MCAT Psych/soc > Chapter 1 - Brain > Flashcards

Chapter 1 - Brain Flashcards

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1
Q

Franz Gall

A
  • behavior, intellect, and personality are linked to brain anatomy
  • phrenology - brain expands when trait is larger. Cause large head
  • measure attributes by measuring brain
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2
Q

Pierre Flourens

A
  • functions of sections of brain
  • extirpation/ablation - remove part of brain and observe behavior
  • specific parts have specific functions
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3
Q

william james

A
  • functionalism - how thought leads to adaption to environment
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4
Q

John Dewey

A
  • functionalism
  • study whole organism as it adapts to environment
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5
Q

Paul Broca

A
  • link lesions to specific impairments
  • speech connected to specific left side area (Broca’s area)
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6
Q

Hermann von Helmholtz

A
  • measure speed of nerve impulse
  • bridge to natural science
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7
Q

Charles Sherrington

A
  • existance of synapses
  • originally thought of as an electrical process but is actually chemical
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8
Q

sensory neurons

A
  • aka afferent
  • transmit sensory info
    • spinal cord to brain
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9
Q

motor neurons

A
  • aka efferent
  • brain to spinal cord to muscles/glands
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10
Q

Interneuron

A

between neurons and are most numerous neuron

mostly in spinal cord and brain

reflexive behavior

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11
Q

reflex arc

A
  • immediate response to a stimulus without the help of the brain
  • uses interneurons
  • info sent to the brain but reflex has already occured
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12
Q

nervous system divisions

A
  • central - brain and spinal cord
  • peripheral - nerve tissue and fibers outside of the brain, spinal nerves and cranial nerves, olfactory and optic nerves
    • somatic
    • autonomic
      • sympathetic
      • parasympathetic
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13
Q

somatic nervous system

A
  • sensory and motor neurons
  • sensory - afferent
  • motor - efferent
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14
Q

autonamic nervous system

A
  • regulate heartbeat, respiration, digestion, glands, body temp
  • involuntary muscle control
  • sympathetic and parasympathetic systems are antagonistic - oppose each other
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15
Q

parasympathetic nervous system

A
  • conserve energy
  • reduce heart rate, constrict bronchi, increase digestion, constrict pupils, stimulate saliva, contracts bladder
  • acetylcholine is the responsible NT
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16
Q

sympathetic nervous system

A
  • activated by stress
  • fight or flight
  • rage and fear reactions
  • increase heart rate, blood to muscles, relax bronchi, increase blood glucose, decrease digestion, dilate eyes, release epinephrine into blood
  • secrete adrenaline and noradrenaline (epinephrine and norepinephrine)
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17
Q

Layers of meninges

A
  • meninges - connective tissue. protects brain, anchors to skull, resorb CSF
    • closest to brain - pia mater, arachnoid mater, dura mater
  • superficial to meninges is the bone then periosteum and skin
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18
Q

Overall brain structure

A
  • hindbrain and midbrain form the brainstem
    • most primitive
  • forebrain - includes limbic system (emotion and memory - aggression, fear, pleasure, pain)
    • cerebral cortex - most recent evolutionarily
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19
Q

hindbrain

A
  • rhombencephalon - controls balance, motor coordination, breathing, digestion, arousal (sleep/wake)
  • divides into -
    • myelencephalon - medulla oblongata - vital functions
    • metencephalon - pons and cerebellum
      • pons - pathway between cortex and medulla
      • cerebellum - posture, balance, coordinate body movement
      • impaired by alcohol
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20
Q

midbrain

A
  • mesencephalon - receive motor and sensory info from body
  • involuntary response to visual/audio stimuli
    • superior colliculus - visual sensory input
    • inferior colliculus - auditory sensory input
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21
Q

forebrain

A
  • prosencephalon - complex perceptual, cognitive, behavioral processes. Emotion and memory
  • greatest influence on human behavior
    • telencephalon - cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, limbic system
    • diencephalon - thalamus, hypothalamus, posterior pituitary gland, pineal gland
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22
Q

neuropsychology

A
  • functions and behaviors associated with specific regions of the brain
  • study brain lesions in order to see affected behavior/function
    • difficult in humans, use lab animals and precisely cause lesion
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23
Q

cortical maps

A
  • electrically stimulate the brain and make a map
  • use patient input to make map
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24
Q

electroencephalogram (EEG)

A
  • monitor electrical activity of large groups of neurons
  • place electrodes on the scalp
  • noninvasive
  • map brain
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25
regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF)
* broad patterns based on increase blood flow to areas of the brain * assumes blood flow increases as brain is active * uses radioactive blood dye
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Common brain scanning methods
CT - computed tomography - X rays at different angles to make cross sectional images PET - positron emission tomography - track radioactive sugar MRI - magnetic resonance imaging - magnetic field and maps hydrogen density fMRI - functional MRI - measures changes associated with blood flow. monitor neural activity
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thalamus
relay input sensory info all senses except smell sort and transmit to cortex
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hypothalamus
homeostatic functions (metabolism, temp, water), emotions (arousal, aggression, sex), control endocrine, autonomic NS, hunger, thirst, sexual behavior lateral - eating and drinking (LH, lacks hunger when destroyed) ventromedial - satiety center. signals stop eating (VMH, very much hungry when destroyed) anterior - sexual behavior, sleep, body temp (A, asexual, when destroyed) Four F's - feeding, fighting, flighting, functioning (sexual)
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posterior pituitary and pineal gland
* post. pituitary - release hypothalamic hormones such as ADH and oxytocin * pineal - secrete melatonin - regulate circadian rhythms * signals from retina to coordinate with sunlight
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basal ganglia
* coordinate muscle movement * receive info from cortex and relay * extrapyramidal system - gather info about pody position and sends to CNS * smooth movement and steady posture * parkinsons - destruction of basal ganglia
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limbic system
* emotion and memory * septal nuclei - primary pleasure center - associated with addiction * amygdala - defensive and aggresive behavior * fear and rage * hippocampus - learning and memory processes * consolidate into long term memory * communicate through the fornix
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anterograde and retrograde amnesia
anterograde - not being able to establish new long term memories. Prior memory intact retrograde - memory loss of events before brain injury
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cerebral cortex
aka neocortex * bumps are gyri * folds are sulci * cerebral hemispheres are the halves * frontal - executive function * parietal - touch, temp, pain * occipital - vision * temporal - hearing
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frontal lobe
* prefrontal cortex - executive function - perception, memory, emotion, impulse, long term planning * association area - integrates input from diverse brain regions * primary motor cortex - precentral gyrus - initiates voluntary motor movements * Brocas area - speech, in dominant hemisphere
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projection area
rudimentary or simple perceptual and motor tasks - processes sensory information
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homunculus
* motor - maps areas of brain used for motor skills. Fine motor skills use larger area than proportional to that body part * somatosensory - sensitive areas like fingers and face have large areas on map
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parietal lobe
* somatosensory cortex - postcentral gyrus * destination for all sensory input signals for touch, pressure, temp, and pain * central parietal - spatial processing and manipulation - mapreading * orient in 3D space
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occipital lobe
* visual cortex - aka striate cortex * sensation and perception of visual info
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temporal lobe
* auditory cortex - sound processing - speech, music, other * wernickes area - larguage reception and comprehension * also helps with memory processing, emotion, language
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contralaterally and ipsilaterally
* contra - one side of brain communicates with opposite side of the body * motor neurons * ipsa - same side of brain and body communicate * hearing
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dominant hemisphere
* usually left * more stimulated during language reception adn production * analytic in function - language, logic, math * not determined by handedness
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nondominant hemisphere
* usually right * intuition, creativity, music cognition, spacial processing * emotional tone of language * faces, music, emotion, geometry, sense of direction
43
acetylcholine
* CNS and PNS * muscle control * excite skeletal and inhibit cardiac muscle * CNS - attention and arousal, excitatory * parasympathetic and efferent (motor) of somatic * sympathetic - small influence - in ganglia and innervate sweat glands
44
epinephrine and norepinephrine
* catecholamines * monoamines * experience of emotions * control alertness * sympathetic NS - promote flight or fight * norepi at local level, epi at systemic (from adrenal medulla) * low norepi - depression * high norepi - anxiety and mania
45
dopamine
* catecholamine * monoamine * movement and posture * high conc in basal ganglia * dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia - symptoms caused by too much dopamine or oversensitivity * parkinsons - loss of dopaminergic neurons
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serotonin
* monoamine * mood, eating, sleeping, dreaming * high - manic * low - depression
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GABA, Glycine, Glutamate
* GABA - gamma-amminobutyric acid * inhibitory postsynaptic potentials - stabilize neural activity * cause hyperpolarization * glycine - inhbitory NT in CNS. Increase Cl- into neuron, hyperpolarize * glutamate - excitatory NT
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peptide NT
* neuromodulators aka neuropeptides * chain of events cause effect * slower and longer effects * endorphins - natural painkillers. similar to morphine/opioids * enkephalins is a relative
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hypophyseal portal system
* hypothalamus links the endocrine and nervous systems * controls function of pituitary gland and hormone release * portal system connects the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland
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pituitary gland
* anterior and posterior * anterior - master gland * FSH, LH, ACTH, TSH, prolactin, endorphins, GH * regulate activity of other endocrine glands * posterior - ADH, oxytocin
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adrenal glands
* top of kidneys * medulla and cortex * medulla - epi and norepi * cortex - corticosteroids such as cortisol, testosterone, estrogen
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innate behavior
* genetically programmed as a result of evolution * regardless of environment
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learned behaviors
* not hereditary * experience and environment
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adaptive value
* extent to which a trait or behavior positively benefits a species by influencing the evolutionary fitness of the species * leads to adapation and natural selection
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nature v. nurture
* genetics vs environmental influence * combination of both influences
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family studies
* compare rate of trait within a family to rate of the trait in general population * cannot distinguish between environment and genetic influence
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twin studies
* concordance rate - likelihood that both twins exhibit the same trait * monozygotic are identical and have 100% same genes * dizygotic have about 50% same genes * difference between mono and di twins is likely hereditary factor * compare twins raised together and seperate to test environment
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adoption study
* compare adoptive child to bio parents and to adoptive parents * bio parents have same genes different environment * adoptive parents have different genes and the same environment
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neurulation
* ectoderm overlying the notocord begins to furroe and form neural groove surrounded by two neural folds * leading edge of neural fold are neural crest * forms disparate tissue - dorsal root ganglia, melanocytes, and calcitonin producing cells (thyroid) * Close furrow to form neural tube - CNS * alar plate of neural tube - sensory neurons * basal plate of neural tube - motor neurons * neural tube folds on itself several times to become the brain
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rubella
cataracts deafness heart defects mental retardation
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Pharmaceuticals during pregancy
thalidomide - malformed limbs, taken to combast morning sickness antiepileptic - neural tube defects. spina bifida and anencephaly
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environmental factors during pregnancy
* malnutrition - leading cause of abnormal development * slow growth, mental retardation, reduce immunity * cigarettes - slow growth, high heart rate, premature birth * alcohol - slow growth * X-rays
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primitive reflexes
* disappear with age * rooting - turning head to touch of cheek * sucking and swallowing * moro - abrupt movement of head causes flinging out arms and slowly retracting them and crying * asymmetric response could mean neuromuscular problem * babinski - toes spread apart when sole of foot stimulated * grasping - close fingers around object
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motor skill development
* same age and order therefore used to assess child * uncoordinated movements lead to coordinated movements later * gross motor skills - large muscles/whole body, sitting, crawling, walking * fine motor skills - small muscles, specific and delicate, drawing, catching, waving
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social development
* stranger anxiety - 7 months * seperation anxiety - 12 months * soliatry to onlooker play * parallel play - 2 years * gender identity - 3 years, gender psecific play, knows full name * age 5 - conform to peers, romantic feelings * 6-12 - same sex friend circles * 13+ self sufficient and desire independence and rebell, cross gender friendship, sexual orientation and relationships
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developmental milestones
* themes * social - parental to self to others oriented * language and motor skills become more complex * begin very basic * motor - head to toe and core to extremities
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