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Chapter 4-5
Central Nervous System and Peripheral Nervous System
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Central Nervous System - Function and 2 sections | - Transmits and receives messages to and from the PNS (Peripheral Nervous System) - Comprises of the Brain and the Spinal Cord (Connects brain and PNS) |
| Peripheral Nervous System - Function and 2 sections | - Carries messages to and from the Central Nervous System - Automatic Nervous System and Somatic Nervous System |
| The Brain | - Performs numerous functions to keep you alive such as your heartbeat and breathing. - an organ of soft nervous tissue contained in the skull of vertebrates, functioning as the coordinating centre of sensation and intellectual and nervous activity. |
| Functions of the Brain | - Sends and receives messages through its nervous system via the spinal cord in order to control your breathing and maintaining the right amount of oxygen amongst other things. - Continuously monitors + regulates almost all the internal conditions/body |
| The Cerebral Cortex | - Is involved with information processing activities such as perception, language, learning, memory, thinking, problem - solving and voluntary bodily movements. - Some areas are dedicated to specific functions Eg. Primary Motor Cortex |
| The Cerebral Cortex - Three Broad Categories | Broad Categories - Various Sensory cortex areas - The Motor Cortex areas - Association cortex areas |
| The Cerebral Cortex - Four Regions | Regions - Frontal Lobe - Parietal Lobe - Temporal Lobe - Occipital Lobe |
| Cerebral Hemispheres - Appearance | - Cerebral Cortex is described as having two halves, called Cerebral hemispheres - Are two almost symmetrical brain structures that appear to be separated by a deep groove running from the front to the back of the brain. |
| Cerebral Hemispheres, Are they completely separated from each other? | - The hemispheres are not completely separated, they are connected at several points by strands of nerve fibre - Most important of these strands is a bundle of nerve fibres called the Corpus Callosum that connects the left and right hemispheres. |
| Cerebral Hemispheres - Contrast | Are alike in: - Size - Shape - Structures - Functions (they control the motor + sensory structures for each side of the body) - Each hemisphere also has specialised functions |
| Corpus Callosum | - Is a band of nerve tissue that connects the left and right cerebral hemispheres and serves as the main communication pathway between them. -Acts as a ‘bridge’ for neural messages/ interactions between the 2 hemispheres. |
| Lobes - Characteristics | Lobes contain areas of cortex that have: - Specialised sensory or motor functions - Association areas - Sensory areas - Motor areas |
| Association Areas | - Each lobe receives and combines information from more specialised areas allowing us to undertake more complex tasks. - Association do not have any specific sensory or motor function. - Are located in all four lobes of each hemisphere. |
| Motor Areas | - Receives and processes information about voluntary bodily movements. (Intentional movements) Each frontal lobe has a motor area called the Primary Motor Cortex. |
| Sensory Areas | Receives and processes information from sensory receptors (neural impulses) in the brain. - Sensory receptors are specialised neurons that detect and respond to a specific type of sensory information. E.g. Vision & hearing. |
| The Frontal lobe - Appearance and location | - The largest of the four lobes and occupies the upper front half of each cerebral hemisphere, right behind your forehead. - Located at the rear of each frontal lobe is a strip of neural tissue called the Primary Motor Cortex. |
| What is the Frontal Lobe responsible for? | Responsible for higher mental functions - Memory and learning - Control over complex movements - Emotions, personality, intellectual tasks e.g. reasoning and planning - Controls and coordinates many of the functions of the other lobes. |
| Primary Motor Cortex | Specifically involved in controlling voluntary bodily movements through its control of skeletal muscles. Skeletal muscles are attached directly to bones. - The PMC in the left frontal lobe controls movements on the right side/body and vice versa. |
| List the different sensory areas located in the brain: | - The Primary Visual Cortex - Occipital lobe, visual information. - The Primary Auditory Cortex - Temporal lobe, auditory information - The Primary Somatosensory Cortex - Parietal lobe, sensory information from the skin and skeletal muscles. |
| Broca's area | - Located in the left frontal lobe, next to the Motor cortex areas that control the muscles of the face. - Has a crucial role in the production of articulate speech, (clear & fluent) speech production. |
| Broca's area - Function | - Linked to and interacts with areas of the cerebral cortex that are involved with the meaning of words and the structure of sentences as well as certain parts of speech. Understanding the grammatical structures of a sentence that is heard or read. |
| Parietal lobe | - Is located behind the frontal lobe and occupies the upper back half of the brain. - Receives, processes sensory info from body, skin senses and other sensory areas in brain - At the front of each parietal lobe is the Primary Somatosensory cortex. |
| Associations areas of the Parietal lobe: | - Receives and combines information from within the lobe and other structures + areas of the brain. E.g. To enable us to sense the position of our bodies in space, association areas will combine info from all four lobes. - Attention and spatial reasoning |
| Primary Somatosensory Cortex - | - AKA the Primary Sensory area. Receives, processes sensory information from skin and body, allowing us to perceive/ experience bodily sensations. E.g. touch, pressure, temperature. Left hemisphere receives, processes sensory info on right side. |
| Temporal lobe - Location, identify cortex area. | - Located in the lower central area of the brain. - Contains the Primary Auditory Cortex - Each Temporal lobe contains two structures below the cortex called the Hippocampus and the Amygdala. These play crucial roles in memory formation. |
| Temporal lobe - Functions | - Is primarily involved with auditory perception but also plays an important role in: - Memory - Aspects of visual perceptions such as our abilities to identify objects and recognise faces. - Our emotional response to sensory information & memories |
| Temporal lobe - Association areas | - These association areas appear to play roles in memory and perception. Eg. Some long - term memories, other areas short term. - Also involved in object identification and face recognition. - Damage to the Temporal lobes can make a person amnesiac. |
| Primary Auditory Cortex | - Receives and processes sound from both ears. - Each Primary Auditory Cortex has specialised areas that receive and process different features of sound and therefore play vital roles in the identification of sounds. |
| Wernickes Area | - Is located towards the rear of the Temporal lobe of the LEFT hemisphere only. It is connected to Broca's area by a bundle of nerves. - Is involved in speech production but has a crucial role in the comprehension of speech,interprets sounds of speech. |
| Wernickes area | - May also be vital in not just understanding words but also for using appropriate words from memory to express intended meanings when we speak or write. |
| Occipital Lobe, Location, Function, identify cortex area | - Is located at the rearmost area of each cerebral hemisphere. - Is almost exclusively devoted to the sense of vision. Damage to the Occipital lobe can produce blindness, even if the eyes are not damaged. - Contains the Primary Visual Cortex |
| Primary Visual Cortex | - Is located at the base of each occipital lobe and this is the major destination of visual information from the two eyes. - The information comes to the Primary Visual cortex from visual sensory receptors located on the retina at the back of each eye. |
| Association Areas | - These association areas interact with the Primary visual cortex in each occipital lobe to select, organise and integrate visual information.They combine information from the other lobes such as memory with visual information so it is more meaningful. |
| Hemispheric Specialisation | - The idea that one hemisphere has specialised functions or exerts greater power or control over a particular function is often described as hemispheric specialisation. - Aka Hemispheric dominance or hemispheric lateralisation. |
| Left Hemisphere Specialisations | * Verbal & analytical functions - Receives and Processes information from the right side of the body - Control voluntary movements on the right side of the body. - Verbal tasks (Speech production and comprehension) - Analysis - Logical reasoning |
| Right hemisphere Specilisations | * Non verbal functions - Receives and Processes information from the left side of the body - Control voluntary movements on the left side of the body. - Spatial and Visual thinking - Creativity - Fantasy - Appreciation of art & music - Emotions |
| Spinal Cord - Definition | - Is a cable - like column of nerve fibres that extends from the base of the brain to the lower back. It is encased in a series of bones (called vertebrae) that extends further than the actual cord. |
| Name and describe the two main functions of the Spinal cord * | - Are to receive sensory information from the body (Via the PNS) & send these messages to the brain. - Receives information from the brain and sends it to relevant parts of the body to control muscles, glands & internal organs. (interconnected neurons) |
| The Spinal cord also contains: | - Ascending neural pathways for somatosensory information - comes in through various parts of the body - Via spinal nerve & brain. - Descending neural pathways for motor information - Leaves the brain and travels down the spinal cord to exit via nerves. |
| What happens if the Spinal Cord is damaged? | - The brain loses both sensory input and control over the body. - The higher up the spine the damage is, the greater the number of nerve connections between the brain and body that are severed, thus the severity of paralysis heightens. |
| Reflex arcs - What are they? | Are Simple responses independent of the brain. - Are involuntary & occur automatically in response to certain stimuli. - The response to an incoming stimuli is automatically "reflected back" from the spinal cord without any initial input from the brain. |
| Aphasia - Definition | - To describe individuals with a language disorder - Apparent in speech (comprehension or production), writing or reading. - Caused by injuries to brain areas specialised in these functions. |
| Aphasia - Name and describe the three categories | 1. Fluent Aphasias - Difficulty understanding spoken words. 2. Non - Fluent Aphasias - Difficulty in speech comprehension, understands words clearly 3. Pure Aphasias - There are specific impairment in reading, writing or the recognition of words. |
| Broca's Aphasia | Produces speech that is very deliberate; consisting of a few words with very simple grammatical structure. They continue to understand speech, just have difficulty understanding it. - Sentences short, mainly nouns & verbs. |
| Wernicke's Aphasia | Will often have fluent and grammatically correct speech but what is said is nonsense. Their speech often have the correct rhythm & general sound of normal speech but their content is jumbled. |
| Associated brain area/lobe of Broca's Aphasia. | - Located in the left frontal lobe, next to the motor cortex areas that control muscles involved in speech. |
| Associated brain area/lobe of Wernicke's Aphaisa | - Damage to Wernicke's area located in the Temporal lobe of the left hemisphere. |
| Patient Awareness of Broca's Aphasia | - Are usually aware of their own language difficulties and have a relatively clear understanding of their condition. |
| Patient Awareness of Wernicke's Aphasia | - Most people have little or no conscious awareness or understanding of their condition. |
| Spatial Neglect | - Is an attentional disorder whereby individuals fail to notice anything of their left or right side. They tend to behave as if that side of their world does not exist. - The side of the world opposite to the damaged hemisphere tends to be neglected |
| Area of Damage - Spatial Neglect | - Is most commonly observed in stroke or accident victims who have fairly extensive damage to the rear area of the parietal lobe of the right hemisphere. - Very rarely occurs in the same area in the left hemisphere, usually in a milder form. |
| Spatial Neglect - Characteristics | - Some patients acknowledge the stimulus on the neglected side as if it occurred on the non neglected side. - Is the lack of awareness of the presence of anything on the left side. They cannot attend to anything or locate anything on the left side. |
| Split Brain Studies - Definition | - Involves surgically cutting the Corpus Callosum, thereby disconnecting once hemisphere of the brain from another. The effect is that the two hemispheres do not directly receive information from each other. - Only been performed on epilepsy patients. |
| What happens during an epileptic seizure? How does Split - Brain surgery stop this? | - During an epilepsy seizure, abnormal and progressively erratic electrical activity spreads out from its source from somewhere in the brain to other brain areas. Sometimes the activity will travel from one hemisphere to another, via the Corpus Callosum. |
| Continued | - At this point, the entire brain can become involved in the seizure. - Split - Brain surgery at this time was pioneered to epileptic patients who weren't responsive to any other treatment. |
| Sperry and Gazzaniga (1960s)- What was the experiment and aim | - Designed a series of experiments on 11 patients who had undergone Split - Brain surgery. All had epilepsy. - Sperry's aim was to pinpoint the effects of Hemispheric disconnection and they had to address how the Hemispheres function in a normal brain. |
| Sperry and Gazzaniga - The method used | - Each participant was seated behind a screen. - The Screen would flash a picture or a word to either the left or right of the screen while the participant focused on the black dot. - Left object - Right Hemisphere - Right object - Left Hemisphere |
| Continued | - Several objects are hidden from the participant behind a screen, while they cannot see the objects, they are able to touch them and therefore respond to sensations. |
| Participant responses to Sperry's experiments: | - When an object was flashed in the right visual field, the person could name the object. - When flashed in the left visual field the person could not say what they saw and often denied its existence. (Speech = left hemisphere) - |
| Continued | - The person could actually see the object in the left visual field, this was proven when the person was asked to use their left hand to reach for the object they saw. The person always picked the object in the left visual field. |
| Why could the patient pick the object seen in the left visual field when they couldn't name it? | - The person could correctly locate the object shown in the image because the left hand was controlled by the right hemisphere which also saw and recognised the image of the object. |
| Continued | - The message from the Primary Motor Cortex in the right hemisphere which directs the left hand to move does not use the Corpus Callosum. - While the right hemisphere had processed information about the object, speech is a specialisation of the left. |
| What did Sperry's experiment reveal? | - Proved that the cerebral hemispheres do have specialised functions. - Also determined the role of the Corpus Callosum in enabling the exchange of information between the two hemispheres of the brain. |
| Sperry's View on the impact of the Splitting of Two cerebral hemispheres: | - Splitting the brain has produced two 'half - brains', each with its own independent thoughts and consciousness. The two hemispheres can compensate for the absence of the Corpus Callosum and coordinate their activities. |
| Ethical Principles in Brain Research: List | - Protection and Security of Participant Confidentiality - Voluntary Participation - Informed Consent - Integrity - Respect for Persons - Beneficence - Justice |
| Protection and Security of Participant Confidentiality | - Safeguard welfare and rights of participants - Cannot be revealed that allows them to be identified. - Do not regard the Personal information the participant |
| Voluntary Participation | - Must not be pressured to take part, a person is willingly taking part in the research. - That they know the procedure of the experiment. |
| Informed Consent | - Documented - Children: parent/ legal guardian - Disabled: wife/ husband/ person with medical power of attorney - The procedures and equipment used |
| Integrity | - If the researcher is demonstrating a genuine commitment to the research to the research, the idea of advancing humankind's understanding of the brain. - If the research is following the ethical principles and guidelines specifically. |
| Respect for Persons | - If the researcher respects the dignity of the person, if the welfare, rights, beliefs, perceptions, customs and cultural heritage of the person is respected in the research design. |
| Beneficence | - That the person is aware of the type & size of the risks proposed in the research. The likelihood of these risks occurring - How the research design has been modified to reduce these risks. If the Potential benefits of the findings justify the risks |
| Justice | - The justification for selecting one person over another. If the person is representative of others intended to benefit from the research. |
| The Peripheral Nervous System | - The PNS is the entire network of nerves located outside of the CNS. - The role of the CNS is to make sense and respond to all the messages being sent around the body. |
| Continued | - The CNS relies on the PNS to provide it with information about the external world & internal body functioning as well as sending messages from the CNS to appropriate parts of the body. |
| Two main functions of the Peripheral Nervous System: | - To carry information to the CNS from the body's muscles, organs and glands (internal environment) and from the sensory organs (internal environment) - To carry information from the CNS to the body's muscles, organs and glands. - Somatic and Autonomic |
| The Somatic Nervous System | - Is a subdivision of the PNS. It carries sensory information to the CNS and motor information from the CNS. - The sensory information is communicated along sensory neural pathways and motor information along motor neural pathways. |
| Sensory Neural Pathways Sensory Neurons | - AKA afferent pathways - Contains sensory neurons that receive signals from the eyes, ears, nose, skin, tendons, muscles and many other tissues and organs. - Sensory neurons are specialised nerve cells that receive and carry sensory messages. |
| Motor Neural pathways Motor Neurons | - AKA efferent pathways - Contain motor neurons that carry motor information for voluntary or 'intentional' body movements. - Motor neurons are specialised nerve cells that carry messages to skeletal muscles causing them to contract or relax. |
| Inter neurons | - AKA connecting neurons - Perform the important function of making the connection between sensory and motor neurons. E.G. When you need both sensory and motor neurons to perform an action. |
| The Autonomic Nervous System | - Is a subdivision of the PNS that connects the CNS to the body's internal organs and glands providing feedback to the brain on their activities. - Usually functions independently of the brain. No control. - Eg. When you are suddenly threatened |
| Why is the ANS considered 'Autonomic'? | - It is considered 'autonomic' because many of the organs, glands and processes under its control are self - regulating and not under voluntary control. |
| Two subdivisions of the Autonomic Nervous System: | - The Sympathetic Nervous System - The Parasympathetic Nervous System |
| The Sympathetic Nervous System | - Is responsible for increasing the activity of most visceral muscles, organs and glands in times of vigorous activity, stress or threat. - Is in order to prepare the body for action. |
| Continued | - The SNS enhances survival, by providing an immediate response to any kind of emergency. |
| The Parasympathetic Nervous System | - Is responsible for decreasing the activity of most visceral muscles, organs & glands, and restoring body functioning to its normal state - In times of minimal stress & the absence of threats, it helps to maintain the internal body environment steady. |
| Parasympathetic Nervous System Action: List | - Pupils Contract - Salivary glands increase salivation - Heart rate is slower - The lungs contract - Stomach increases contractions - Liver decreases the production of glucose - Gall bladder stimulates the release of bile |
| Sympathetic Nervous System Action: List | - Pupils dilate (expand) - Salivary Glands decrease salivation - Heart beat accelerates - The lungs dilate (expand) - Stomach increases contractions - Liver increase the production of glucose - The Gall bladder inhibits the release of bile. |
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ama14
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