Brain and Behavior PSB 2000 Final Exam Study Guide Chapter 1 Key Points Understand and be able to answer conceptual or factual questions about the biological explanations of behavior o Physiological explanation deals with the machinery of the body relates a behavior to the activity of the rain or organ that it lights up i e the chemical reactions that enable hormones to influence brain activity and the routes by which brain activity controls muscle contractions o Ontogenetic explanation describes how a structure or behavior develops including the influence of genes nutrition experiences and their interactions ontogenetic comes from Greek root meaning origin i e the ability of a baby male bird to learn its song from adult male birds is able to be developed due to certain set of genes and the opportunity to hear the appropriate song o Evolutionary explanation reconstructs the evolutionary history of a structure or i e human goose bumps evolved inherited because ancestors had enough hair for the behavior to be useful o Functional explanation describes why a structure or behavior evolved as it did i e when a cat gets scared its hair erects making that cat look bigger and more intimidating The mind brain mind body problem is defined as trying to determine the relationship between the mental mind and the physical brain Know the difference between dualism Descartes and most non scientists and monism most neuroscientists For monism understand what is meant by identity position o Dualism the belief that there are different kinds of substances that exist behavior independently most common belief among nonscientists rejected by most neuroscientists o Monoism the belief that the universe is only comprised of one type of substance Materialism everything that exists Is physical by nature Mentalism only the mind truly exists Identity position mental processes and some brain processes are the same but described in different terms Know the difference between DNA and RNA and the difference between chromosomes and genes and know the difference between heterozygous different and homozygous same and what that means for dominant vs recessive genes o Deoxyribonucleic Acid DNA double stranded molecule that the chromosome and therefore gene are a portion of o Ribonucleic Acid RNA a single stranded chemical that can serve as a template model for the synthesis of proteins o Genes the basic units of heredity that maintain their structural identity from one generation to another and come in pairs Chromosomes strands of genes and come in pairs o Homozygous gene an identical pair of genes on the two chromosomes o Heterozygous gene an unmatched pair of genes on the two chromosomes o Dominant gene genes that show a strong effect in either the homozygous or o Recessive gene genes that show its effect only in the homozygous condition heterozygous condition Sex linked vs sex limited o A sex linked gene is on a sex chromosome usually the X chromosome because the Y chromosome is SO MUCH SHORTER A sex limited gene could be on any chromosome chromosomes that are not sex chromosomes are autosomal chromosomes but it is activated by sex hormones and therefore shows its effects only in one sex or the other What are some possible complications in estimating hereditary influences in behavior Consider possible consequences of prenatal influences and the multiplier effect o Possible consequences of prenatal influences and the multiplier effect are that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between hereditary and prenatal influences sometimes a methyl group attaches to a gene and inactivates it and in some cases an early experience i e malnutrition inactivates a gene by attaching a methyl group and then the individual passes on the inactivated gene to the next generation If genetic or prenatal influences produce even a small increase in some activity the early tendency will change the environment in a way that magnifies that tendency with a chain of effects Heritable does not mean unmodifiable Phenylketonuria is an example of this How o Heredibility can be modified by environmental interventions Although PKU is a hereditary condition environmental interventions can modify it If a baby has high levels of PKU doctors can advise the parents to put the baby on a low phenylalanine diet to minimize brain damage our ability to prevent PKU provides particularly strong evidence that heritable does not mean unmodifiable What is the definition of evolution Realize that this is not the discussing the origin of life but the origin of species which are changed over generations due to artificial and natural selection reproduction of the fittest o The definition of evolution is the change over generations in the frequencies of various genes in a population While there may be much disagreement on this topic according to the author what are some reasons to use animals in research and how do most biological scientists feel about it o Experimentation with animals has led to methods for the prevention or treatment of smallpox polio diabetes measles massive burns heart disease and other serious conditions The hope of finding methods to treat or prevent AIDS and other various brain diseases depends largely on animal research The ethics of using animals in research is controversial but many researchers believe strongly that at least some animal research is justified because of its potential to answer important question Chapter 2 Key points in other cells Know the basic structures functions of an animal cell membrane nucleus mitochondrion ribosomes and endoplasmic reticulum o Membrane a structure that separates the inside of the cell from the outside environment o Nucleus a structure that contains the chromosomes o Mitochondrion structure that performs metabolic activities and provides energy that the cell requires POWERHOUSE OF CELL o Endoplasmic reticulum network of thin tubes that transport newly synthesized proteins to their location Rough ER associated with ribosomes involved in translation Smooth ER no ribosomes Be able to identify on a diagram know the function of parts of vertebrate motor neuron dendrite dendrite spines soma nucleus axon hillock myelin sheath nodes of Ranvier axon presynaptic terminals o Dendrite branching fibers with a surface lined with synaptic receptors responsible for bringing information into the neuron o Dendrite spine further branch out and increase the surface area of the dendrite location of most excitatory
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