Neuroanatomy
This fatty white substance insulates axons to dramatically speed up electrical signal transmission.
What is myelin?
This primary excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system plays a vital role in learning and memory.
What is glutamate?
The typical resting membrane potential of a standard neuron is approximately this many millivolts.
What is negative 70 mV?
This psychological phenomenon refers to the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life.
What is neuroplasticity?
This class of drugs mimics a neurotransmitter by binding to its receptor and activating it.
What is an agonist?
The largest part of the human brain, split into two hemispheres and responsible for higher-level functions.
What is the cerebrum?
This main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain acts as a natural brake to calm neural activity.
What is GABA (Gamma-aminobutyric acid)?
During this phase of an action potential, voltage-gated sodium channels open and ions rush into the cell, making the inside positive.
What is depolarization?
Located in the left frontal lobe, damage to this specific brain region results in expressive (non-fluent) aphasia.
What is Broca's area?
This progressive neurodegenerative disorder is characterized pathologically by the accumulation of amyloid-beta plaques and tau tangles.
What is Alzheimer's disease?
Often called the emotional brain, this subcortical system includes the amygdala, hippocampus, and cingulate gyrus.
What is the limbic system?
Commonly known as the reward chemical, this monoamine neurotransmitter is heavily involved in reinforcement learning and motivation.
What is dopamine?
This electrochemical gradient is actively maintained by a cellular pump that moves three sodium ions out for every two potassium ions in.
What is the sodium-potassium pump?
Famous clinical patient H.M. had his medial temporal lobes removed, which tragically left him unable to form new explicit types of this memory.
What is declarative (or episodic) memory?
This protective cellular barrier relies on tight junctions between endothelial cells to tightly regulate what passes from the bloodstream into the central nervous system.
What is the blood-brain barrier (BBB)?
This dense bundle of white matter fibers connects the left and right cerebral hemispheres.
What is the corpus callosum?
This neuromodulator regulates mood, sleep, and appetite, and is the primary target of SSRI antidepressants.
What is serotonin?
This refractory period occurs when a hyperpolarized membrane makes it temporarily impossible to fire another action potential, regardless of stimulus strength.
What is the absolute refractory period?
Damage to this brain region results in decreased impulse control, poor emotional regulation, and other changes in personality.
What is the prefrontal cortex?
This branch of pharmacology studies how drugs affect the body and their mechanisms of action at the cellular receptor level.
What is pharmacodynamics?
Located in the ventral midbrain, this structure produces dopamine and degenerates in Parkinson's disease.
What is the substantia nigra?
These endogenous opioid neuropeptides bind to mu-receptors to inhibit pain signals and produce a sense of euphoria.
What are endorphins?
This term describes the jumping of an action potential down a myelinated axon from one Node of Ranvier to the next.
What is saltatory conduction?
This specific non-associative learning process involves a decrease in behavioral response after repeated exposure to a non-threatening stimulus.
What is habituation?
These proteins serve as the primary binding targets for benzodiazepines and barbiturates to enhance chloride ion influx.
What are GABA A receptors?