The Brain (Unit 2)

Question 1

Hippocrates

Answer 1

recognized that people’s injuries to the head altered their thoughts and actions
(the brain is the center of human functioning)

Question 2

Phineas Gage (1848)

Answer 2

dynamite hit him in the head and he didn’t die

Question 3

electroencephalogram (EEG)

Answer 3

records electric activity in the brain using electrodes

Question 4

Stimulation

Answer 4

Areas of the brain can be stimulated electrically, chemically, or magnetically to observe outcome

Question 5

Lesions

Answer 5

cut tiny parts of an animal’s brain to observe the resulting behavior

Question 6

CT scans

Answer 6

computed tomography

Question 7

PET scans

Answer 7

use radioactive glucose injections

Question 8

MRI

Answer 8

(magnetic resonance imaging) shows soft brain tissue

Question 9

fMRI

Answer 9

(functional MRI) shows brain activity

Question 10

Hindbrain

Answer 10

reptilian or old brain; basic homeostatic function

Question 11

Midbrain

Answer 11

mammalian brain; contains the limbic system, regulates appetite and sex drive

Question 12

Forebrain

Answer 12

Also called the human or new brain; processes information from the external world

Question 13

The Primitive Brain

Answer 13

The brainstem is the oldest part of the brain from the swelling spinal cord to its entry into the skull; responsible for automatic survival functions

Question 14

Medulla

Answer 14

controls breathing, heart rate, and some of the body’s reflexes

Question 15

Pons

Answer 15

Serves as a bridge between the brain and the spinal cord, produces chemicals the body’s need for sleep

Question 16

reticular formation

Answer 16

in brainstem (extending from spinal cord to thalamus); filters out irrelevant stimuli to conserve energy;

Question 17

thalamus

Answer 17

on top of brainstem; directs messages to sensory areas in cortex and transmits replies to cerebellum and medulla

Question 18

Cerebellum

Answer 18

controls posture, balance, coordinates voluntary movements; role in memory, regulating emotions, and processing environment

Question 19

The Limbic System

Answer 19

system of neural structures; at border of brainstem and cerebrum; associated with emotions like fear, aggression, drives for food and sex

Question 20

Amygdala

Answer 20

controls violent emotions such as rage and fear

Question 21

Hippocampus

Answer 21

forms memories, damage may cause amnesia

Question 22

Hypothalamus

Answer 22

keeps body at homeostasis by regulating hunger, thirst, sexual behavior; controls “fight or flight” response

Question 23

The Forebrain

Answer 23

associated with thinking and memory; 80% of brain’s weight

Question 24

Cerebral Cortex

Answer 24

1/4 thick outer which allows us to learn and store complex info., read, and make projections

Question 25

Cerebrum

Answer 25

largest part of brain containing frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal lobe

Question 26

frontal

Answer 26

thinking, personality

Question 27

parietal

Answer 27

body sensations

Question 28

occipital

Answer 28

vision

Question 29

temporal lobe

Answer 29

hearing, smell, vision

Question 30

Epilepsy

Answer 30

central nervous system disorder in which brain activity becomes abnormal, causing seizures

Question 31

Seizures

Answer 31

from simply staring blankly for a few seconds to a complete loss of consciousness and violent convulsions

Question 32

Division of labor

Answer 32

called lateralization or hemispheric specialization

Question 33

how are the two hemispheres connected?

Answer 33

by the corpus callosum; information is shared and processed by both sides of the brain

Question 34

left brain functions

Answer 34

right side of body control, math, and science skills. written and spoken language, objectivity, analytical, logic, reasoning

Question 35

right brain functions

Answer 35

left side of body control, 3D shapes, music, art, intuition, creativity, subjectivity, synthesizing, Emotion, Face recognition

Question 36

The Split Brain Operation

Answer 36

disrupt the major pathway between the brain hemispheres, but leave each hemisphere functioning almost completely independently; prevents seizures from spreading from one hemisphere to another; by Micheal Gazzniga and Roger Sperry; affects reading and speaking coordination

Question 37

cognitive neuroscience

Answer 37

attempts to understand the divide between our conscious interpretation and automatic perception of external stimuli

Question 38

parallel or dual processing

Answer 38

filtering simultaneously occurring events into our cognitive awareness or automatic perception

Question 39

Behavioral genetics

Answer 39

studies how individual differences arise through the interaction of genes and the environment

Question 40

Twin studies

Answer 40

compare the rates that a given behavioral trait is shared among identical and fraternal twins

Question 41

Adoption studies

Answer 41

compare those rates among biologically related relatives and adopted relatives

Question 42

Chromosomes

Answer 42

Long strands containing DNA situated in the nucleus of a cell

Question 43

Genes

Answer 43

Pieces of DNA inside each cell that tell the cell what to do

Question 44

Genome

Answer 44

The set of complete instructions for making an organism, containing all the genes in that organism

Question 45

The ultimate question about adoption studies

Answer 45

How much of an effect does parenting have?

Question 46

Temperament Studies

Answer 46

a person's stable emotional reactivity and intensity. Identical twins express similar temperaments, suggesting heredity predisposes temperament

Question 47

Heritability

Answer 47

the extent to which the differences among people are attributable to genes; % of the variability in a population due to genetics

Question 48

Genes and how they work

Answer 48

can influence traits that affect response; the environment can affect gene activity; stressful environment can trigger genes to manufacture neurotransmitters leading to depression

Question 49

Molecular Genetics

Answer 49

tries to identify genes that put people at risk for disorders; helps parents decide whether to abort or not