

related to motivational behavior like eating, drinking, and sex critical to control of endocrine (hormone) system (connected to the pituitary gland)

Question 28

Pituitary gland

Answer 28

controls endocrine system Anterior pituitary Posterior pituitary

Question 29

Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal

Question 29

Amygdala

Answer 29

involved in processing information about emotions, particularly fear also fear conditioning

Question 30

Hippocampus

Answer 30

important for storing short term memory important for learning about spatial environment major site of plasticity (both synaptic and structural)

Question 31

Striatum

Answer 31

work w/ substantial nigra to produce fluid movement

Question 32

Nucleus Accumbens

Answer 32

important communication from neurons in the midbrain and involved in motivation and reward learning

Question 33

Neocortex

Answer 33

largest part of the brain, responsible for complex behavior like language and thought 4 lobes: frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal

Question 34

Occipital Cortex

Answer 34

process basic information about visual stimuli information arrives in occipital cortex through partially crossed connections Association areas here integrate info about color, complex patterns, and motion

Question 35

Temporal Cortex

Answer 35

process sound, speech comprehension, and recognizing complex visual stimuli like faces Wernicke's area: on left side. understand language.

Question 36

Parietal Cortex

Answer 36

process info about touch and somatosensory stimuli. contains somatosensory strip- process tactile info from out body parts. basically forms a body map. more sensitive areas cover more space.

Question 37

Frontal Cortex

Answer 37

important for planning and movement primary motor strip Broca's area: on left side. produce language Prefrontal cortex- part of frontal cortex involved in higher order thinking like merry, moral reasoning, and planning

Question 38

Phineas Gage

Answer 38

shows localization of functions a metal rod penetrated his frontal cortex. he did not supper noticeable mental damage but his personality changed completely.

Question 39

Corpus Callosum

Answer 39

brain region that connects the two hemispheres sometimes it is severed to treat seizures

Question 40

Brain development before we are borned

Answer 40

Portion of ectoderm folds and forms the neural tube (where the CNS arises) New neurons are formed (neurogenesis) at the neural tube and move to new brain regions Programmed cell death to clear out unused neurons

Question 41

Multiple Sclerosis

Answer 41

causes loss of myelin on the axons of neurons. leads to inefficient transmission of electrical info (vision loss, pain, and muscle weakness)

Question 42

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Answer 42

degeneration of motor neurons in the spinal cord. leads to loss of movement and eventual death

Question 43

Parkinson's Disease

Answer 43

loss of dopaminergic neurons in substantial nigra, leading to tremors, muscle rigidity, and other motor problems

Question 44

Huntington's Disease

Answer 44

death of neurons in striatum exhibit awkward movement