Anatomy
How many main cranial nerves are there?
12
What part of the brain is responsible for survival?
Brain stem
What is dementia?
Syndromes with impairment in multiple aspects (enough that an individual can’t function independently)
What is the most common symptom of Tourette Syndrome?
How do depressant drugs affect the brain? What about stimulant drugs?
Depressants - slow brain activity
Stimulants - increases heart rate/BP, affects sleep, interferes with the reward pathway
White matter has myelinated axons (and is in the inner cerebral cortex)
What kinds of muscles do voluntary movement?
Skeletal muscles
What is the alternate name for Down Syndrome? Why is it called this?
Trisomy 21
Three copies of chromosome 21
What is dyscalculia?
A disorder affecting the ability to understand numbers and math facts
What are the two stages of sleep?
SWS (slow wave sleep) and REM (rapid eye movement)
What part of a neuron receives a signal, what part interprets the signal, and what part releases neurotransmitters?
Receive - dendrites
Interpret - body/soma
Release neurotransmitters - axon (terminals)
What are some functions of the frontal lobe (at least two)?
Voluntary movement, executive functions (achieving a goal), emotional expression, judgement, problem solving
What is the cause of Huntington's disease?
Genetically passed down
(if interpreted differently - degeneration of neurons in the substantia nigra)
What are parasomnias? Give two examples
Unusual behaviors that occur around sleep time
Ex: sleepwalking, night terrors, sleep related eating disorder, REM sleep behavior disorder, sleep paralysis, nightmare disorder, exploding head syndrome, sleep related hallucinations, bedwetting
Out of psychostimulants, designer/club drugs, and opioids, which is the most dangerous and why?
Designer/club drugs - are created in a laboratory, aren't monitored
What is the function of astrocytes?
Give nutrients to neurons
What are nodes of Ranvier and what is their purpose?
Unmyelinated parts of an axon
Allow for signals to be transmitted more quickly (saltatory conduction - the signal "jumps" from node to node rather than traveling along the entire axon)
What is narcolepsy, and what is it caused by?
Overwhelming daytime drowsiness with sudden attacks of sleep
Caused by loss of orexin
What is lissencephaly?
Smooth brain
Name any neurotransmitter and one of its functions.
GABA - chief inhibitory
Glutamate - chief excitatory
Ach - movement in skeletal muscles
Adrenaline/epinephrine - fight or flight
Norepinephrine - increase heart rate
Dopamine - voluntary movement, pleasure
Serotonin - "happy chemical", mood, memory, cognition
What are two of the three parts of the brain stem?
Midbrain, pons, and medulla oblongata
What does orexin/hypocretin do?
Stops sudden transitions into sleep
What part(s) of the brain are affected by Parkinson's?
Basal ganglia/substantia nigra
Name and describe a kind of tremor
Action tremor - voluntary movement of a muscle leads to some form of tremor
Resting tremor - tremor of a muscle when at rest
Essential tremor - most common type of tremor, in the hands and arms
Holmes Tremor - irregular one-sided jerks, similar to Parkinson’s, large movement
Dystonic tremor - in people with dystonia
Cerebellar tremor - tremor of the arms/legs after a voluntary movement, caused by cerebellum damage from a stroke, tumor, long term alcoholism, or other diseases
Asterixis - “flapping tremor”, tremor of the hand that looks like a bird flapping its wings
What kind of memory is the knowledge/ability to navigate your house?
Declarative/spatial