Unit 2 - The Brain

Question 1

What is the lesion process?

Answer 1

• Scientists can lesion (destroy) tiny clusters of brain cells, leaving surrounding tissue unharmed)

Question 2

What does it reveal when stimulating brain parts?

Answer 2

• Can be done electronically, chemically, or magnetically
• Depending on the stimulated part, people may experience different things (giggle, turn the head, hear voices, etc).

Question 3

What is an electroencephalogram (EEG)?

Answer 3

An amplified read out of electrical activity in your brains neurons
(is a cap with electrodes covered with a conductive gel)

Question 4

What is a CT scan?

Answer 4

• Takes x-ray pictures of your brain
• Can reveal brain damage

Question 5

What is a PET scan?

Answer 5

• Shows each brain area’s consumption of its chemical fuel
• Can see which parts of the brain are active with different stimuli
• Used to find diseases in the brain

Question 6

What is an MRI scan?

Answer 6

• Uses magnetic field to make scan showing areas of soft tissues
• Used to make pictures of structures inside our bodies
• Uses magnetic field and radio wave energy pulses
  fMRI: Shows the brain’s functioning, structure, and blood flow (can determine exactly what part of the brain is handling critical functions)

Question 7

What are the older parts of the brain?

Answer 7

• Brain stem (medulla + pons)
• Thalamus
• Reticular formation
• Cerebellum
• Limbic system (amygdala, hypothalamus, hippocampus)

Question 8

What is the medulla?

Answer 8

• The base of the brain stem
• Controls a persons heartbeat and breathing

Question 9

What is the pons?

Answer 9

• Located above the medulla and bridges the two hemispheres
• Helps with movement coordination

Question 10

What is the thalamus?

Answer 10

• On the top of the brain stem
• Receives information from all the senses except smell and directs it to the higher brain regions that deal those senses
• Can direct information from the higher brain to the medulla and cerebellum

Question 11

What is the reticular formation?

Answer 11

• On the inside of your brainstem between your ears that extend from the spinal cord through the thalamus
• Some sensory input from the spinal cord flows through the reticular formation and it filters the stimuli, relaying information to other brain areas.
• Enables arousal (makes you awake and alert)

Question 12

What is the cerebellum?

Answer 12

• Two wrinkled halves at the back of the brain that extends from the rear of the brainstem
• Enables nonverbal learning memory.
• Helps us judge time, modulate our emotions, and coordinate voluntary movement and balance
• Can process sensory input
  Process sounds and textures

Question 13

What is the amygdala?

Answer 13

• Two lima-bean-sized neural clusters in the limbic system
• Linked to emotion
• Responds when stressed
• If damaged, the person will no longer exhibit the fear they once felt towards something before the accident

Question 14

What is the hypothalamus?

Answer 14

• Part of the limbic system
• Located below the thalamus
• Directs maintenance activities such as eating, drinking, and your body temperature
• Works with the pituitary gland to regulate the endocrine system
• Linked to emotion and reward

Question 15

What is the hippocampus?

Answer 15

• A neural center located in the limbic system
• Helps process explicit memories for storage

Question 16

What is the cerebral cortex?

Answer 16

A thin surface layer of interconnected neural cells and is the brains ultimate control and information-processing center
- Includes the language brain areas

Question 17

What are glial cells?

Answer 17

Cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons

Question 18

How are lobes separated?

Answer 18

Lobes are separated by prominent features

Question 19

What is the motor cortex?

Answer 19

An area in the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movement

Question 20

What is the somatosensory cortex?

Answer 20

The area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch with movement sensations

Question 21

What is the visual cortex?

Answer 21

• Located in the occipital lobes
• Receives visual information and it travels to other areas that specialize in tasks.

Question 22

What is the auditory cortex?

Answer 22

• Located in the temporal lobes
• If stimulated, you may hear a sound

Question 23

What are association areas?

Answer 23

• Areas involved in higher mental functions like learning, remembering, and thinking
• Area in all four lobes

Question 24

What lobes make up the brain?

Answer 24

• Frontal lobe
• Temporal lobe
• Parietal lobe
• Occipital lobe

Question 25

What is the frontal lobe?

Answer 25

- Located just behind the forehead - Involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgments - Damage could alter personality and remove a person's moral compass

Question 26

What is the parietal lobe?

Answer 26

- Portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the top of the head and toward the rear (b/w the frontal and occipital lobes) - Receives sensory input for touch and body position - Enable mathematical, and spatial reasoning, and our intentions

Question 27

What is the temporal lobe?

Answer 27

- Portion of the cerebral cortex lying roughly above the ears - Including the auditory areas, each receiving information primarily from the opposite ear - Enables us to recognize faces

Question 28

What is the occipital lobe?

Answer 28

- Portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the back of the head - Includes areas that receive information from the visual fields

Question 29

What is plasticity?

Answer 29

The brains ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience

Question 30

How does plasticity help blind/ deaf people?

Answer 30

It helps them use unused brain areas for other uses - Disease/damage frees up other brain areas normally dedicated to specific functions

Question 31

What is neurogenesis?

Answer 31

- The formation of new neurons - The brains attempt to bend itself

Question 32

What are the language brain areas?

Answer 32

- Broca's area: Helps with a person’s ability to speak - Wernicke's area: Helps with a person's understanding of languages

Question 33

What is lateralization?

Answer 33

The tendency for some functions to be specialized in certain hemispheres

Question 34

What is the corpus callosum?

Answer 34

The large bond of neural fibers, connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them

Question 35

Who conducted the experiment where they divided the brain's hemispheres to stop seizures?

Answer 35

Philip Vogel and Joseph Bogen

Question 36

What happens if the corpus callosum is split?

Answer 36

- It can cause you to do one thing while processing another - Hemispheres can't communicate messages - Can cause a person to fail to name a picture of a familiar object

Question 37

What is the left hemisphere for?

Answer 37

Speaking/calculating and interpreting

Question 38

What is the right hemisphere for?

Answer 38

-Making inferences - modulating our speech -orchestrating our sense of self - Facial recognition

Question 39

What is cognitive neuroscience?

Answer 39

- The study of the brain activity linked with cognition - Cognitive neuroscientists can "read your mind" based on cortical activation patterns

Question 40

What is dual processing?

Answer 40

The principle is that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks

Question 41

What is the visual perception track?

Answer 41

Enables us to think about the world, to recognize things and to plan future actions

Question 42

What is the visual action track?

Answer 42

Guides our moment-to-moment movements

Question 43

Lateral hypothalamus vs ventromedial hypothalamus

Answer 43

Lateral hypothalamus: When stimulated, it makes you hungry (when destroyed you'll never be hungry again) Ventromedial hypothalamus: When stimulated, you'll feel full (when destroyed, you'll never feel full again)