Neuroscience Flashcards
(225 cards)
1
Q
Gray matter
A
Cell bodies and dendrites
2
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White matter
A
Nerve fibers, axon bundles, and myelin sheathing
3
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Brain stem
A
Autonomic functions, regulates CNS and connects PNS and upper brain
Regulates cardiac, respiratory function, BP, alertness. Maintains consciousness and regulates sleep
4
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Hindbrain
A
Medulla, Pons, Cerebellum, Reticular formation base
5
Q
Myelencephalon/Medulla
A
Mainly controls reflexes but also controls sleep, attention, and movement
6
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Metencephalon- Pons
A
Connects brain parts to spine
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Metencephalon- Cerebellum
A
Muscle coordination, balance, and posture
Some memory, learning, emotion
8
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Reticular formation
A
Oldest part of the brain
Alertness, thirst, sleep, involuntary muscles like heart
9
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Mesencephalon
Midbrain
A
Tectum, tegmentum, rest of reticular formation
10
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Tectum
A
Controls vision and hearing
11
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Tegmentum
A
Reticular formation, sensorimotor system, analgesic effect of opiates
12
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Forebrain
A
Diencephalon and telencephalon
13
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Diencephalon
A
Thalamus and hypothalamus
Processes incoming sensory info and relays to other parts of the brain
Interaction between CNS and endocrine system
14
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Telencephalon
A
Limbic system, hippocampus, amygdala, cingulate gyrus
15
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Corticospinal tract
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Connections between brain and spine
16
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Thalamus
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Channels sensory information to the cerebral cortex, motor control
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Problems in Thalamus
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Abnormal movement, disruption of sleep, can’t integrate sensory input, attention difficulty
18
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Hypothalamus
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Controls ANS biological motivations, like hunger and thirst, and pituitary gland, regulates sleep/wake libido cycle, homeostasis
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Problems in Hypothalamus
A
Disrupted sleep, change in appetite, weight change, body heat dysregulation
20
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Pituitary gland
A
“Master gland” of endocrine/hormone system
21
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Limbic System
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Fleeing, fighting, feeding, and fornication
Plays a role in regulating human emotion (affective tone) and sleep
22
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Hippocampus
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Memory, transfers from short term to long term memory, navigation and spatial
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Problems in hippocampus
A
Forgetfulness, inattention, amnesia, problems encoding new material
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Amygdala
A
Controls emotional reactions like fear and anger, arousal
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Problem in amygdala
Mania, depression, emotional dysregulation, anger, negative thinking
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Fornix
Connects hypothalamus to cerebrum and hippocampus
| Problems with sleep, appetite and memory
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Mesolimbic system
Found in limbic system, brain’s reward pathway (dopamine)
| Plays a role in mood disorders and schizophrenia
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Hypothalamic- Pituitary- Adrenal (HPA)
Feedback loop links hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal glands.
Regulates reactions to stressSignificant role in PTSD
29
Cingulate Gyrus
Link areas in the brain dealing with emotion and decisions
| Cognitive flexibility, shifting attention
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Anterior cingulate cortex
Impulse control, adaptability, cooperation, decision making
| Symptomatic: Obsession, compulsion, worrying, roadrage
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Posterior cingulate cortex
Memory
| Symptomatic: holding onto negative past events
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Fusiform Gyrus
Facial recognition- damage in dementia
| Prosopagnosia-inability to recognize familiar faces
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Cerebral Cortex
Outer ½ inch of the cerebral hemispheres. Seat of intellectual and sensory functioning and split into lobes
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Neocortex
90% of the cerebral cortex,
The other 10 percent has fewer than 6 layers and more primitive
Thinking, language, higher level functions
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Frontal lobe
Speech, reasoning, problem solving
Holds Broca’s area for speech
Premotor cortex, motor cortex, prefrontal regions
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Occipital lobe
Most specialized, controls vision
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Parietal lobe
Responsible for somatosensory system
Speech, touch, pain, proprioception
Integrates sensory info for movement
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Temporal lobe
Responsible for hearing, processing auditory information, affective tone, memory, recognition. Also includes Wenicke’s area for speech
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Gyri
Bumps on the cortex surface
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Sulci
Fissures on the cortex surface
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Meninges
Tough connective tissues that protect the brain and spinal cord
Dura, arachnoid, pia, subarachnoid filled with CSF
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Blood-Brain barrier
Protects the brain by making it extremely difficult for toxic substances to pass from blood to brain since cells in blood vessels are tightly packed
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Ventricles
Chambers filled with cerebrospinal fluid that insulates the brain from shock
Produce Cerebral Spinal Fluid
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Superior Colliculus
Controls visual reflexes and appears as bumps on the brainstem
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Inferior colliculus
Controls auditory reflexes and appears as bumps on the brainstem
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Basal Ganglia
Control large, voluntary muscle movements, plays role in regulating thoughts, feelings
Degeneration related to dysfunction in Parkinsons and Huntingtons
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Basal Ganglia Structures
Caudate, Putamen, Nucleus accumbens, Globus pallidus, Substantia nigra
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Caudate
Regulates information, movements thoughts and feelings
| Symptomatic: Anxiety
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Putamen
Acts with Caudate to influence motor activities
| Symptomatic: Tics, fine motor problems, poor gate
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Nucleus Accumbens
Liaison with limbic system
| Symptomatic: paranoia depression, decreased motivation
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Globus Pallidus
Relays info from caudate and putamen to thalamus
| Symptomatic: poor concentration
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Substantia Nigra
Produces dopamine
| Symptomatic: tremors, rigidity
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Prefrontal system
Executive functioning, commonly implicated in psychiatric disorders
Dorsolateral, orbitofrontal, and medial basal
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Dorsolateral
Problem solving, planning, self, regulation, sequencing, critical thinking, temporal ordering
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Orbital Frontal
Inhibition, socially appropriate behavior
| Symptomatic: impulsivity, poor judgment
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Medial Basal
Goal-directed behavior, ability to feel and express emotions, forward thinking
Symptomatic brady kinesia, flat affect
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Bradykinesia
Slow movement- Parkinson’s disease
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Cortical association areas
Areas on the cortex that respond to certain functions, damage in certain areas would result in certain dysfunction like apraxia, agnosia etc.
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Apraxia
Inability to organize movement
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Agnosia
Difficulty processing sensory information
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Aphasia
Language disorder
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Alexia
Inability to read
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Agraphia
Inability to write
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Broca’s and Wernicke’s Area
Left frontal lobe
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Broca’s aphasia
Can understand but has a difficulty speaking
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Wernicke’s aphasia
Can speak but no longer understands how to correctly choose words
Speech is fluent but nonsensical
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Hyperphagia
Overeating with no satiation of hunger
| Damage to hypothalamus
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Sham rage
Incredible rage easily provokes when cerebral cortex is removed
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Stereotaxic Instruments
Implanting electrodes into animals brains in experiments
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fMRI
Measures oxygen flow
| Measures activity during certain tasks
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PET
Scan glucose metabolism to measure activity in certain regions
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NEURONS
NEURONS
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Efferent nerve cells
Part of somatic nervous system (PNS), carries impulses from sensory cells to CNS
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Afferent nerve cells
Part of somatic nervous system (PNS), carries impulses from CNS to sensory cells
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Mirror neurons
Activated when observing another person’s behavior, important for empathy, dysregulation in autism
Frontal and parietal lobes
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Dendrite
Receive impulses
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Cell Body (Soma)
Largest central portion
Gray matter
Nucleus that directs activity
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Axon Hillock
Where the soma and axon connect
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Axon
Transmits impulses of the neuron
Bundles are nerve fibers
White matter
80
Nodes of Ranvier
Dips between beads of myelin sheath
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Myelin Sheath
Fatty sheath that allows faster conduction of axon impulses
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Terminal buttons
Ends of axon, contain synaptic vessels that hold neurotransmitters
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Neurotransmitters
Chemicals that stimulate nearby cells
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Cell membrane
Covers the whole neuron and has selective permeability
| Sometimes lets ions (positive charges) through
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Synapse or synaptic gap
Space between two neurons where they communicate
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Presynaptic cell
End of one neuron
| The terminal buttons
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Postsynaptic cell
Beginning of another neuron
| The dendrites
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Glial Cells
Other cells in nervous system
Help support neurons
Oligodendrocytes, Schwann cells
Half the volume of CNS
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Oligodendrocytes
Provide myelin in the central nervous system
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Schwann cells
Provide myelin in the peripheral nervous system
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NEURAL
TRANSMISSION
STEPS
How cells communicate with each other
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1. Resting potential
Inactivated state of a neuron
| Neuron is negatively charged and cell membrane does not let ions in
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2. Presynaptic cell
Fires and releases neurotransmitters from terminal buttons
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3. Postsynaptic
| receptors
Detect the presence of neurotransmitters and cause ion channels to open
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4. Postsynaptic
| potentials
Changes in a nerve cell charge as a result of stimulation
| Two forms: Excitatory and inhibitory
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Excitatory postsynaptic potential
Positive charges are allowed into cell and increase chance a cell will fire- depolarization
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Inhibitory postsynaptic potential
Few positive charges are let out decrease chance a cell will fire- hyperpolarization (becomes even more negative comparably)
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5. Action potential or Nerve impulse
Cell becomes stimulated with enough positive ions and “fires”
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6. All-or-none law
Once a minimum threshold for stimulation is met, nerve impulse will be sent
Intensity is always the same
100
7. Saltatory conduction
Action potential travels down axon, jumping from one node to the next
At terminal button, neurotransmitters are released
Now, this neuron is the presynaptic cell
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8. Absolute refractory period
The time after a neuron fires in which it cannot respond to stimulation
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9. Relative Refractory period
Time after the absolute refractory where the neuron can fire but needs much stronger stimulus
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10. Reuptake
After neurotransmitter has done its job
Reabsorbed by presynaptic cell
Or it can be deactivated by enzymes
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Acetylcholine
First identified neurotransmitter Contracting skeletal muscles
Involved in PNS
105
Endorphins
```
Pleasure and analgesia
Exogenous endorphins (heroin or morphine) highly addictive
```
106
Monoamines
Indoleamines (serotonin)
| Catecholamines (dopamine)
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Serotonin
Transmission of catecholamines
| Lack is linked to depression
108
Adrenal glands
Make a large number of catecholamine in response to stress
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Catecholamines
Dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine
| Helps body for fight or flight (especially epinephrine and norepinephrine)
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Dopamine
```
Inhibitory
Produced in substantia nigra
Regulate hormonal response, causes psychotic symptoms
Too little- parkinson's
Too much- schizophrenia
Feelings of reward (addiction)
```
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Norepinephrine
Synthesized from dopamine
Increase arousal
Influence reward system
ADHD/Depression
112
Epinephrine
AKA adrenaline over all body tissues
Increases blood and oxygen supply to brain and muscles while diminishing other bodily processes not important in stress (digestion, sexual)
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Amino Acids
Fast acting, directed synapsis
| Two important ones are glutamate and GABA
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Glutamate
Most abundant excitatory neurotransmitter
Regulates cortical and subcortical functioning
Important for cognitive function
115
GABA
Most abundant inhibitory neurotransmitter
Decreases activity, lowers arousal
Benzos aim to increase GABA
Highest concentration in cortex
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Neuromodulator
Neurotransmitters, but cause long-term changes in the postsynaptic cell
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Agonists
Increase effects of specific neurotransmitter
| Ex. SSRI to treat depression, increase serotonin activity
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Antagonists
Decrease the effects of a specific neurotransmitter
| Botox is an acetylcholine antagonist that decreases muscle activity
119
Pituitary gland
Regulates hormones in the body
| Hormones either have organizational or activational effects
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Organizational
| Hormones
H-Y Antigen, androgens menarche
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H-Y Antigen
Presence during development causes fetus to be a male
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Androgens
Testosterones and estrogen during puberty causes genitals to mature and secondary sex characteristics to develop
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Menarche
Onset of the menstrual cycle
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Activational
| Hormone
Luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), Oxytocin
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Hormones in menstrual cycle
Estradiol, progesterone, LH, and FSH
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LH and FSH in females
Regulate the development of ovum and trigger ovulation
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LH and FSH in males
Regulate the development of sperm cells and the production of testosterone
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Oxytocin
Facilitate birth and breastfeeding
| Also involved in pair bonding (child to mother or romantic partners)
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Other pituitary hormones
Vasopressin, thyroid stimulating hormone, Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)
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Vasopressin
Regulates water levels in the body and regulate blood pressure
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Thyroid stimulating hormone
Activates the thyroid
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Adrenocorticotropic Hormone (ACTH)
Stress hormone that increases the production of androgens and cortisol
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Two distinct components
Non-Rem and REM sleep
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Stages of nonREM
Takes about a half an hour to pass through these states
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Stage 0 of non REM
Prelude, synchrony, a person becomes relaxed and drowsy and closes their eyes
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Synchrony
Low amp and fast frequency alpha waves
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Stage 1 of non REM
Eyes begin to roll, alpha waves disappear, loses responsiveness and experiences fleeting thoughts thoughts
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Theta waves
Lower in amplitude and slower in frequency, irregular during stage 1
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Stage 2 of non REM
Theta waves stage, sleep spindles, muscle tension, gradual decline in heart rate, respiration, and temperature
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Sleep Spindles
Fast frequency bursts of brain activity
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Stage 3 of non REM
30 mins after falling asleep. Fewer sleep spindles, high amplitude and low frequency delta waves
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Stage 4 of non REM
Delta waves 50% of time, heart rate, respiration, temp, blood flow to brain are decreased, growth hormones secreted
Groggy and confused
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REM
```
20% spent in REM
Interspersed with non REM
Dreams, neural desynchrony, paradoxical sleep
15mins-1hr
Rebound Effect
```
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Neural desynchrony
Fast frequency, low- amplitude beta waves (REM and waking states)
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Paradoxical sleep
Physiological signs resemble waking, but muscle tone decreases to point of paralysis
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Rebound effect
When deprived of REM, compensate the next night
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Sleep cycles
90 minutes, 4-6 complete cycles
| REM is half of sleep at birth, but decreases with growth
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Ethology
Animal behaviors, especially innate that occur in natural habitat
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Lorenz
Founder of Ethology as a distinct research area
| Worked with imprinting, animal aggression, releasing stimuli, fixed action patterns
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Imprinting
Young attach to first moving object after birth (most often birds)
Display a following response, follow their first contact
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Animal Aggression
Certain aggressions were necessary for survival and innate
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Releasing stimuli
Lorenz, then Tinbergen
A releasing stimulus in one individual releases an automatic, instinctual chain of behaviors in another individual of the same species (fixed action patterns)
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Fixed action pattern
Uniform, performed by most members, more complex than reflexes, cannot be interrupted
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Tinbergen
Founder of modern ethology
Continued Lorenz work of releasing stimuli
Stickleback fish and herring gull chicks experiments
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Stickleback fish
Developed red coloration on their belly then fought each other
Tinb. concluded that redbelly was a releasing stimulus for fighting
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Herring gull chicks
Peck at the red spot of their parents bills. Red spot on the bill signals the chick to beck. Greater contrast of the red spot, more vigorously chicks would pack, even if unnatural color.
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Supernormal sign stimulus
Supernormal sign stimuli are artificial that exaggerate natural occuring sign stimulus, more effective than natural
Learned from herring gull exper.
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Karl von Frisch
Honeybee communication
| Studied senses of fish
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Walter Cannon
Coined term fight or flight with animals
| Proposed the idea of homeostasis, internal regulation of body to maintain equilibrium
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CNS Development
3 weeks cells begin to become specific only to nervous system
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Neural tube
Developed at 4 weeks, precursor to CNS
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Layers of cells
Ectoderm, mesoderm, endoderm
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Ectoderm
Forms the nervous system
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Mesoderm and Endoderm
Connective tissues, endocrine system
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Direction of brain development
Bottom to top, back to front, basic to advanced
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Lateralization
DIvergence of roles of the two hemispheres
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Chromosomes
23 pairs located in nucleus of human cells
Carriers of genes/heredity
Organized into DNA molecules
168
Genes
Basic unit of heredity
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Gamete
Sperm or ovum in humans
170
Haploid
23 single chromosomes
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Diploid
23 pairs of chromosomes
| All other cells
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Zygote
Fertilized egg cell, diploid
| Bring genes together from each parent
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Genotype
All genetic material
| Includes dominant and recessive alleles
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Phenotype
External characteristics, determined by genotype and environment
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Genetic drift
Natural selection for genetics
| Genotypes are eliminated over time
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Fitness
Ability to reproduce and pass on genes
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Inclusive fitness
Over individual fitness
Animals will be invested in survival of not only their own genes but of their kin as well
Kin selection-> inclusive fitness
Explains why parents protect young and others
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Instinctual and innate behaviors
Present in all normal members of a species
In form throughout members
Independent of learning/experience
Ex. nesting in rodents
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Altruism
```
Compatible with natural selection
Truly altruistic (non-kin) confuse ethologists, because incompatible with greatest survival
```
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Biological Clocks
Internal rhythms that keep an animal in sync with their environment
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Circadian rhythms
Endogenous rhythms that revolve around a 24 hour period
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Courting
Proceed reproduction
| Attracting a mate and isolating a mate of same species
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Displacement activities (irrelevant behaviors)
Seem out of place and illogical, no particular survival function
Ex. scratching head when trying to decide something
184
Estrus
Period in which a female is sexually receptive (usually for non human mammals)
185
Inbreeding
Breeding within the same family
Evolutionary controls prevent this
Ex. Swans
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Mimicry
Evolved form of deception
| Ex. Harmless species mimic poisonous snakes
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Instinctual drift
Animal replaces a trained/forced response with a natural response
188
Pheromones
Chemicals detected by the vomeronasal organ
| Communication between animals such as fear or sexual receptiveness
189
Reproductive isolating mechanism
Prevent interbreeding between two different (closely related) species
4 forms: Behavioral, geographic, mechanical, by season
190
Behavioral isolation
Only member of their species will respond to that type of courting
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Geographic isolation
Different species breed in different areas
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Mechanical isolation
Incompatible genital structures
193
Isolation by Season
Potentially compatible mate during different seasons
194
Sensitive/critical periods of learning
Ex. birds learning songs
| Also plays a role in imprinting
195
Sexual Dimorphism
Structural differences between sexes
196
Sexual Selection
Greatest chance of being chosen as a mate, best courters, most attractive, or best fighters
197
Selective breeding
Males intentionally paired to increase producing offspring with particular traits
198
Comparative Psychology
Related to ethology
| Study similarity and differences between different species
199
Dance of the honeybees
```
Karl von Frisch
Bees communicate through dance
Round-food is nearby
Waggle- food is far away
Dance also used to communicate potential nesting sites
```
200
Navigation in bees
Bees are exemplary navigators Scouting bees use landmarks, sun, polarized light, and magnetic fields
201
Hierarchy in bees
Bees form hierarchy, queen bees produce a chemical that suppresses ovaries in other bees so she only reproduces
Constantly tended to
Lays thousands of eggs in spring
202
Mating in bees
Few male bees (drones) are produced
| Only purpose is to mate with queen
203
Flower selection
Bees can see ultraviolet light and flower coloration more complex
Honeybees could see certain markers on flowers (honeyguides) that people couldn't
204
Navigation
Certain animals adept at nav
| If moved away, birds could still find places (true navigation) birds and bees are experts
205
Cues to navigation
Atmospheric pressure, infrasound, magnetic sense, sun compass, star compass, polarized light, echolocations, hearing
206
Atmospheric Pressure
Pigeons are sensitive to pressure changes with altitude
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Infrasound
Pigeons can hear low frequency sounds that human cannot
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Magnetic sense
Pigeons and bees can use earth’s magnetic forces as cues
209
Sun Compass
Pigeons and bees can use sun as compass and compensate for daily movement
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Star compass
Bees use star patterns and movement
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Polarized light
When sun is obscured, Bees can use to infer sun position
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Echolocation
Usually replaces sight
Dolphins and Bats
High frequency sounds and locate objects by echo that bounces off
213
Owls
Use hearing instead of echolocation
| Asymmetrical ears so they can determine elevation as well
214
Wolfgang Kohler
Gestalt psychologist
| Experimented with chimps and insight in problem solving
215
Chimpanzee experiment
| Aha experience
Were able to create novel solutions to a problems instead of just trial and error. Aha-insight
216
Harry Harlow
Monkey experiments with social isolation and maternal stimulation
217
Social isolation experiment
Compares monkeys raised in isolation. Isolated males did not display normal sexual functioning and females lacked maternal behaviors
218
Contact comfort
| In monkeys
Separated at birth from mother. Surrogate wire monkey mother with feeding bottle, other surrogate terrycloth dummy with no bottle. Spent most of time with terry cloth dummy and only went to wire mother for feeding. Proved that infants attach through comfort not feeding
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Learning to learn
Monkeys became better at learning tasks as they acquired diff learning experiences
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Tyron
Selectively bred “maze bright” and “maze dull” to demonstrate heritability of behavior
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Cooper and Zubek
Selective breeding only helped when raised in normal conditions
Both bright and dull performed well when raised in an enriched environment and poorly when raised in an impoverished environment
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Thorndike Instrumental learning
Learning through trial, error, and accidental success. The animal acts on those successes
223
Cats in puzzle boxes
Cat placed in box would accidently press escape door and be free
Then, they would activate lever right away
224
Cross fostering experiments
Attempt to separate the effects of heredity and environment
Sibling mice placed in different situations, so later differences in aggression could be attributed to experience over genetics
225
Erik Kandel
Studied sea slug aplysia because of few, large, easily identified nerve cellsLearned that learning and memory are shown by changes in synapses and neural pathways
