Basics of the Brain
The brain weighs....
About 3 lbs
Sitting at the top of the Brain stem, this directs all incoming and outgoing sensory & motor information, EXCEPT for smell.
THALAMUS
Located in the back of the Brain and is responsible for interpreting visual stimuli and functions.
Occipital Lobe
This makes us unique as a species. Outer layer of neural tissue that is the body's information-processing center.
Cerebral Cortex
Analyzes how the brain, neurotransmitters and other aspects of our biology influence our behaviors, thoughts, and feelings.
Bio-psychology
What is Plasticity?
The Brain can modify itself after SOME types of damage. Can modify structure and function.
This system wraps around the Thalamus and helps give us the ability to form emotions & memory.
Limbic System
Largely involved in auditory processing, interpreting language and sounds.
Temporal Lobe
The "receiver" of the neuron: accepts incoming messages and consists of finely BRANCHED fibers.
Dendrites
The brain grows _____ times in size from infancy to adulthood.
4 TIMES
The tremors associated with Parkinson's disease can be caused by a deficit or death of the nerve cells that produce this Neurotransmitter.
Dopamine
This Lobe sits on top of the head and is responsible for processing sensory information & mathematical reasoning.
Parietal Lobe
The firing of a neuron where an impluse travels down the axon is know as
Action Potential
What did psychologists and neuroscientists learn from Phineas Gage?
-Mental Changes due to accidents
-Emergence of psychosurgery
What are four types of neurotransmitters?
dopamine, acetylcholine, serotonin, endorphins, GABA, Glutamate, Norepinephrine
Chemical messengers released in to the gaps between neurons are called?
Neurotransmitters
Associated with higher level thinking, motor skills, reasoning, and expressive language. Damage to this region can cause a change in personality or socialization and risk taking.
*Think Phineas Gage
Frontal Lobe
This Neurotransmitter affects hunger, sleep and mood.
Serotonin
The hypothalamus controls and regulates
body temperature, hunger, thirst, and endocrine system
What Lobe of the Brain was impacted in Phineas Gage's accident? What was he like after the accident?
Frontal Lobe, personality changed-couldn't work the same job. Died early from complications of the accident.
Located in the back part of the Temporal Lobe, damage to this area could impact speech and language comprehension-causing a person to speak in a jumbled "word salad".
Wernicke's Area
Damage to this lobe can impact memory, speech perception and language skills.
*Think Lucy from 50 First Dates
Temporal Lobe
When an Action Potential is released, the axon either fires or it does not. This is known as