Term
| The Central Nervous System |
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Definition
| This is the brain and the spinal cord |
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Term
| Peripheral Nervous System |
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Definition
| This consists of the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord. |
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Term
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Definition
| This is part of the PNS and the CNS, and consists of the axons conveying messages from the sense organs to the CNS and from the CNS to the muscles |
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Term
| The Autonomic Nervous System |
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Definition
| Part of the PNS, controls the heart, the intestines, and other organs. |
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Term
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Definition
| Toward the back, away from the ventral (stomach) side. The top of the brain is considered dorsal because it has that position in four legged animals |
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| Toward the stomach, away from the dorsal (back) side |
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| Toward the side, away from the mudline |
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| Toward the midline, away from the side |
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Definition
| Located close (approximate) to the point of origin or attachment |
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Definition
| Located more distance from the point of origin or attachment |
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Definition
| On the same side of the body (e.g. two parts on the left and one on the right) |
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Definition
| On the opposite side of the body (one on the left and one on the right) |
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Definition
| A plane that shows brain structures as seen from side |
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Definition
| A plane that shows brain structures as seen from above (or transverse plane) |
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Definition
| A row of cell bodies separated from other cell bodies by a layer of axons and dendrites |
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Term
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Definition
| A set of cells perpendicular to the surface of the cortex, with similar properties |
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Definition
| A set of axons within the CNS, also known as a projection. If axons extend from cell bodies in structure A onto synapse B, we say that the fibers "project" from A onto B.. |
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Definition
| A set of axons in the periphery, either from the CNS to a muscle or gland or from a sensory organ to the CNS. |
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Definition
| A cluster of neuron cell bodies, usually outside the CNS ( as in the sympathetic nervous system) |
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Term
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Definition
| A protuberance on the surface of the brain |
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Definition
| A fold or groove that separates one gyrus from another |
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Definition
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Term
| What does Dorsal mean, and what is its opposite? |
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Definition
| Dorsal means toward the back, away from the stomach side. Its opposite is ventral. |
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Term
| What term means toward the side, away from the midline, and what is its opposite? |
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Definition
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Term
| If two structures are both on the left side of the body, they are ______ to each other. If one is on the left side of the body and the other is on the right, they are ______ to each other? |
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Definition
| Ipsilateral; Contralateral |
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Term
| The bulges in the cerebral cortex are called _______. The grooves between them are called ________. |
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Definition
| Gyri; Sulci. If you have trouble remembering sulcus, think of the word sulk, meaning "to pout" (and therefore lie low) |
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Term
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Definition
| Part of the CNS. It communicates with all the sense organs and muscles except those in the head. It is a segmented structure, with each segment having on each side a sensory nerve and a motor neuron |
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Term
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Definition
| The entering dorsal roots (axon bundles) carry sensory information, and the exiting ventral roots carry motor information |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| What nervous system are the axons from the skin and muscle in? |
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Definition
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Term
| Where are the cell bodies of the sensory neurons located? |
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Definition
| They are located in a cluster of neurons outside the spinal cord called the dorsal root ganglia |
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Definition
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Definition
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Term
| What are the two parts to the Autonomic Nervous system? |
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Definition
| 1)The sympathetic and 2) the parasympathetic nervous systems |
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Term
| The Sympathetic Nervous System |
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Definition
| A network of nerves that prepare the organs for vigorous activity, consist of chains of ganglia just to the left and right of the spinal cord's central regions (the thoracic and lumbar area) |
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Term
| The Sympathetic Nervous System |
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Definition
| Its axons prepare the organs for "fight" or "flight"-increasing breathing and heart rate and decreasing digestive activity |
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Term
| Sensory Nerves enter which side of the spinal Cord, dorsal or ventral? |
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Definition
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Term
| Which functions are controlled by the sympathetic nervous system? Which are controlled by the parasympathetic nervous system? |
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Definition
| The sympathetic nervous system prepares the organ for vigorous fight or flight activity. The parasympathetic system increases vegetative responses such as digestion. |
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Term
| What are the brains three major divisions? |
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Definition
| The hindbrain, the midbrain, and the forebrain |
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Term
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Definition
| the posterior part of the brain, consists of the medulla, the pons, and the cerebellum |
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Term
| The Medulla (Medulla Oblongata) |
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Definition
| is just above the spinal cord. This controls some vital reflexes-including breathing, heart rate,vomiting, salivation, coughing and sneezing; through the cranial nerves |
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Term
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Definition
| controls sensation from the head, muscle movements in the head, and much of the parasympathetic output to the organs. |
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Term
| How many pairs of cranial nerves connect the spinal cord to the sensory and motor nerves? |
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Definition
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Term
| Name the twelve cranial nerve pairs. |
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Definition
| Olfactory, Optic, Ocilomotor, Trochlear, Trigeminal, Abducter, Facial, Stratoacoustic, Glossopharyngeal, Vagus, Accessory, Hypoglossal |
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Definition
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Definition
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Definition
| Control of Eye movements; pupil constriction |
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Definition
| Skin sensation from most of the face; control of jaw muscles for chewing and swallowing |
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Definition
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Definition
| Taste from the anterior two thirds of the tongue, control of facial expression, crying, salivation, and dilation of the head's of blood vessels |
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Definition
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Definition
| Taste and other sensations from throat and posterior third of the tongue; control of swallowing, salivation, throat movements during speech |
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Definition
| Sensations from neck and thorax; control of throat, esophagus, and larynx; parasympathetic nerves to stomach, intestines, and other organs |
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Term
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Definition
| Control of neck and shoulder movements |
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Term
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Definition
| Control of Muscles of the tongue |
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Term
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Definition
| Has descending and ascending portions. The descending portion is one of several brain area that controls the motor areas of the spinal cord. The ascending portion sends output to much of the cerebral cortex, selectively increasing arousal and attention in one area or another. |
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Term
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Definition
| Sends axons to much of the forebrain, modifying the brain's readiness to respond to stimuli |
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Term
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Definition
| Contributes to the control of movement and balance and coordination among other things |
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Term
| What happens to people with damage to the cerebellum? |
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Definition
| They have touble shifting their attention back and forth between auditory and visual stimuli. They also have difficulty with timing, including sensory timing. |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| Superior and Interior Colliculus |
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Definition
| The swelling on each side of the tectum, both are important for sensory processing--The inferior colliculus is for hearing and the superior colliculus is mainly for vision. |
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Term
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Definition
| The tegmentum includes the nuclei for the third and fourth cranial nerves, parts of the reticular formation, and extensions of the pathways between the forebrain and the spinal cord or hindbrain. |
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Term
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Definition
| A midbrain structure, which gives rise to the dopamine-containing pathway that facilitates readiness for movement |
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Term
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Definition
| a interlinked structure that forms a boarder around the brainstem. These structures are important for motivations and emotions like eating, drinking, sexual activity, anxiety, and aggression |
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Term
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Definition
| is a pair of structures in the center of the forebrain. most sensory information goes first to the thalamus, which process it and sends output to the cerebral cortext |
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Term
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Definition
| conveys messages to the pituitary gland, altering its release of hormones. |
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Term
| What happens when the hypothalamic is damaged? |
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Definition
| it leads to abnormalities in motivated behaviors, such as feeding, drinking, temperature regulation, sexual behavior, fighting, or activity level |
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Term
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Definition
| is an endocrine gland attached to the base of the hypothalamus. In response to messages from the hypothalamus the pituitary synthesizes and releases hormones onto the bloodstream, which carries them to other organs |
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Term
| What are found in papillae? |
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Definition
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Term
| One limiting factor in the ability of damaged axons to regenerate in the brain and spinal cord is that: |
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Definition
| they regenerate only 1-2 millimeters. |
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Term
| BThe ability of the brain to change its anatomy over time, within limits, is known as: |
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Definition
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Term
| Neurons whose responses indicate a particular feature of a stimulus, such as the presence of a bar, line, or edge are referred to as: |
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Definition
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Term
| Visual stimuli in the right visual field stimulate |
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Definition
| the left half of each retina. |
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Term
| V1 neurons would be most strongly activated by viewing: |
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Definition
| repeating stripes on a flag. |
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Term
| Which lobe seems to be especially involved in the comprehension of spoken language in humans? |
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Definition
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Term
| The diencephalon is composed of the: |
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Definition
| thalamus and hypothalamus. |
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Term
| In the visual system of the mammalian cerebral cortex, the dorsal stream is specialized for detecting ____, and the ventral stream is specialized for detecting ____. |
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Definition
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Term
| Denervation supersensitivity takes place in: |
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Definition
| the postsynaptic membrane. |
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Term
| The pons acts as a bridge between: |
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Definition
| one side of the nervous system and the other. |
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Term
| The areas of the cortex used by expert video game players are most likely to ____ than the same cortical areas of those who don’t play video games. |
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Definition
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Term
| An individual suffers damage to the temporal cortex, but maintains an intact parietal cortex. This may result in an inability to: |
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Definition
| describe the size or shape of objects they see. |
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Term
| According to the trichromatic theory of color vision: |
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Definition
| our perception of color depends on the relative activity of three types of cones. |
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Term
| Once within the cerebral cortex, the magnocellular pathway continues, with a ventral branch sensitive to: |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the relationship of color blindness between males and females? |
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Definition
| Males are more likely to be color blind. |
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Term
| The malleus, incus, and stapes are small bones: |
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Definition
| which transmit information from the tympanic membrane to the oval window. |
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Term
| What is the intensity of a sound wave called? |
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Definition
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Term
| Certain axons innervating a given neuron are damaged. What compensatory change is likely to take place in that postsynaptic cell? |
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Definition
| denervation supersensitivity |
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Term
| Being able to detect fine details of a color painting would depend most on which of the following types of ganglion cells? |
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Definition
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Term
| ou most likely expect the Babinski reflex to occur in a(n): |
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Definition
| adult with damage to the cerebral cortex. |
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Term
| To promote recovery, stroke victims should be given: |
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Definition
| stimulant drugs a few days after the stroke |
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Term
| Basal Ganglia three major structures |
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Definition
| The caudate nucleus, the outamen, and the globus pallidus |
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Term
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Definition
| exchanges information with different parts of the cerebral cortex. The connections are most abundant with the frontal areas of the cortext, which are responsibile for planning sequences of behavior and for certain aspects of memory and emotional expression |
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Term
| What does huntingtons and Parkinson do to the basil ganglia? |
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Definition
| the diseases deteriorate, the most prominent symptom is impaired movement, but people also show depression and deficits of memory, reasoning, and attention |
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Term
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Definition
it recieves input from the hypothalamus and basal ganglia and sends axons that release acetylcholine to widespread areas in the cerebral cortex.
-->Key part of the brains system for arousal, wakefulness and attention |
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Term
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Definition
| is critical for storing certain kinds of memories. People with hippocampal damage have trouble storing new memories |
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Term
| Of the following which are in the hindbrain, which in the midbrain, and which in the forebrain: basal ganglia, cerebellum, hippocampus, hypocampus, hypothalamus, medulla, pituitary gland, pons, substania nigra, superior and inferior colliculi, tectum, tegmentum, thalamus? |
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Definition
Hindbrain: cerebellum, medulla, and pons
Midbrain: substantia nigra, superior and inferior colliculi, tectum, and tegmentum
Forebrain: basal ganlia, hippocampus, hypothalamus, pituitary, and thalamus |
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Term
| Which area is the main source of input to the cerebral cortex? |
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Definition
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Term
| If several neurons of the visual cortex all resond best when the retina is exposed to horizontal lines of light, then those neurons are probably in the same ______. |
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Definition
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Term
| Which lobe of the cerebral cortex includes the primary auditory cortex? |
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Definition
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Term
| Which lobe of the cerebral cortex includes the primary somatosensory cortex? |
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Definition
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Term
| Which lobe of the cerebral cortex includes the primary visual cortex? |
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Definition
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Term
| Which lobe of the cerebral cortex includes the primary motor cortex? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are the functions of the prefrontal cortex? |
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Definition
| The prefrontal cortex is especially important for working memory (memory for what is currently happening) and for planning action based on the context. |
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Term
| What is meant by the binding problem, and what is one hypothesis to explain it? |
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Definition
| The binding problem is the question of how the brain combines activity in different brain areas to produce unified perception and coordinated behavior. One hypothesis is that binding requires identifying the location of an object. When the sight and sound appear to come from the same location, we bind them as a single experience. |
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Term
| What are the two kinds of stroke, and what causes each kind? |
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Definition
| The more common form, ischemia, is the result of an occulusion of an artery. The other form, hemorrhage, is the result of a ruptured artery. |
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Term
| Why is tPA not helpful in cases of hemorrhage? |
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Definition
| The drug tPA breaks up blood clots, and the problem in hemorrhage is a ruptured blood vessel, not a blood clot. |
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Term
| If one of your relatives has a stroke and a well-meaning person offers a blanket, what should you do? |
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Definition
| Refuse the blanket. Recovery will be best if the stroke victim remains cold for the first 3 days. |
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Term
| After someone has had a stroke, would it be best (if possible) to direct stimulant drugs to the cells that were damaged or somewhere else? |
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Definition
| It is best to direct the amphetamine to the cells that had been receiving input from the damaged cells. Presumably, the loss of input has produced diaschisis. |
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Term
| Is collateral sprouting a change in axons or dendritic receptors? |
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Definition
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Term
| Is denervation supersitivity a change in axons or dendritic receptors? |
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Definition
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Term
| Cite an example in which reorganization of the brain is helpful and one in which it is harmful? |
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Definition
| The small-scale reorganization that enables increased representation of a violinist's or braille reader's fingers is helpful. The larger scale reorganization that occurs after amputation is harmful. |
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Term
| Suppose someone has suffered a spinal cord injury that interrupts all sensation from the left arm. Now he or she uses only the right arm. Of the following, which is the most promising therapy: electrically stimulate the skin of the left arm, tie the right arm behind the person's back, or blindfold the person? |
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Definition
| Tie the right arm behind the back to force the person to use the impaired arm instead of only the normal arm. Stimulating the skin of the left arm would accomplish nothing, as the sensory receptors have no input to the CNS. Blindfolding would be either irrelevant or harmful (by decreasing the visual feedback from left-hand movements) |
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Term
| If someone electrically stimulated the auditory receptors in your ear, how would you perceive it? |
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Definition
| because of the law of specific nerve energies, you would perceive it as sound, not as shock. (Of course, if the shock were strong enough, it would spread far enough to excite some pain receptors also.) |
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Term
| If it were possible to flip your entire brain upside down, without breaking any of the connections to sense organs or muscles, what would happen to your perceptions of what you see, hear, and so forth? |
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Definition
| Your perception would not change. The way visual or auditory information is coded in the brain does not depend on the physical location within the brain. Seeing something as "on top" or "to the left" depends on which neurons are active but does not depend on the physical location of those neurons. |
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Term
| What makes the blind spot of the retina blind? |
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Definition
| The blind spot has no receptors because it is occupied by exiting axons and blood vessels. |
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Term
| You sometimes find that you cann see a faint star on a dark night better if you look slightly to the side of the star instead of straight at it. Why? |
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Definition
| If you look slightly to the side, the light falls on an area of the retina with more rods and more convergence of input. |
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Term
| If you found a species with a high ratio of cones to rods in its retina, what would you predict about its way of life? |
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Definition
| We should expect this species to be highly active during the day and seldom active at night. |
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Term
| Suppose a bipolar cell recieves excitatory input from a medium wavelength cone and inhibitory input from all three kinds of cones. When it is highly excited, what color would one see? When it is highly inhibited, what color perception would result? |
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Definition
| Excitation of this cell should yield a perception of green under normal circumstances. Inhibition would produce the opposite sensation, red. |
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Term
| When a television set is off, its screen appears gray. When you watch a program, parts of the screen appear black, even though more light is actually showing on the screen than when the set was off. What accounts for the black perception? |
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Definition
| The black experience arises by contrast with the other brighter areas. The contrast occurs by comparison within the cerebral cortex, as in the retinex theory of color vision. |
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Term
| Figure 6.8 shows 48 nm light as blue and 570 nm light as yellow. Why should we nevertheless not call them "blue light" and "yellow light"? |
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Definition
| Color perception depends not just on the wavelength of light from a given spot but also the lights from surrounding areas. As in figure 6.13, the context can change the color perception. |
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Term
| Most people can use varying amounts of three colors to match any color that they see. Who would be an exception to this rule, and how many colors would they need? |
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Definition
| Red-green color-deficient people would need only two colors. Women with four kinds of cones might need four. |
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Term
| Where does the optic nerve start and where does it end? |
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Definition
| It starts with the ganglion cells in the retina. Most of its axons go to the lateral geniculate nucleus of the thalamus; some go to the hypothalamus, superior colliculus, and elsewhere. |
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Term
| When light strikes a receptor, does the receptor excite or inhibit the bipolar cells? What effect does it have on horizontal cells? What effect does the horizontal cell have on bipolar cells? |
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Definition
| The receptor excites both the bipolar cells and the horizontal cell. The horizontal cell inhibits the same bipolar cell that was excited plus additional bipolar cells in the surround. |
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Term
| If light strikes only one receptor (excitatory or inhibitory) on the nearest bipolar cell that is directly connected to that receptor? What is the effect on bipolar cell that is directly connected to the receptor? What is the effect on bipolar cells off to the sides? What causes that effect? |
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Definition
| It produces more excitation than inhibition for the nearest bipolar cell. For surrounding bipolar cells, it produces only inhibition. The reason is that the receptor excites a horizontal cell, which inhibits all bipolar cells in the area. |
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Term
| Examine Figure 6.17. You should see grayish diamonds at the crossroads among the black squares. Explain why? |
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Definition
| In the parts of your retina that look at the long white arm, each neuron is maximally inhibited by input on all four sides. Therefore, the response in the crossroads is decreased compared to that in the arms. |
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Term
| As we progress from bipolar cells to ganglion cells to later cells in the visual system, are receptive fields ordinarily larger, smaller, or the same size? Why? |
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Definition
| They become larger because each cell's receptive field is made by inputs converging at an earlier level |
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Term
| What are the differences between the magnocellular and parvocellular systems? |
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Definition
| Neurons of the parvocellular system have small cell bodies with small receptive fields, are located mostly in and near the fovea, and are specialized for detailed and color vision. Neurons of the magocellular system have large cell bodies with large receptive fields, are located in all parts of retina, and are specialized for perception of large patterns and movement. |
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Term
| If you were in a darkened room and researchers wanted to "read your mind" just enough to know whether you were having visual fantasies, what could they do? |
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Definition
| Researchers could use fMRI, EEG, or other recording methods to see whether activity was high in your visual cortex. |
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Term
| What is an example of an "unconscious" visually guided behavior? |
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Definition
| In blind-sight, someone can point toward an object or move the eyes toward the object, despite insisting that he or she sees nothing. |
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Term
| Suppose someone can describe an object in detail but stumbles and fumbles when trying to walk toward it and pick it up. Which is probably damaged, the dorsal path or ventral path? |
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Definition
| The inability to guide movement based on vision implies damage to the dorsal path. |
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Term
| How could a researcher determine whether a given neuron in the visual cortex is simple or complex? |
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Definition
| First identify a stimulus, such as a horizontal line, that stimulates the cell. Then move the stimulus. If the cell responds in one location, it is a simple cell. If it responds in several locations, it is a complex cell. |
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Term
| What is a feature detector? |
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Definition
| It is a neuron that detects the presence of a particular aspect of an object, such as a shape or direction of movement. |
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Term
| What is prosopagnosia, and what does its existence tell us about separate shape recognition systems in the visual cortex? |
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Definition
| Prosopagnosia is the inability to recognize faces. Its existence implies that the cortical mechanism for identifying faces is different from the mechanism for identifying other complex stimuli |
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Term
| When you wiggle your eyes back and forth, why don't you see a blur? |
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Definition
| During your eye movements, responsiveness decreases sharply in much of your visual cortex. |
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Term
| What symptoms occur after damage limited to area MT? What may occur if MT is intact but area V1 is damaged? |
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Definition
| Damage in area MT can produce motion blindness. If area MT is intact but area V1 is damaged, the person may be able to report motion direction despite no conscious identification of the moving object. |
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Term
| What is the effect of closing one eye early in life? What is the effect of closing both eyes? |
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Definition
| If one eye is closed during early development, the cortex becomes unresponsive to it. If both eyes are closed, cortical cells remain somewhat responsive to both eyes for several weeks and then gradually become sluggish and unselective in their responses |
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Term
| What early experience is necessary to maintain binocular input to the neurons of the visual cortex? |
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Definition
| To maintain binocular responsiveness, cortical cells must receive simultaneous activity from both eyes fixating on the same object at the same time. |
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Term
| Why does a cataract on one eye produce greater visual impairments in infants than in adults? |
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Definition
| First, infants' brains are more plastic; adults' brains are already fairly set and resist change in the event of distorted or deficient input. Furthermore, in the infant brain, each hemisphere gets nearly all its visual input from its contralateral eye. The crossed paths from the eyes to the hemispheres are more mature than the uncrossed paths and the corpus callosum is immature. |
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Term
| Through which mechanism do we perceive low-frequency sounds (up to about 100Hz)? |
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Definition
| At low frequencies, the basilar membrane vibrates in synchrony with the sound waves, and each responding axon in the auditory nerve sends one action potential per sound wave. |
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Term
| How do we perceive middle-frequency sounds(100 to 4000 Hz)? |
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Definition
| At intermediate frequencies, no single axon fires an action potential for each sound wave, but different axons fire for different waves, and so volley (group) of axons fires for each wave. |
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Term
| How do we perceive high-frequency sounds (above 4000Hz)? |
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Definition
| At high frequencies, the sound causes maximum vibration for the hair cells at one location along the basilar membrane. |
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Term
| What evidence suggests that amusia depends on genetic differences? What evidence suggest that absolute pitch depends on special experiences? |
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Definition
| Many relatives of a person with amusia have the condition also. Absolute pitch occurs almost entirely among people who had early musical training and is much more common among people who speak tonal languages, which require greater attention to pitch. |
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Term
| How is the auditory cortex like the visual cortex? |
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Definition
| Any of the following: (a) Both vision and hearing have "what" and "where" pathways. (b) Areas in the superior temporal cortex analyze movement of both visual and auditory stimuli. Damage there can cause motion blindness or motion deafness. (c) The visual cortex is essential for visual imagery, and the primary auditory cortex is essential for auditory imagery. (d) Both the visual and auditory cortices need normal experience early in life to develop normal sensitivities. |
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Term
| What is one way in which the auditory and visual cortices differ? |
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Definition
| Damage to the primary visual cortex leaves someone blind, but damage to the primary auditory cortex merely impairs perception of complex sounds without making the person deaf. |
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Term
| What kinds of sounds most strongly activate the auditory cortex? |
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Definition
| Each cell in the primary auditory cortex has a preferred frequency. Many or most cells respond best to complex sounds that include harmonics. Outside the primary cortex, most cells respond to "auditory objects" that mean something. |
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Term
| Which type of hearing loss would be more common among members of rock bands and why? Would they be likely to benefit from hearing aids? |
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Definition
| Nerve deafness is common among rock band members because their frequent exposure to loud noises causes damage to the cells of the ear. Hearing aids usually not helpful in cases of nerve deafness. |
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Term
| Which method of sound localization is more effective for an animal with a small head? Which is more effective for an animal with a large head? Why? |
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Definition
| An animal with a small head localizes sound mainly by differences in loudness because the ears are not far enough apart for differences in onset time to be vary large. An animal with a large head localizes sound mainly by differences in onset time because its ears are far apart and well suited to noting differences in phase or onset time. |
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Term
| People with damage to the vestibular system have trouble reading street signs while walking. Why? |
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Definition
| The vestibular system enables the brain to shift eye movements to compensate for changes in the head position. Without feedback about head position, a person would not be able to to correct the eye movements, and the experience would be like watching a jiggling book page. |
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Term
| In what way is somatosensation several senses instead of one? |
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Definition
| We have several types of receptors, sensitive to touch, heat, and so forth, and different parts of the somatosensory cortex respond to different kinds of skin stimulation. |
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Term
| What evidence suggests that the somatosensory cortex is essential for the conscious perception of touch? |
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Definition
| People are consciously aware of only those touch stimuli that produce sufficient arousal in the primary somatosensory cortex. |
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Term
| Suppose someone suffers a cut through the spinal cord on the right side only. Will the person lose pain sensation on the left side or the right side? Will he or she lose touch sensation on the left side or the right side? |
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Definition
| The person will lose pain sensation on the left side of the body because pain information crosses the spinal cord at once. He or she will lose touch sensation on the right side because touch pathways remain on the ipsilateral side until they reach the medulla. |
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Term
| How do jalapenos produce a hot sensation? |
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Definition
| Jalapenos and other hot peppers contain capsaicin, which stimulates receptors that are sensitive to pain, acids, and heat. |
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Term
| What would happen to a pain sensation if glutamate receptors in the spinal cord were blocked? What if substance P receptors were blocked? |
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Definition
| Blocking glutamate receptors would eliminate weak to moderate pain. (However, doing so would not be good strategy for killing pain. Glutamate is the most abundant transmitter, and blocking it would disrupt practically everything the brain does.) Blocking substance P receptors makes intense pain feel mild. |
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Term
| Why do opiates relieve dull pain but not sharp pain? |
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Definition
| Endorphin's block messages from the thinnest pain fibers, conveying dull pain, but not from thicker fibers, carrying sharp pain. |
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Term
| How do the pain-relieving effects of cannabinoids differ from those of opiates? |
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Definition
| Unlike opiates, cannabinoids exert most of their pain-relieving effects in the peripheral nervous system, not the CNS. |
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Term
| How does ibuprofen and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs decrease pain? |
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Definition
| Anti-inflammatory drugs block the release of chemicals from damaged tissues, which would otherwise magnify the effects of pain receptors. |
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Term
| Why is it preferable to start taking morphine before an operation instead of waiting until later? |
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Definition
| The morphine will not decrease the sharp pain of the surgery itself. However, it will decrease the subsequent barrage of pain stimuli that can sensitize pain neurons. |
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Term
| Would opiates increase or decrease itch sensations? |
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Definition
| Opiates increase itch by blocking pain sensations. (Pain decreases itch.) |
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Term
| Suppose someone suffers from constant itching. What kinds of drugs might help relive it? |
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Definition
| Two kinds of drugs might help-histamines or capsaicin-depending on the source of the itch. Also, drugs that block gastrin-releasing peptide might help. |
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Term
| In what way are fish movements impaired in cold water? |
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Definition
| Although a fish can move rapidly in cold water, it fatigues easily. |
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Term
| Duck breast muscles are red ("dark meat"), whereas chicken breast muscles are white. Which species probably can fly for a longer time before fatiguing? |
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Definition
| Ducks can fly enormous distances without evident fatigue, as they often do during migration. The white muscle of a chicken breast has the great power that is necessary to get a heavy body off the ground, but it fatigues rapidly. Chickens seldom fly far. |
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Term
| Why is an ultra-marathoner like Bertil Jarlaker probably not impressive at short-distance races? |
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Definition
| An ultra-marathoner builds up large numbers of slow-twitch fibers at the expense of fast-twitch fibers. Therefore, endurance is great, but maximum speed is not. |
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Term
| If you hold your arm straight out and someone pulls it down slightly, it quickly bounces back. Which proprioceptor is responsible? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the function of Golgi tendon organs? |
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Definition
| Golgi tendon organs respond to muscle tension and thereby prevent excessively strong muscle contractions. |
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Term
| What evidence indicates that cortical activity represents the "idea" of the movement and not just the muscle contractions? |
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Definition
| Activity in the motor cortex leads to a particular outcome, such as movement of the hand to the mouth, regardless of what muscle contractions are necessary given the hand's current location. |
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Term
| How does the posterior parietal cortex? The premotor cortex? The supplementary motor cortex? |
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Definition
| The osterior parietal cortex is important for perceiving the location of objects and the position of the body relative to the environment, including those objects. The prefrontal cortex responds to sensory stimuli that call for some movement. The premotor cortex and supplementary motor cortex are active in preparing a movement immediately before it occurs. |
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Term
| When expert pianists listen to familiar, well-practiced music, they imagine the finger movements, and the finger area of the motor cortex becomes active, even if they are not moving their fingers. If we regard those neurons as another kind of mirror neuron, what do these results tell us about the origin of mirror neurons? |
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Definition
| These neurons must have acquired these properties through experience. That is, they did not enable the pianists to copy what they hear; they developed after pianists learned to copy what they hear. |
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Term
| Why can the eye muscles move with greater precision than the biceps muscles? |
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Definition
| Each axon to the biceps muscles innervates about a hundred fibers; therefore, it is not possible to change the movement by just a few fibers. In contrast, an axon to the eye muscles innervates only about three fibers. |
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Term
| Explain the evidence that someone's conscious decision to move does not cause the movement. |
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Definition
| Researchers recorded responses in people's cortex that predicted the upcoming response, and those brain responses occurred earlier than the time people reported as "when they made the decision." |
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Term
| What kinds of movements does the lateral tract control? The medial tract? |
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Definition
| The lateral tract controls detailed movements in the periphery on the conralateral side of the body. (For example, the lateral tract from the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body.) The medial tract controls trunk movements bilaterally. |
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Term
| What kind of perceptual task would be most impaired by damage to the cerebellum? |
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Definition
| Damage to the cerebellum impairs perceptual tasks that depend on accurate timing. |
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Term
| How are the parallel fibers arranged relative to one another and to the Purkinje cells? |
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Definition
| The parallel fibers are parallel to one another and perpendicular to the planes of the Purkinje cells. |
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Term
| If a larger number of parallel fibers are active, what is the effect on the collective output of the Purkinje cells? |
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Definition
| As a larger number of parallel fibers become active, the Purkinje cells increase their duration of response. |
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Term
| Why does damage to the basal ganglia lead to involuntary movements? |
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Definition
| Output from the basal ganglia to the thalamus releases the inhibitory transmitter GABA. Ordinarily, the basal ganglia produce steady output, inhibiting all movements or all except the ones selected at the time. After damage to the basal ganglia, the thalamus, and therefore the cortex, receive less inhibition. Thus, they produce unwanted actions. |
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Term
| What kind of learning depends most heavily on the basal ganglia? |
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Definition
| The basal ganglia are essential for learning motor habits that are difficult to describe in words. |
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Term
| Do monozygotic twins resemble each other more than dizygotic twins do for early-onset Parkinson's disease? For late-onset? What conclusion do these results imply? |
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Definition
| Monozygotic twins resemble each other more than dizygotic twins do for early-onset Parkinson's disease, but not for late-onset. The concluesion is that early-onset Parkinson's disease has high heritability and late-onset does not. |
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Term
| How does MPTP exposure influence the likelihood of Parkinson's disease? What are the effects of cigarette smoking? |
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Definition
| Exposure to MPTP can induce symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Cigarette smoking is correlated with decreased prevalence of the disease. |
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Term
| How does L-dopa relieve the symptoms of Parkinson's disease? |
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Definition
| L-dopa enters the brain, where neurons convert it to dopamine thus increasing the supply of a depleted neurotransmitter. |
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Term
| In what ways is L-dopa treatment disappointing? |
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Definition
| L-dopa is ineffective for some people and has only limited benefits for most others. It does not stop the loss of neurons. It has unpleasant side effects. |
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Term
| What are some possible treatments for Parkinson's disease other than L-dopa? |
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Definition
| Possible treatment includes antioxidants, drugs that stimulate dopamine receptors, drugs the block glutamate or adenosine receptor, neurotrophins, drugs that decrease apoptosis, high-frequency electrical stimulation of the globus pallidus, and transplants of neurons or stem cells. |
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Term
| What procedure enables physicians to predict who will or will not get Huntington's disease and to estimate the age of onset? |
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Definition
| Physicians can count the number of consecutive repeats of the combination C-A-G on one gene on chromosome 4. If the number is fewer than 36, the person will not develop Huntington's disease. For repeats of 36 or more, the larger the number, the more certain the person is to develop the disease and the earlier the probable age of onset. |
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Term
| In the experiment by Dehaene et al., how were the conscious and unconscious stimuli similar? How were they different? |
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Definition
| The conscious and unconscious stimuli were physically the same (a word flashed on the screen for 29ms). The difference was that a stimulus did not become conscious if it was preceded and followed by an interfering pattern. |
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Term
| In this experiment, how did the brain's responses differ to the conscious and unconscious stimuli? |
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Definition
| If a stimulus became conscious, it activated the same brain areas as an unconscious stimulus but more strongly, and then the activity spread to additional areas. Also, brain responses become synchronized when a pattern is conscious. |
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Term
| In which way does the phi phenomenon imply that a new stimulus sometimes changes consciousness of what went before it? |
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Definition
| Someone who sees a dot on the left and then a dot on the right perceives the dot as moving from left to right. The perceived movement would have occurred before the dot on the right, but the person had no reason to infer that movement until after the dot appeared on the right. |
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Term
| How could someone use FMRI to determine which of two patterns in binocular rivalry is conscious at a given moment? |
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Definition
| Make one stimulus pulsate at a given rhythm and look for brain areas showing that rhythm of activity. The rhythm takes over wide-spread areas of the brain when that pattern is conscious. |
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Term
| If someone is aware of the stimulus on the right in a case of binocular rivalry, what evidence indicates that the brain is also processing the stimulus on the left? |
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Definition
| If a stimulus gradually appears on the left side, attention shifts to the left faster if that stimulus is a meaningful word than if it is a word from an unfamiliar language. |
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Term
| What is the evidence that spatial neglect is a problem in attention, not just sensation? |
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Definition
| When a patient with neglect sees a large letter composed of small letters, he or she can identify the large letter but then neglects part of it when asked to cross off all the small letters. Also, someone who neglects the left hand pays attention to it when it is crossed over the right hand. |
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Term
| What are several procedures that increase attention to the left side in a person with spatial neglect? |
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Definition
| Simply telling the person to attend to something on the left sometimes helps temporarily. Having the person look to the left while feeling something on the left side increases attention to the felt object. Crossing the left hand over the right increases attention to the left hand. Moving a hand far to the left makes it easier for the person to point to something in the left visual field because the hand will move toward the right to point at the object. |
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