Externals Study Flashcards
(172 cards)
1
Q
What does the Central Nervous System (CNS) consist of?
A
Brain and spinal cord
2
Q
What does the CNS do?
A
Controls the body by processing and responding to sensory input from the peripheral nervous system
3
Q
What are the three main areas of the brain?
A
Forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain
4
Q
What is the hindbrain responsible for?
A
Movement and balance
5
Q
What is the midbrain responsible for?
A
Coordinating sleep, movement and arousal
6
Q
What is the forebrain responsible for?
A
Receiving and processing sensory information and higher order thinking processes
7
Q
What does the peripheral nervous system do?
A
Communicates information from the body to the CNS
8
Q
What neurons is the PNS made up of?
A
Sensory and Motor neurons
9
Q
What are sensory neurons?
A
Neurons that carry sensory impulse to the CNS
10
Q
What are motor neurons?
A
Neurons that carry motor impulses from the central nervous system to the specific effectors
11
Q
What are the two subdivisions of the PNS?
A
Autonomic nervous system and somatic nervous system
12
Q
What does the somatic nervous system control?
A
Skeletal muscles - voluntary movements
13
Q
What is the autonomic nervous system responsible for?
A
The body’s non-skeletal muscles (organs, glands) and also occurs without conscious control (breathing) - involuntary movements
14
Q
What are the two parts of the autonomic system?
A
Sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems
15
Q
What does the parasympathetic nervous system do?
A
Allow us to go about our everyday tasks and keep our bodily functions at a state of balance
16
Q
What does the sympathetic nervous system do?
A
Prepares the same organs to deal with threats or stressors - flight or fight response
17
Q
What is an effector?
A
An organ that gives the response
18
Q
What is the cerebral cortex?
A
The outer surface of the cerebrum
19
Q
What are the four distinct lobes of the cerebral cortex?
A
Frontal lobe, temporal lobe, occipital lobe and parietal lobe
20
Q
What is the frontal lobe responsible for?
A
Speech, planning, movement, language, problem solving, personality and emotions
21
Q
What is the parietal lobe responsible for?
A
Space, location, contralateral motions (e.g. the right side controls the left side of the body)
22
Q
What is the temporal lobe responsible for?
A
Sound and human speech
23
Q
What is the occipital lobe responsible for?
A
Vision
24
Q
What is Broca’s area responsible for?
A
Coordinates movement of lips, tongue and vocal cords to articulate words - speech production
25
What is the Wernicke's area responsible for?
Interpretations and comprehension of language
26
What is Geschwind's territory responsible for?
Provides the connection between Broca's and Wernicke's area. Allows processing of visual and auditory stimuli, ideal for processing properties of words - how they sound, how they look and what they represent - develops with age
27
What are neurons responsible for?
Receive, process and transmit sensory information or motor commands to each other
28
What is the importance of neurons?
It allows our bodies to respond to what’s happened in our internal and external environments
29
What is the reflex arc?
The neural pathway followed by a reflex action
30
What is the spinal reflex?
When the reflex arc occurs within the spinal cord, without involving the brain or conscious thought
31
What does the spinal reflex do?
Enables an organism to respond faster
32
Name the kinds of spinal reflex arc
Monosynaptic and polysynaptic
33
What is a monosynaptic reflex arc?
Involving only one synapse, an effector neuron brings a sensation from receptors in the body and an effector neuron carries motor messages to the muscles of the body
34
What is a polysynaptic reflex arc?
Involving interneurons connecting the affector and effector neurons and, therefore, at least two synapses
35
Recall the steps in reflex response
Receptor - a special transducer that registers the stimulus and transfers it to an electrical response
Sensory (afferent) neurons - transmits electrical response from the receptor to the spinal cord (CNS)
Integration centre - (interneuron) transfers electrical impulses to lower motor neuron
Motor (efferent) neuron - sends information to an effector
Effectors - perform action
36
What are efferent neurons?
Motor neurons
37
What are afferent neurons?
Sensory neurons
38
What are the characteristics of the cerebral cortex?
- Contains billions of neurons
- Large cognitive capacity; increased surface area due to many folds (gyrus/gyri) and grooves (sulcis/sulci)
- Responsible for receiving information from the environment, controlling our responses and allowing us complex voluntary movements and higher order thinking processes
39
What is the role of the thalamus?
Receives signals from sensory receptors, selects which information most requires our attention at any given moment and regulates states of sleep and wakefulness
40
What can damage to Broca's area cause?
Broca's aphasia - non fluent speech (broken, long pauses 1-2 words at a time, mispronounced), speech lacks grammar, writing difficulty
41
What can damage to Wernicke's area cause?
Wernicke's aphasia - fluent unbroken speech, unable to understand speech, difficulty producing written speech
42
What coordinates voluntary movement?
Basil ganglia, cerebellum and primary motor cortex
43
What are the three steps to voluntary movement?
Selection stage or intention, planning or initiating stage and the execution stage?
44
What does the basil ganglia do?
Prevents movements that may not suit the end goal of the movement, enables voluntary movement and gathers information from various regions of our brain
45
What voluntary movement steps does the basil ganglia contribute to?
Selection stage and planning stage
46
What voluntary movement steps does the cerebellum contribute to?
Planning stage and execution stage
47
What does the cerebellum do?
Coordinates and remembers well-sequenced movements and communicates with the primary motor cortex
48
Where is the cerebellum located?
At the back of the skull - in the hindbrain
49
Where is the primary motor cortex located?
The rear of each frontal lobe
50
What does the primary cortex do?
Responsible for movement of the body's skeletal muscles and activates the neural impulses that execute voluntary movement - primary cortex is also responsible for emotion
51
What is contralateral organisation?
The left PMC controls the right side of the body and vice-versa
52
What voluntary movement steps does the primary motor cortex contribute to?
The execution stage
53
What is the limbic system responsible for?
the interpretation, production and regulation of emotion and behaviour
54
Where is the limbic system located?
On both sides of the thalamus
55
What does the limbic system consist of?
Amygdala, hypothalamus and midbrain areas
56
What is the short route? (Low road)
Goes from the thalamus to the amygdala for induction of emotional response
57
What is the long route (high road)?
Passes via cerebral cortex and hippocampus before reaching an emotional response
58
What is the hypothalamus?
Production of hormones, fight-flight hormones, particularly used in stressful/fearful scenarios
59
What is the prefrontal cortex?
Associated with regulating and modifying emotions, plays a role in higher order thinking
60
What is neuroplasticity?
The brain’s ability to form new neural connections and neural pathways and to fundamentally change how it is wired
61
What are the two types of neuroplasticity?
Fundamental and structural plasticity
62
What is fundamental plasticity?
When the brain moves the function of the damaged area to an undamaged area
63
What is structural plasticity?
Changes in the physical structure of the brain as a result of learning
64
What are neurons responsible for?
Communication in the body
65
What do neurons consist of?
Dendrites, soma, axon and axon terminals and Myelin Sheath
66
What are the dendrites responsible for?
Receiving information from other nerve cells and transporting the information into the cell body
67
What is the soma responsible for?
Controlling the metabolism and maintenance of a neuron
68
What is the soma?
Cell body
69
What is the axon?
A nerve fibre
70
What is the axon responsible for?
Carrying information as an electrochemical nerve impulse along the nerve cell to communicate with other cells
71
What is the myelin sheath?
A white fatty and waxy substance that coats some axons an insulates them
72
What are axon terminals?
Have terminal buttons that secrete chemicals called neurotransmitters
73
What is the synapse?
Gap between neurons - it gives the neurons options on where to go and allows communication between neurons
74
What is a neurotransmitter?
A chemical that transmits information from one neuron to the next
75
What is a synaptic transmission?
The process of neurons sending information from one neuron to the next via neurotransmitters
76
What is an excitatory synapses?
Cause the target cell to become excited and more likely to fire and cause an action potential. Increase in the amount of activity of neurotransmitters
77
What is an inhibitory synapses?
Inhibit neurons from firing and stop action potential
78
What does glutamate do?
Excite almost every neuron in the brain and nervous system - involved in memory and learning
79
What does GABA do?
Important in arousal, sleep and reducing severe anxiety
80
What is acetylcholine?
A neurotransmitter found in the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nervous
81
What does acetylcholine do?
It stimulates muscular contractors and is involved in memory and learning - it helps the quality of communication in the brain associated with learning
82
True or false; Alzheimer's patients have depleted acetylcholine
True
83
What is epinephrine?
Also known as adrenaline, a hormone and neurotransmitter - it's released from the adrenal glands and from the brain
84
When is epinephrine released?
It is released in response to situations provoking anxiety, fear and emotional arousal
85
What does epinephrine do?
Increases heart rate, heightens blood pressure and increases respiratory rate - plays a key role in fight-flight-freeze
86
What is norepinephrine?
Neurotransmitter and hormone involved in stress responses, alertness, arousal, emotional regulation and attention
87
What does norepinephrine do?
Mobilises the brain and body to act - increases heart rate, blood flow, alertness, arousal and speeds up reaction times
88
What is dopamine?
A neurotransmitter involved in thoughts, feelings, motivation and behaviour - involved in movement, control, emotional experiences, pleasure and association of behaviours with reward - can also lead to behaviours such as addiction
89
What is serotonin?
A neurotransmitter in the brain involved in the regulation of mood, sleep, eating, arousal and pain
90
What does serotonin do?
Helps regulate mood, social behaviour, appetite and digestion, sleep, memory - it helps regulate our body’s sleep-wake cycle and is responsible for our ‘internal’ body clock
91
What can impaired functioning of neurotransmitters be the result of?
Neurons not manufacturing enough of a particular neurotransmitter or the release of too much of a particular neurotransmitter
92
Which diseases are associated with the impaired functioning of neurotransmitters
Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease - mental disorders such as depression, schizophrenia and drug addictions can also be related to deficits in neurotransmitters
93
What is Parkinson’s disease?
A progressive neurological conditions known to affect the control of movement
94
What causes Parkinson’s disease?
Degeneration of dopamine - releasing Neurons in the substantia nigra
95
What is substantia nigra?
Part of the basil ganglia - located in midbrain responsible for reward, addiction and the coordination of movement.
96
What happens in Parkinson’s disease?
Without enough dopamine, the Neurons fire uncontrollably, which prevents a Parkinson’s disease sufferer from adequately controlling their movements
97
What are motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease?
Slowness of movement, rigidity and involuntary movement of the hands, arms, legs, feet, jaw or head, difficulty starting or stopping movements such as walking
98
What are non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease?
Reduced facial expressions, pain, depression, dementia, difficulty sleeping
99
What is Alzheimer’s disease?
A disease that progressively destroys Neurons in the brain, causing memory less
100
What are symptoms of Alzheimer disease?
Involved gradual, severe memory loss, confusion, impaired attention, disordered thinking and depression
101
List the order of which symptoms of Alzheimer disease usually occur?
The earliest symptom is usually impaired declarative memory (memory recall). Next, the patient might repeat stories or questions, and eventually fail to recognise familiar people and family members
102
What does Alzheimer disease involve?
Both antegrade (inability to recall past memories) and retrograde (inability to create new memories) because the disease effects both the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex
103
What are some causes of Alzheimer disease?
Can be both genetic and neurological - both can contribute to memory loss and cognitive decline - and amyloid plaques (proteins that form axon terminals and interfere with communication)
104
What are two examples of sensory memory?
Iconic and echoic memory
105
What is iconic memory?
Sensory register for the storage of visual information, lasts about .03 seconds and explains why we see a moving picture from a series of still photos
106
What is echoic memory?
Auditory memory in the sensory memory register - stored slightly longer than iconic memory for 3-4 second
107
What is procedural memory?
Knowing how to do things (actions, skills, operations and conditional responses) yet finding it hard to describe how to do them
108
What is declarative memory?
Memory for facts, events and knowledge
109
What is declarative memory often associated with?
Learning for school, reading, maths and higher order thinking
110
What memory does declarative memory include?
Semantic and episodic memory
111
What is semantic memory?
The memory for facts or general knowledge
112
What is episodic memory?
Long-Term memories of episodes or experiences in life
113
What is implicit memory?
Assist in recall of procedural memory, motor learning and classical conditioning through the amygdala
114
What is explicit memory?
Assists in the recall of declarative memory through the hippocampus
115
What does the central executive memory do?
Delegates tasks to the three working systems - it is the head of the model and is responsible for organisation
116
What is the central executive responsible for?
Screening out irrelevant information, switching attention from one item to another and modifying items from LTM through the episodic buffer
117
What is the phonological loop?
The auditory working memory
118
What are the two main parts of the phonological loop?
Phonological store (inner ear - what you hear) and articulatory (inner voice - rehearse words to keep them in working memory)
119
What is the visuospatial sketch pad?
The visual memory - storage of what we see
120
What are the two parts of the visuospatial sketchpad?
Visual cache (stores shape and colour) and the inner scribe (arrangement/spatial awareness of objects)
121
What is an episodic buffer?
The interaction between long-term memory and the working memory
122
What does the episodic buffer do?
Organise the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad
123
What does the LOP model of memory suggest?
Memory is a continuous dimension in which memories are encoded related to the ease with which they can be retrieved
124
What are the key brain structures involved in memory?
- Hippocampus for declarative memory
- Cerebellum for implicit memory
- The amygdala for explicit memory
- Basal Ganglia for procedural memory
125
What is the cerebral cortex?
Long-term declarative memories stored in different cortical areas, generally processed and encoded in the frontal lobes
126
Where are spatial memories stored?
Parietal lobe
127
Where is memory for sounds stored?
Temporal lobe
128
Where is memory for pictures stored?
Occipital lobe
129
What is procedural memory?
Something you’ve done continuously, therefore, it's always in your memory - e.g. brushing your teeth
130
What is episodic memory?
Long-term memories of episodes or experiences in life
131
The hippocampus makes up part of the limbic system
True
132
What does the hippocampus do?
Establish the context for each new memory
133
Prolonged stress can cause hippocampus to shrink
True
134
What is the role of the cerebellum?
Works with the motor cortex and frontal lobes to perform motor skills. Encodes, processes and stores procedural memories. Activates the relevant neural systems to retrieve a procedural memory
135
Amnesia can be caused through injury of the hippocampus
True
136
What is recall?
Recall of stored information using minimal cues
137
What is free recall?
Participants as much information as they can in any order
138
What is cued recall?
Uses various prompts (cues) to assist retrieval
139
What is recognition?
Choice of correct answers among incorrect answers (e.g. multiple choice)
140
What is reconstruction?
Filling in the gaps to make sense of what happened
141
What is the encoding specificity principle?
The associations formed at the time of encoding new memories will be the most effective retrieval cues
142
What s context dependant cues?
External environment - brightness of light, smells, noise
143
What are state dependent cues?
Internal environment - mood, level of anxiety, state of tiredness
144
What is pseudo-forgetting?
information was thought to be forgotten but, actually, was never encoded properly in the first place - ineffective coding
145
What is cue dependant forgetting?
Suggests that if the memory cue/prompt is the wrong one, then we are likely to forget
146
What is the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
An example of how we search for cues that will prompt the retrieval
147
What is the retrieval failure theory?
The information was available but not accessible due to inadequate retrieval cues
148
What is proactive interference?
Previous material inhibits our ability to encode and store new material
149
What is retroactive interference?
Newly acquired information inhibits our ability to retrieve previously learnt material
150
Four ways of shallow processing
Structural, phonemic, graphemic, orthographic
151
Three ways of semantic processing
Relating object/situation to something else, meaning of something is thought of, processing importance of something
152
What is classical conditioning?
When a stimulus was originally neutral but now causes behavioural or emotional reaction - e.g. driving and you hear sirens behind you
153
What is the first face of classical conditioning? (Before conditioned)
Not yet conditioned, response is natural or automatic (UCS, UCR, NS)
154
What is an unconditioned stimulus?
Stimulus causes unconditioned response
155
What is a unconditioned response?
Response occurs naturally
156
What is a neutral stimulus
Causes no response
157
What is the second phase of classical conditioning?
During conditioning - development of a connection between neutral stimulus and the unconditional stimulus - causes neutral stimulus to become conditioned stimulus
158
What is the third phase of classical conditioning?
After conditioning - conditioned stimulus produces a conditioned response
159
What is a conditioned response?
Automatic response developed by being trained to respond to a typically neutral stimulus
160
What is a conditioned stimulus?
A stimulus that causes a conditioned response
161
What is stimulus generalisation?
Organism responds to any stimulus that is similar to the conditioned stimulus
162
What is stimulus discrimination?
Organism responds to the conditioned stimulus but not to any other stimulus
163
What is aversion therapy?
Uses classical conditioning to stop individuals from reacting or behaving in a certain way
164
What is operant conditioning?
A form of learning in which behaviour becomes controlled by its consequences
165
What is Edward Thorndike’s “Law of Effect” (1898)
Any behaviour that was followed by pleasant rewards would likely to be repeated and any behaviour that was followed by unpleasant consequences would likely to stop
166
What is the three-phase model of operant conditioning?
A - Antecedent - the environment make the conditions right
B - behaviour - follows the antecedent
C - consequences - reinforces behaviour
167
What is positive punishment?
A behaviour followed by a negative experience or unfavourable outcome in order to weaken the response it follows
168
What is negative punishment?
Form of punishment that entails something desirable or favourable is being removed
169
What is extinction?
Conditioned response disappears over time after reinforcement has ceased
170
What are respondent behaviours?
Occur automatically and reflexively, such as pulling your hand back from a hot stove
171
What are operant behaviours?
Actions under our conscious control - some may occur spontaneously and others purposely
172
What is the basal ganglia?
Responsible primarily for motor control, as well as other roles such as motor learning, executive functions and behaviours, and emotions
