Exam 3 Flashcards
(97 cards)
1
Q
What is the functional unit of the brain?
A
The Neuron
2
Q
T or F: neurons across all species share striking similarities
A
True
3
Q
The brain can be divided along 3 axes. What are they? [slide 17-18 picture]
A
- The Rosteral-caudal axis (or posterior axis)
- Dorsal-ventral axis
- Medial-lateral axis
4
Q
The brain can also be divided into 3 planes. What are they? [slide 19]
A
- Horizontal (or trans-axial) plane
- The Coronal plane
- The Sagittal plane
5
Q
There are two divisions of the nervous system. What are they?
A
- The central nervous system (CNS)
- The peripheral nervous system (PNS)
6
Q
What is the function of the peripheral nervous system?
A
Supplies the brain with a continuous stream of information about the outside world and the inner body
7
Q
The peripheral nervous system is divided into two divisions. What are they?
A
1) the somatic division
2) the autonomic division
8
Q
The somatic division of the _____ includes an _____ pathway and an ______pathway.
A
Peripheral nervous system
Afferent
Efferent
9
Q
The afferent pathway of the peripheral nervous system is formed by _______neurons that innervate the _____, the _____and the ______
A
Somatosensory
Skin, muscles, joints
10
Q
The efferent pathway is formed by what kind of neurons?
A
Motor neurons
11
Q
The autonomic system can be further divided into what three systems?
A
- Sympathetic system
- Parasympathetic system
- Enteric system
12
Q
What does the sympathetic system do?
A
Regulates responses to stress
13
Q
What does the parasympathetic system do?
A
Regulates homeostasis
14
Q
What does the enteric system do?
A
Regulates the internal organs
15
Q
What does the central nervous system do?
A
Integrates sensory information, processes it and instructs behavior
16
Q
The central nervous system is divided into the ______ and the ______
A
Brain
Spinal cord
17
Q
The spinal cord is the main pathway between the ____ and the _______
A
Brain
Peripheral nervous system
18
Q
In humans, the spinal cord connects to the _____ through _____spinal nerves
A
Peripheral nervous system
31
19
Q
What are the main components that make up the spinal cord? (5 of them)
A
- Gray matter
- White matter
- Dorsal horn
- Ventral horn
- Trunk and limbs
20
Q
What is the gray matter?
A
It contains the cell bodies of the nerve cells and is divided into a dorsal and ventral horn
21
Q
What is the white matter?
A
It contains the myelinated tracks of the neurons forming the ascending pathway (sensory information ) and descending pathway (motor commands and Modulatory signals)
22
Q
What is the dorsal horn?
A
It contains the sensory neurons
23
Q
What is the venteral horn?
A
The structure that contains the motor neurons and interneurons
24
Q
The spinal cord mediates sensation of the ______ and ______ and their motor control
A
Trunk and limbs
25
The brain can be divided into 6 main regions. What are they?
1. Cerebral cortex
2. Diencephalon
3. Midbrain
4. Pons
5. Medulla
6. Cerebellum
26
The brain connects to the periphery through ____ cranial nerves.
12
27
Which regions of the brain make up the brain stem? (3 of them)
1. The midbrain
2. The pons
3. Medulla
28
Where is the brain stem located?
It is the most posterior part of the brain.
29
The brain stem connects the brain to the _________.
Peripheral nervous system
30
The brain stem is divided into the _______, _______ and ________
Medulla
Pons
Midbrain
31
What is the function of the brain stem?
Regulates vital functions such as heart rate, respiration, consciousness and sleep
32
Where is the medulla located?
The most posterior part of the brain stem.
33
What is the function of the medulla?
To monitor the physiological functions of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems
34
Where is the pons located?
In the middle of the brain stem.
35
What is the function of the pons?
It relays somatosensory information (touch, temperature, pain for example) from the periphery to the brain
Relay station
36
Where is the midbrain?
The most anterior part of the brain stem
37
The midbrain can be further divided into the ______
Tectum
38
The tectum contains four structures, what are they:
1. The inferior colliculus
2. The superior colliculus
3. The tegmentum
4. The ventral tegmentum
39
What is the function of the inferior colliculus?
Mediates auditory reflexes
40
What is the function of the superior colliculus?
Mediates visual reflexes
41
What is the function of the tegmentum?
Regulates homeostasis and prevents unwanted movement
42
What is the function of the ventral tegmentum?
Contains dopaminergic neurons that forms one of the major reward pathways
43
What are some disorders that can result from disruption of the ventral tegmentum pathway?
Schizophrenia
Parkinson’s disease
ADHD
44
True or false: the ventral tegmentum is the primary site where addictive drugs such as alcohol, cocaine, heroine and nicotine act.
True
45
Where is the diencephalon located?
It is located anterior to the brain stem
46
What are the two major divisions of the diencephalon?
1. The thalamus
2. Hypothalamus
47
What are the functions of the thalamus?
It is a processing center that relays information between the sensory systems and the cortex.
It also relays station between the cerebellum and the basal ganglia essential for the voluntary control of movement.
48
What are the functions of the hypothalamus?
Regulates homeostatic functions such as somatic growth, eating, drinking (hunger, thirst)
Also regulates reproductive behaviors such as mating and parental care.
It functions by regulating secretion of hormones by the pituitary gland.
49
What are the functions of the Cerebellum?
Important in maintaining body posture and coordinating movement
Also important for carrying out cognitive tasks such as language 
50
T/F: the cerebellum is about 1/5th of the brain.
True
51
T/F: the cerebellum is about 10% mass of the brain, but has about 1/2 of the neurons.
True
52
Which animal has the largest cerebellum?
The elephant
53
T/F: the cerebellum allows for balance, and coordination of position in space
True
54
How many types of neurons does the cerebellum contain,
5
55
How many layers are the neurons of the cerebellum organized in and what are they?
3
1. Molecular layer
2. Purkinje cell layer
Granular layer
56
What is the granular layer of the cerebellum?
It is the input layer and consists mostly of granule cells and Golgi interneurons
57
How does the granular layer of the cerebellum function?
Granule cells receive input from the spinal cord (which conveys somatosensory information. The vestibular system conveys balance information, cerebral cortex convey processed motor and sensory information) via the mossy fibers
58
What do granule cells do?
Encode the position of the body in space
59
T/F: the purkinje cell layer is the output layer of the cerebellum
True.
60
T/F: the purkinje cell layer consists of a single sheet of purkinje cells.
True
61
How do Purkinje cells function?
The receive input from granule cells through the parallel fibers which convey information about the position of the body in space.
They also receive input from the medulla through the climbing fibers which convey the teaching signal.
62
What is a teaching signal?
Indicates whether an action was executed as planned.
63
What is the function of the Purkinje cells.
Ultimately they instruct motor output:
If the position of the body is correct, their response stay the same. If the position of the body is incorrect their response adapts
64
What is the molecular layer?
It is a processing layer which contains two types of inhibitory neurons.
65
What are the two types of inhibitory neurons contained in the molecular layer of the cerebellum?
1. Stellate cells
2. Basket cells
66
What are stellate cells?
GABAergic neurons that inhibit Purkinje cells at postsynaptic sites
67
What are basket cells?
GABAergeric neurons that inhibit Purkinje cells at Presynaptic sites.
68
True/False. There are more Purkinje cells in the cerebrum than any other types of neuron.
False. There are relatively few perkiness cells in the cerebellum. There are more granule cells in the cerebellum than any other type.
69
Granule cells sparsely fire because they receive a ______ number of inputs; ____ on average
Small
4
70
Purkinje cells continuously fire because the receive a _______ number of inputs; as many as _______
Large
10,000
71
Cerebellum circuit:
The Purkinje cells of the cerebellum compare the information relayed by the ________. This information corresponds to the ______ cells activated by a particular _____ of the body (simple spikes in figure)
With the climbing fibers, this information corresponds to the teaching signal, whether or not the movement was executed as planned (complex spikes in the figure)
Parallel fibers
Granule
Position
72
What are some reels that can occur as a result of a disorder of the cerebellum?
Delayed movement
Range of movement errors
Patterned movement errors
73
What structures make up the cerebral hemispheres? (5 of them)
Cerebral cortex
The underlying white matter
The basal ganglia
The amygdala
The hippocampal formation
74
What kind of functions do the cerebral hemispheres have?
They have perceptual, motor and cognitive functions
75
What structure joins the two cerebral hemispheres?
Corpus callosim
76
The human cerebral cortex has a highly convoluted shape formed by, grooves called the ______ that separates elevated regions called the _______
Sulci
Gyri
77
The convoluted shape of the cortex most likely arose during evolution as a strategy for_______
Packing an ever-increasing number of neurons into the limited space of the skull
78
T/F: there is Large variation in the thickness of the cortex between species.
False. It does not vary much between species (2-4 mm)
79
T/F: the Surface are of the cortex varies greatly between species.
True
80
The cerebral cortex is divided into four major lobes. What are they?
1. The frontal lobe
2. The parietal lobe
3. The occipital lobe
4. The temporal lobe
81
The arrangement of the cerebral cortex into layers and columns increases ______
Computational efficiency
82
How many layers make up the cerebral cortex?
6
83
T/F: each of the six layers of the cerebral cortex contains a different type of neuron.
True
84
T/F: neurons within a column tend to have similar functional properties because they form a local processing network.
True
85
True/false: each column of the cerebral cortex runs from the white matter to the pial surface and traverses all layers of the cerebral cortex
True
86
True/false: the regions that make of the cerebral cortex are relatively autonomous
True
87
There are discrete cortices each of the _____, for different classes of _____ and for ________
5 senses
Movement
Language
88
The primary sensory sites are the _____sites of cortical processing. The primary motor cortex is the _____site in the cortex for processing motor commands
Initial
Final
89
The sensory cortex includes what Cortecies? (5 of them)
1. Primary visual cortex
2. Primary auditory cortex
3. Primary somatosensory cortex
4. Piriform cortex (olfaction)
5. Frontal operculum (taste)
90
What is a somatosensory map?
Sensory inputs are topographically arranged through successive stages of processing.
E,g, neighboring groups of touch neurons project to neighboring groups of neurons in the thalamus, which in turn project to neighboring groups of cells in the somatosensory cortex.
91
T/F: the human brain has the largest ratio of cortical neurons over total brain mass
True.
92
In the cerebrum, the basal ganglia is formed from 5 nuclei. What are they?
1. Caudate nucleus
2. Putamen
3. Globus pallidus
4. Subthalmic nucleus
5. Substantia Nigra
93
What is the primary function of the basal ganglia.
Action selection (the decision the brain makes in executing a behavior in a given sequence).
94
The amygdala receives input directly from the _____ systems and sends output to the ———, the _____, and different subcortical structures including the ______ which underlie the visceral component of emotions such as changes in heart rate and respiration.
Sensory
Cortex
Basal ganglia
Hippocampus
Braunstem
95
What is the function of the amygdala?
Involved in emotions such as innate and learned fear.
96
What are the divisions of the hippocampal formation? (3 of them)
1. Hippocampus
2. Dentate gyrus
3. Subiculum
97
What are the functions of the hippocampal formation?
Memory, spatial navigation.
The hippocampus is also the site where explicit memories about experienced events are formed and stored.
