Exam 2 Lecture Notes Biopsychology Neutral Communication neurons Body s information system is built from billions of interconnected cells called Neurons make up nerves around 100 billion neurons in the brain o Neurons are sending the messages through the pathways of nerves Parts of a Neuron Cell body life support center of the neutron DNA Gives the cell the neuron structure Dendrites end receiving parts of the neurons Extensions at the cell body Receive messages from other neurons Gap between one neuron and the next is called the synapse nerves are not actually physically touching Axon inner aspect of the neuron that gives the neuron its length Long single extension of the neuron o Myelin sheath covers the axon to insulate and speed up messages through neurons o A layer of fatty tissues encasing the fibers of many neurons enabling faster transmission speed of impulses Deterioration of the Myelin Sheath will lead to Multiple Sclerosis With MS the body s immune system will attack itself and damage the sheath MS leads to physical and cognitive disabilities Terminal Boutons branched endings of an axon that transmit messages to other neurons Synapse the gap at the end of the terminal button Junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron Action Potential neural impulse A brief electrical charge that travels down the axon and is generated by the movement of positively charged atoms in and out of channels in the axon s membrane Threshold each neuron must reach a minimum intensity in order to fire All or non response neuron either fires or doesn t Intensity an action potential stays the same throughout the length of the axon A strong stimulus can trigger more neurons to fire and to fire more often but it does not affect the action potentials strength or speed Neurotransmitters these chemicals determine if the neuron fires or not Neural impulse brief electrical charge that travels down an axon and is generated by the movement of positively charged atoms in and out of channels in the axon s membrane There are two main nervous systems in our body Central nervous system o Brain and spinal cord Peripheral nervous system o Sensory receptors muscles and glands o Somatic system Voluntary part of movement o Autonomic system Controls involuntary processes Heartbeat Digestion Sympathetic arousing Parasympathetic calming Sympathetic nervous system part of the autonomic nervous system that responds to heightened states of arousal Ex if you see a bear your sympathetic nervous system will go into higher gear It will expend energy in order to benefit you in that situation o Raise heartbeat o Dilate pupils o Secrete glucose for energy and stimulate ejaculate male o Stimulates secretion of epinephrine norepinephrine Parasympathetic nervous system conserves energy and lowers your level of arousal Contracts pupil Slows heartbeat Stimulates digestion Stimulates gallbladder Contracts bladder Allows blood flow to sex organs Three levels of complexity evolutionary development Hindbrain first part of the brain to develop Medulla controls heartbeat and breathing o Autonomic nervous system involuntary o Regulating the elevation and calming Pons sleep and help coordinate motor movements between cerebrum cerebellum o Projections from the brain o Connects cerebellum to the frontal cortex Arousal sleep relaying sensory information between cerebrum and cerebellum and assisting control of autonomic functions Reticular formation waking and arousal o Injury can result in coma Cerebellum coordinates fine tune motor movement Midbrain on top of the brainstem Tectum and Tegmentum o Visual and auditory system and motor movement Processes memory and emotional processes Forebrain Prosencephalon Limbic System o Hypothalamus o Hippocampus o Amygdala Hypothalamus Fighting Fleeing Mating Thalamus o Important in the regulation of the autonomic nervous system maintaining equilibrium also known as the three F s o Distribution center for the brain o Receives and relays important neural information o Relays important info from areas of lower complexity to higher complexity How does the brain process visual information Optic nerves connect to the thalamus in the middle of the brain and the thalamus connects to the visual cortex Hippocampus Amygdala o Important functions in storing and retrieving declarative memories o Clive Wearing Fear and emotional memory o What happens when the amygdala is removed or damaged Occipital Lobes Important for visual processing o Dorsal Where pathway o Ventral What pathway 2 types of receptor cells rods and cones o Rods black and white More sensitive in dim light In dim light pupils dilate to let more light reach rods in retina s periphery 120 million periphery in the retina high sensitivity in light not detail nor color sensitive o Cones color vision Better at detecting detail Cluster at the fovea of the retina Carry visual info via other cells to optic nerve 6 million low sensitivity in dim light color sensitive and detail sensitive Feature detection nerve cells in the brain respond to specific features of a stimulus edges shape angle movement o Processed by feature detector cells in occipital lobe o Based on the pattern of brain activity researchers can tell if a person is looking at faces shoes houses or other objects o Different areas of your brain respond to different items Parallel processing processing of several aspects of the stimulus simultaneously form movement o Brain divides a visual scene into subdivisions such as color depth Parietal Lobes Implications for spatial awareness and abilities Motor Cortex motor functioning in the body If you were to stimulate motor cortex with an electrode then that corresponding part of the body would move Sensory Cortex sensations throughout the body If you were to stimulate sensory cortex you would feel a sensation in the corresponding body part Sensation and Perception Sensation detecting energy in environment and encoding it as neural signals Neurons transmit the information from the sense organ to the brain using o Touch o Smell o Taste o Vision studies most o Hearing Perception processing of information done by the brain mental processes that organize and interpret sensory information that has been transmitted to the brain o Emphasized previous knowledge to interpret sensations o Integration of sensations with knowledge o Closely tied to thought and memory this is strong coffee my alarm clock is
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