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The Brain Basics
The Basics of the Brain anatomy and Function
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What are the four major areas of the brain: | Cerebrum, Cerebellum, Medulla Oblongata, Hypothalamus. |
| Cerebrum: | Split into two halves, and highly folded grey matter on top which is knows as the Cerebral Cortex. Controls mostly conscious thought and movement, ability to learn, think, speak and see are controlled. |
| Gray Matter: | This is unmyelinated dendrites and axons along with Neurons with cell bodies. |
| Cerebellum: | This is the region of the brain which COORDINATES the movements of the body. Also handles the automatic control of the muscles involved with posture etc. |
| Medulla Oblongata: | This is the region of the brain that controls heart rate and breathing rate. Also automatic controls of the bodily functions, such as peristalsis etc. |
| Hypothalamus: | This is the region of brain that controls thermoregulation and also contains chemoreceptors to detect blood pH. Also, mediates the secretion of hormones. |
| What are three major ways of brain imaging: | CT Scans (Computed Tomography), MRI Scans (Magnetic resonance Imaging) and fMRI scan. |
| CT Scans: | Computed Tomography, this is when many xrays are used to map out the basic areas of the brain, used to detect structure, dense areas are higher mass and different regions can be used to identify tumors and blood present. |
| MRI: | Magnetic Resonance Imaging, using H+ spin and electromagnetic field and radio waves a more detailed image of the brain can be produced, showing more clearly the structure of the brain, used to diagnose more extensively the size and extent of tumors etc. |
| fMRI: | Functional MRI, these are lives pictures beamed to a computer of an active brain, they monitor the amount of O2 in blood in the brain and if a certain stimulus is applied and more blood rushes to specific areas. Relates Structure and function. |
| What are the two aspects which influence development: | Nature and Nurture. |
| Nature: | The Genetic influence on development, genes coding specifically for certain areas of the brain to develop (such as reflexes and production of certain chemicals). |
| Nurture: | The influence of the environment in which a person has grown up in on the development on the brain, e.g. amount of light at a critical period on visual cortex development. |
| Give 5 ways in which nature and nurture can be investigated: | New Born studies, Twin studies, brain damaged people studies, cross cultural studies, Animal experimentation. |
| Animal Experimentation: | Some animals have similar physiology to us and using them to investigate behaviour, if it is innate or learned, can be useful. Also, can be used to investigate critical windows (visual cortex development). |
| How have animals been used to investigate brain development: | Hubel and Wiesel investigated visual cortex development in kittens and monkeys, Rats have been tested on to see if certain genes (when removed) cause brain development alterations, isolation of rats -> deformities in brain structure. |
| Newborn Studies: | Babies are born with many reflexes which they have not had time to learn from their environment, therefore these behaviours and their related brain structures must be nature. However, they don't have the ability to speak, they learn through nurture. |
| Twin Studies: | Identical twins are genetically identical, so any differences in them and their brain development must be down to nurture. |
| Brain Damage studies: | People who have strokes often lose functionality, because of brain death, however some people can regain function, meaning these neurons are able to change, and make new connections. |
| Cross cultural studies: | People growing up in different cultures develop very different behaviours and perceptions of depth, meaning this area of the brain is influence by nurture. Carpentered world people are fooled by some optical illusions which Zulus are not. |
| Habituation: | The diminishing response to a repeated stimuli which does not produce reward or punishment. |
| What are two types of learned behaviour: | Conditioning and Habituation |
| Conditioning: | Relating a stimulus with an outcome; pavlov's dog experiment. |
| How to investigate habituation: | Tapping a tortious or using a snail and tapping its eyes. |
| How does habituation occur: | A stimuli is applied which causes no reward or punishment. Repeating this stimuli will result in a reduced effect on the organism, this is because the organism learns to ignore it. |
| Why is Habituation useful: | Ignoring pointless stimuli saves energy, time and allows the organism to use these things to reproduce, find food and live its life. Also, reduces waste. |
| Physiologically, what occurs during habituation: | Ca2+ channels become less responsive to a stimuli at the presynaptic membrane, less Ca2+ is released into the knob and fewer vesicles release neurotransmitter, reducing amount of AP at post cleft synapse. |
| How is Habituation different to accommodation: | Habituation involves Ca2+ channels reducing sensitivity to stimuli in sensory neuron, Accommodation involves the eventual use of all neurotransmitters. Habituation can be permanent, accommodation is until more transmitter is produced. |
| Give 4 reasons against animals being used for experimentation: | Unethical as Animals have right to free life, not identical to humans so results may be invalid, Alternatives are available, Causes pain and distress. |
| Give 4 reasons for using animals: | Similarities to humans, strict protocols for using them to reduce pain, alternatives aren't effective in whole body responses (and behaviour), using humans would be worse. |
| Give two examples of Habituation: | Snails response to being touched on the head/eyes. Prairie dogs and their shouts to alert others to presence of humans. |
| What is a 'Critical Window': | A certain period of time in the life of an organism in which, if a specific stimuli is not received, the brain will not develop the ability to handle a certain stimuli. |
| Give an example of a critical window: | The visual cortex of animals, including humans, will only develop properly is signals from the eyes are received during a specific time (between 4 and 12 weeks in cats etc). |
| What is the function of the Visual cortex: | To receive signals for the eyes and develop an image which can be understood by the organism, it process visual information. |
| What is the visual cortex divided into: | Ocular dominance columns. |
| What are ocular dominance columns: | These are columns of neurons in the visual cortex which, which alternate, with alternating columns receving information from left then right eyes. |
| What does an immature visual cortex look like? | At first, columns are linear, overlapping and neurons to them are crossing over and the signals from the right and left eyes are rather all over the place. |
| What happens to the cortex during the critical window of development (normally): | The columns become delineated and defined, neurons from the eyes are pruned to ensure that the left eye columns only receives information from the left eye. |
| How does 'Pruning' of the neurons to the visual cortex occur: | When the synapse between a neuron and the visual cortex is stimulated, it reinforces this connect, strengthens the synapse. It also causes an inhibitory effect on the nearby neurons from the opposing eye. The neurons compete for space on the visual cortex |
| What occurs when one eye is closed for the critical window: | The eye which isn't shut sends signals to the cortex and the ocular dominance columns for this eye will develop much more than the other eye, as the synapses will cause inhibition in the opposing eye. The columns for one eye will become larger. |
Created by:
mjwilson1988
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