Intro & Nervous System Flashcards
(30 cards)
1
Q
What is neuroscience?
A
- Study of the function and structures of the nervous system
2
Q
What is behaviour?
A
- Observable actions of humans, animals
3
Q
What is neurogenesis?
A
- The generation of new neurons
4
Q
Who was the first to propose that the brain controls the body?
A
-
Hippocrates (Ancient Greece)
- Brain = Command Centre of body (not heart → Egyptian, Indian, Chinese)
- Noted the behavioural effects of brain damage
5
Q
Who formulated the mind-body problem?
A
- Rene Descartes (France)
- First to discuss interactions between mental and physical
- Considered humans and animals like machines
- Reflexes → Don’t require participation from the mind = Environmental stimuli
- Brain contains chambers with fluid (ventricles)
- Thought they were under pressure (disproven later)
6
Q
What is dualism?
A
- Belief in the dual nature of reality
-
Mind and body are separate
- Body is made of ordinary matter
- Mind is not
7
Q
What is monism?
A
- Belief that everything in the universe consists of matter and energy
- Mind is a phenomenon produced by the workings of the nervous system
8
Q
Who was the first to suggest nerve signals are electrical (not fluid = Descartes)?
A
- Luigi Galvani (zapped frog leg = contract)
- Rejected the idea of animal spirits flowing through hollow nerves
- Suggested that nerves must be coated in fat to prevent electricity leaking
9
Q
Who created phrenology?
A
- Franz Joseph Gall (Germany)
- Idea of a modular brain = Parts assigned to have specific function
- Physiognomy → Art of ascribing personality characteristics to facial features
10
Q
Describe phrenology
A
- Gall proposed that the brain is composed of several distinct ‘organs of thought’ = Faculties
- Reflected by characteristic patterns of bumps on the skull → Read a person’s character
- Compared animal and human skulls
- Includes ‘extremes’ of society → Criminals and famous artists
- Introduce ‘cortical localisation of function’ although flawed
11
Q
Who developed the doctrine of specific nerve energies?
A
- Johannes Muller (Germany)
- Observed that although all nerves carry the same basic message → We perceive messages of different nerves in different ways
- Insisted that understanding of humans would be advanced by removing animal organs + Testing chemicals to see how they respond
12
Q
Who first performed experimental ablation?
A
- Pierre Flourens (French)
- Removed various parts of animals’ brains and observed their behaviour
- See what they could no longer do → Infer function of missing portion of brain
13
Q
Who discovered first solid evidence of brain modularity?
A
- Paul Broca
- Discovered in patient Leborgne
- Unable to speak after damage to left frontal lobe → Yet normal chewing and language comprehension
-
Broca’s Aphasia = Damage to Broca’s area
- Damages speech production
14
Q
What was discovered after Broca’s area?
A
- Carl Wernicke (Germany) → Discovers Wernicke’s area
- Patient unable to comprehend speech → Yet normal hearing and language production
- Wernicke’s Aphasia = Damage to Wernicke’s area
- Damages speech comprehension
15
Q
Does the size of one’s brain matter?
A
-
No
- Does not equate to intelligence level
- Only scales with the size of the organism’s body
16
Q
What is functionalism?
A
- All characteristics of organisms have functional significance
17
Q
What do human brains have in common with fruit flies?
A
- Fruit Flies
- Similar patterns of activity in sleep anaesthesia
- Used to model human disease
18
Q
Explain Darwin’s theory of evolution
A
-
Gradual change in the structure and physiology of organisms as a result of natural selection (cornerstone)
- Not all members of species identical ∴ Must be because of favourable characteristics inherited (for reproduction)
- Characteristics become more prevalent
19
Q
What does the Allen Brain Institute aim to do?
A
- Create detailed maps of human brains
- Use mouse data
- Brain areas
- Neurons
- Genes
20
Q
What are mutations?
A
-
Accidental physical changes in chromosomes of gametes that produce the zygote
- Causes different characteristics in offspring
- Most = Offspring fails to survive/ does survive with defect
- Sometimes harbour selective advantage → More likely to live long enough to reproduce = Pass down chromosomes
21
Q
What does the Human Brain Project (HBP) aim to do?
A
- Reduce need for animal experiments
-
Study diseases in unprecedented silico experiments
- Makeshift disease states
- Improve the validation of data and experiments with computational validation
22
Q
What is a way that mutations can be beneficial?
A
-
Physical change… (brain)
- Favourable effects (seen in behaviour)
- Not immediately favourable but since there is no inherent disadvantage = Trait is passed down
23
Q
Describe the central nervous system (CNS)
A
-
Brain (including retinal cells within the eyeball)
- Encased by skull
-
Spinal cord
- Sits within vertebrae → Protection and flexibility in moving body
24
Q
Why does the size of a baby’s brain grow over time?
A
-
From birth, they are guaranteed to be exposed to adults who care for them
- ∴ Not required to have a brain that has specialised circuits
- Instead produce larger brain with an abundance of neural circuits that can be modified by experience (grow larger later in life)
25
Describe the peripheral nervous system (PNS)
* Network of nerves that **extend out from the CNS throughout the body**
* **Cranial**
* **Spinal**
* Sends **messages from brain**
* **Control muscle movement**
* **Receives sensory information** about *body position, pain, temperation* → **Transmit to CNS**
* ***Cannot function* without brain**
26
Describe the somatic nervous system
* Subdivision of PNS
* **Receives sensory information from sensory organs**
* Controls movement of **skeletal muscle**
* **Efferent → To PNS from CNS**
* ***A*fferent → *A*way from PNS to CNS**
* Includes *spinal nerves*
27
Describe the autonomic nervous system (ANS)
* Subdivision of PNS
* ***Smooth* muscle, *cardiac* muscle and glands**
* Heart, skin, blood vessels, eyes, gut
* **Non-voluntary functions** of nervous system
* **Rest and digest**
* *Acetylcholine* release
* **Flight or fight**
* *Noradrenaline and adrenaline*
28
What is neoteny?
* **Prolongation of maturation of human brain** - "Extended youth"
* Allows **more time for growth**
* *Prenatal period prolonged*
* **After birth** → Production of **new neurons almost cease** = Those **already present grow and establish connections** with each other
29
Describe the sympathetic division of the ANS
* **Motor neuron bodies in *gray matter*** of ***thoracic* and *lumbar* regions in spinal cord** → Exit via *ventral roots*
* **Join spinal nerves** → Branch into **sympathetic ganglia**
* Arousing → **Prepare for activity**
* **Dominates** during times of **stress or threat**
* 'Fight or Flight' mode
* Controls **adrenal medulla**
* **Adrenaline, noradrenaline** → Also called epinephrine
30
Describe the enteric division of the ANS
* Gut and gastrointestinal
* '2nd Brain'
* Has **own reflexes and senses**
* Can **act independently of the brain**
* Nearly *every neurotransmitter found in brain is also in gut*
* Role in **emotions and stress**
* **90%** of *connections between brain and gut* go ***from* the *gut to* the brain**
