Discovering. Topic 11: The brain and how to study it (brain )
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- Created by: Chookie
- Created on: 20-05-17 16:37
What are the three major parts of the brain?
The brainstem, cerebellum, the cerebral hemispheres
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How many lobes does the cerebrum consist of?
4
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What does the cerebrum contain?
The Cortex (outer layers) and subcortical structures
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What are the three parts the brain is divided into?
The hindbrain, midbrain and forebrain
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What is the hindbrain?
The lower part of the brainstem and the cerebellum
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What is the midbrain?
The top part of the brain stem
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What is the forebrain?
Is the cerebral hemispheres
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What is the average weight of a brain at birth?
0.34 kilograms
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What is the average weight of a brain in adults?
1.4 kilograms
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Does a larger brain mean more intelligence?
No, but the size of the specific areas is important
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What affects brain intelligence?
How you use the brain and the efficiency of the connections
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Do men and women have different brains?
Yes
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Who has the larger brain men or women?
Men, even after accounting for body size
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Is the hippocampus bigger in women or in men?
In woman
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Is the amygdala bigger in women or in men?
In men
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Why is it important to understand how the brain is different in different sexes?
It could help to explain differences in autism depression and Alzheimer's
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What protects the brain?
The skull and the meninges
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What does the meninges consist of?
Dura mater, arachnoid (matter), tyre matter
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What is Dura mater?
The outer layer of the lining of the skull
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What is arachnoid (mater)?
It contains blood vessels, subarachnoid space is filled with Cerebral spinal fluid (CSF)
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What is CSF?
Cerebral spinal fluid
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What is Pia Mater?
It covers the brain
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What does the brain stem consist of?
The midbrain, pons, medulla
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What does the brain stem do?
Controls physiological functions and automatic behaviours
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What is the medulla?
It controls respiration and heart rate, some reflexes
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What is the pons?
It controls equilibrium, sleep, taste, hearing
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What is the midbrain: tectum/tegmentum?
controls primitive sensory-motor functions like orientation towards sensory information
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What does the cerebellum control?
Controls and coordinates movement posture and balance. It receives information from the senses and from the Cortex of the frontal lobe
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What are the four lobes of the brain?
The frontal lobe, perietal lobe, occipital lobe, temporal lobe
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What do the subcortical structures consist of?
The thalamus, hypothalamus and pituitary gland
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What does the hypothalamus do?
It is a gland and is responsible for homeostasis, monitoring blood composition (e.g. for hormones), controlling involuntary endocrine (hormone) system via the pituitary gland and controlling the autonomic nervous system
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What is the master gland for the endocrine system?
The hypothalamus
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What do endocrine glands do?
Secrete hormones into the blood- these bind too and simulate receptors in the target cells
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What do the pituitary glands hormones influence?
The actions of target cells in other glands ( adrenal gland, thyroid gland etc.)
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What controls much of the autonomic nervous system?
The hypothalamus
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What is the thalamus?
The gateway to the cerebral cortex, it receives and integrates sensory information, assists brainstem with movement
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What are some other subcortical structures?
The Amygdala and the hippocampus
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What are the Amygdala and the hippocampus involved in?
Emotional processing, learning
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What are the amygdala and the hippocampus part of? (apart from the subcortical structures)
They're part of the limbic system and have connections to the prefrontal cortex
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What does the amygdala do?
It is responsible for emotional behaviour. Controls fight, flight or freeze reactions. is responsible for stress and anxiety. Thought to be especially involved in negative emotions (although recent evidence contradicts this, responds to positive more
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What does the hippocampus do?
Controls memory and navigation in space and learning new things
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What is the basal ganglia?
A subcortical structure, (subcortical nuclei). Structures involved in the smooth execution of movement and thought. It has looped connections to the frontal cortex.
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What is the cerebral cortex?
Largest area of the brain, it is the most recently developed. It mediates motor activity and is involved in higher functions. Complex behaviours such as planning, recognition, manipulating objects, problem solving, self reflection, and personality.
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What does the Cerebral cortex surface consist of?
Grey matter (cell bodies)
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How does the cerebral cortex connect to other regions?
Via white matter (axons)
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How are the two cortical hemisphere linked?
By a huge bundle of white matter fibres, the corpus callosum
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What do the two cortical hemispheres do together?
Exchange information work together
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Why is the brain wrinkled?
The brain is wrinkled to increase surface area without taking up more volume. More complex brains have more wrinkles and thus more grey matter.
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What are fissures on the brain?
Major grooves
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What are sulci on the brain?
Minor grooves
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What are gyri on the brain?
Hillocks between the grooves
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What does the prefrontal cortex do?
Is responsible for Complex thought, emotions, moral decisions, social behaviour and personality, executive functions, decision-making, problem solving
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What is the motor Association area/Cortex responsible for?
Complex processing of Motoring information and planning
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What is the Broca's area responsible for?
Speech production
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What is the primary motor area/Cortex responsible for?
The initiation of voluntary movement, topographic organisation
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What is the primary sensory area/Primary somatosensory cortex responsible for?
Detection and simple processing of sensory information
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What is the primary Association area / sensory Association Cortex responsible for?
Complex processing of sensory information and recognition
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What is the wernicke area responsible for?
Language comprehension
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Is the brain laterally divided?
Yeah
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Is there a left and right of every brain structure for example the prefrontal cortex?
Yes
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Do both halves of the brain perform the same function?
Yes they are also strongly interconnected
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Are language functions more left or right dominated in the brain?
The left side is more dominant of language functions (for 95% of right handers, for 70% of left handers (the others are right-dominant or bilateral), if there is early brain damage in the left, language functions develop in the right.
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Are attentional functions more left or right dominated in the brain?
The right side is more dominant of language functions
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Is face processing more left or right dominant in the brain?
The right side is more dominant in face processing
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Why might we have two of each structure in the brain?
For multitasking
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What do lesion studies do?
Investigate the effects of natural and induced brain damage
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What is lesioning?
When there is experimentally induced damage to an area of the brain, the behavioral deficit produced allows the researcher to casually infer the normal function of the area it is a very powerful technique but is also invasive, done in animal studies
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What is rTMS?
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation
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What do repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) studies do?
Alternative Magnetic Fields are passed over the scalp inducing electrical currents and the underlying Cortex this stimulates the effects of lesioning without damage this modulates cortical activity.
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What are psychophysical techniques to look at the brain?
The measuring of electrical activity of the central and peripheral nervous system
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How do you measure the autonomic nervous system?
Electrodermal activity (sweating) indicates arousal and is measured by galvanic skin response (GSR) . The heart rate also indicates arousal and the electrical potentials generated by the heart are measured by ECG (electrocardiography)
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How do you measure the somatic nervous system?
Muscular activity is measured by EMG (electromyography) this can detect very subtle changes in muscle excitability without visible movement
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How do you measure the central nervous system?
Cortical activity ("brain waves") is measured by an EEG (electroencephalography)
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What do neuroimaging techniques to look at the brain do?
Image of the structure or the function of the brain. Structural imaging to elicit connectivity or the location of lesion and/or abnormalities
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What are neuroimaging techniques?
CT or MRI scans
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How do you measure the electrical activity of the brain?
With magnetoencephalography (MEG)
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How do you measure the metabolic activity of a brain?
With a PET or FMRI scan
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What is computerised (axial) tomography to image the brain?
Moving X-rays are used to image 2D "slices" (tomograms) of the brain these are then combined to form a 3D image (CT/CAT scan) reflecting the different tissue characteristics
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What is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) ?
Magnetic fields briefly charge protons with energy and then measure this energy as it's given off, different tissues give off energy differently
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What is magnetoencephalography (MEG)?
Cortical neural activity produces electrical Fields. The EEG measures these Fields, Magnetic Fields are produced perpendicular to electrical ones and these are then measured by the MEG. There is a good temporal resolution but better spatial.
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What does a PET scan look at?
It's measure reading a blood flow
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What does an frm I look at?
It can measure blood oxidisation
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What is an issue with fmri?
Despite having good spatial resolution it has poor temporal resolution because of the time taken for blood oxidisation to occur is slow
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Other cards in this set
Card 2
Front
How many lobes does the cerebrum consist of?
Back
4
Card 3
Front
What does the cerebrum contain?
Back
Card 4
Front
What are the three parts the brain is divided into?
Back
Card 5
Front
What is the hindbrain?
Back
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