Brain Bits
What does the amygdala do?
What are dendrites?
What's the central nervous system composed of?
The brain and the spinal cord
What does serotonin do and what disease is it linked to?
Related to sleep and mood. Linked to depression
What does the occipital lobe do?
Plays a big part in vision
What does the hippocampus do?
Responsible for explicit memory and rewards
What are axons?
Sends messages to other neurons
What do mirror neurons do?
Responsible for empathy and imitation learning
What does the right side of the brain do?
Controls left side of the body, negative emotions, pitch perception, and arousal
What does the cerebellum do?
Coordination, balance, and implicit memory
What is the myelin sheath?
A fatty substance that insulates the axon and helps messages send faster
Which part of the nervous system is responsible for fight or flight?
Sympathetic
What do endorphins do?
Natural opiates (shields from pain, makes pleasure more...pleasurable)
What does the hypothalamus do?
4 Fs (Fornication, feeding, Fahrenheit, and fight or flight)
What does Broca's area do?
Speaks and forms words
What do glial cells do
Which part of the nervous system calms you down after a rush of adrenaline (fight or flight)?
Parasympathetic
What does acetylcholine do and what disease is it linked to?
Muscle contractions, learning, and memory. Linked to Alzheimer's
What does the medulla do?
Regulates heartbeat, breathing, and swallowing
What does Wernicke's area do?
Speech comprehension
What is the corpus callosum and what does it do?
Bundle of axons that link the two sides of the brain
What's the difference between efferent and afferent neurons?
Efferent: Carries info away from from the brain
Afferent: Carries info about the environment
Difference between antagonist and agonist drugs?
Antagonist: blocks neurotransmitter's effects
Agonist: mimics neurotransmitter's effects
What part of the brain the railroad spike went through Phineas Gage's brain, and what were the consequences?
Frontal lobe, changes to personality