2586203
| Question | Answer |
| sexually dimorphic nucleus | located in the anterior hypothalamus large in males than in females contributes to control of male sexual behavior |
| how hormones work | chemical messenger --> released into blood --> travels to target - hormones released by glands in the endocrine system slow rise, long fall, slow action |
| cholestoral | estrogen: estradiol androgen: testosterone progesterone |
| estrogens increase sensitivity of ______? | the pudendal nerve, which transmits tactile stimulation from the pubic area to the brain |
| sex hormones bind to receptors that increase responses of _____? | the ventromedial nucleus, the medial preoptic area (MPOA), and the anterior hypothalamus |
| MPOA neurons release _____ | dopamine this area is primed by testosterone and estradiol |
| dopamine | neurotransmitter that stimulates type D1 & D5 receptors (erection of the penis in the male and sexually receptive postures in the female) higher concentrations --> dopamine stimulates type D2 receptors --> leads to orgasm |
| seretonin | neurotransmitters that inhibits dopamine release and thus decreases sexual arousal and orgasm |
| How else do hormones affect people's brains? | - testosterone decreases pain and anxiety - estrogen stimulates growth of dendritic spines in the hippocampus and increased production of dopamine type D2 receptors and serotonin type 5-HT2A receptors in the nucleus accumbens, the prefrontal cortex, the olfactory cortex, and several other cortical areas |
| menstrual cycle | a periodic variation in hormones and fertility over the course of about 28 days |
| how the cycle works | at the end of a menstrual period: hypothalamus releases gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) anterior pituitary releases follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) --> promotes grwoth of a follicle in the ovary follicle builds up more and more receptors to FSH --> FSH effects increase ovary releases estrogen / estradiol --> increased release of FSH and luteinizing hormone (LH) released from the anterior pituitary FSH & LH combine --> follice releases an ovum remnant of follicle (corpus luteum) releases progesterone --> uterus lining increases / inhibits further release of LH if fertilized: levels of estrogen & progesterone increase gradually throughout pregnancy if not fertilized: lining of ovum is cast off; levels of LH, FSH, estrogen, progesterone decline |
| combination pill | birth control pill that contains both estrogen and progesterone, preventing the esurge of FSH & LH that would release an ovum also thickens the mucus around the cervix |
| periovulatory period | consists of the days around the middle of the menstrual cycle time of maximum fertility & high estrogen levels women initiate more sexual activity during this time |
| oxytocin | important for reproductive behavior stimulates contractions of the uterus during delivery of a baby; stimulates the mammary gland to release milk released at orgasm --> promote decreased anxiety facilitates formation of pair bonds between their mating partners |
| prolactin | hormone that is necessary for milk production and aspects of maternal behavior such as retrieving wandering young back to the nest |
| vasopressin | hormone synthesized by the hypothalamus and secreted by the posterior pituitary gland in male voles, high vasopressin levels mean long term pair bonds with females low levels mena social isolation from both females |
| types of ovulators | 1) induced ovulations (e.g. rattlesnakes) - only ovulate after engaging in sexual behavior 2) spontaneous ovulators - ovullate by themselves based on time (day/night) cycle, odors, and social cues |
| estrus cycle | sexual receptivity cycle |
| menstrual cycle | shedding of the lining of the uterus |
| steroid hormones | contain four carbon rings derived from cholesterol 1) bind to membrane receptors 2) enter cells & activate proteins in the cytoplasm 3) bind to receptors that bind to chromosomes where they activate or inactivate specific genes |
| organizing effects of sex hormones occur mostly | at a sensitive stage of development, shortly before/after birth in rats and well after birth in humans determine whether the body/brain will develop female or male characteristics |
| early stage of prenatal development | mammals have a set of Mullerian ducts, a set of Wolffian ducts, and primitive gonads |
| SRY | sex-determining region on the Y-chromosome causes the primitive gonads to develop into testes (sperm-producing organs) testes produce testosterone --> increases growth of testes testosterone causes Wolffian ducts to develop into seminal vesicles (saclike structures that store semen) and the vas deferns (a duct from the testis into the penis) |
| Mullerian inhibiting hormone (MIH) | causes degeneration of the mullerian ducts |
| sensitive period | an early period when hormones have long-lasting effects high level of testosterone causes the external genitals to develop the male pattern, low level leads to the female pattern estrogens produce important effects on the internal organs but little effect on the external |
| development cycle | germ cells --> genital ridge --> develop both mullerian ducts & wolffian ducts --> SRY gene causes Wolffian ducts to be maintained |
| gametes | eggs or sperm |
| sociobiology | look at behavior based on investment and reward |
| female gametogenesis | creation of eggs |
| sex determination study | newborn rats or mice (similar to newborn human after 2nd trimester) get injected with either estrogen or testosterone CONCLUSIONS: 1) basic/default state is female (only become male when kicked into gear e.g. by SRY gene) 2) testosterone is converted to estrogen by aromatization early on 3) alpha feto protein is high in females and lower in males (binds estrogen so that it doesn't work) 4) estrogen masculinizes developing organisms right before birth |
| androgen insensitivty | lacked the genes to recognize androgens thus looks like a woman |
| congenital adrenal hypertrophy (CAH) | anddenogenital syndrome - secretes epinephrine & a little bit of testosterone (adrenal gland) hypothalamus & pituitary don't receive feedback from the adrenal gland small females become masculinized |
| diethyl sylvesterone (DES) | synthetic estrogen girls whose mother took the drugs stopped cycling |
| freemartin | cows have twins (one male, one female) female is sterile; perhaps masculinized by the placenta |
| difference between male and female brains | thickness of corpus collosum differs - spinal cord is different - dendrites have different orientations in the amygdala - the anterior commisure is different in size |
| twin studies regarding homosexuality | monozygotic - if your twin is gay, 50-50 chance that you will be gay as well |
| Simon LaVay | found that the interstitial nucleus anterior hypothalamus 3 (INAH 3) was bigger in heterosexual men than in homosexual men |
| gender identity | how we identify sexually and what we call ourselves biological diff between males & female = sex differences differences that result from people's thinking about themselves as male or female = gender differences |
| 5 alpha-reductase 2 | an enzyme that converts testosterone to dihydrotestoerone dihydrotestoreone = androgen that is more effective than testosterone for masculinizing the external genitals at birth --> individuals look female at puberty --> testosterone levels increase sharply --> results is the grwoth of a penis & scrotum |
| differences between homosexuals & heterosexuals | bones of the arms, legs, and hands are longer in heterosexual men and longer in homosexual women homosexual males resemble heterosexual females (left & right hemispheres nearly same size, left amygdala has more widespread connections) homosexual females are intermediate |
| how does prenatal stress & alcohol alter brain development? | stress releases endorphins --> can antagonize the effects of testosterone on the hypothalamus stress also elevates level of the adrenal hormone corticosterone, which decreases testosterone release |
| differences in brain structure between homosexual and heterosexual men | anterior commissure is, on average, larger in heterosexual women than in heterosexual men (homoesexual men = same size as women maybe larger) SCN is larger in homosexual men than in heterosexual men |
| INAH 3 | third interstitial nucleus of the anterior hypothalamus area has more cells with androgen receptors in men than in women larger in heterosexual men than homosexual men |
| emotions | three components 1) cognitions 2) feelings 3) actions |
| James-Lange theory | frightening situation --> running away (increased heart rate, etc.) --> fear |
| pure autonomic failure | output from the autonomic nervous system to the body fails either completely or almost completely people with this condition do not react to stressful experiences with changes in heart rate, blood pressure, or sweating many people report that they feel emotions less intensely than previously |
| limbic system | the forebrain areas surrounding the thalamus (regarded as critical for emotion) composed of cingulate gyrus, anterior thalamic nuclei, septal nuclei, frontal lobe, olfactory bulb, fornix, mamillary bodies, hippocampus, and parahippocampal gyrus (limbic lobe) |
| insular cortex / insula | strongly activated if you see a disgusting picture or the facial expression of someone else who is feeling disgusted |
| behavioral activation system (BAS) | marked by low to moderate autonomic arousal and a tendency to approach activity of the left hemisphere (especially its frontal & temporal lobes) |
| behavior inhibition system (BIS) | increased activity of the frontal and temporal lobes of the right hemisphere increases attention and arousal, inhibits action, and stimulates emotions such as fear and disgust |
| left vs right hemisphere | right = more responsive to emotional stimuli when the right hemisphere is inactive, people do not experience strong emotions and do not even remember feeling them |
| damage to the prefrontal cortex | blunts people's emotions & impairs decision making failure to anticipate the unpleasantness of likely outcomes leads to bad decisions |
| What is an emotion? | - less susceptible to intentions - has global effects on all aspects of cognition - adds "value" to events (desirable or not) |
| amygdala | located at the bottom of the temporal lobe scans items for importance |
| locked in syndrome | people can't move would expect them to feel angry/frustrated but they feel rather tranquil |
| Cannon-Bard theory | thinks of the feeling response and autonomic nervous system response occur at parallel times |
| Papez | discovered an emotional circuit in the 1930s limbic lobe/cingulate cortex --> hippocampus --> mammillary body (two little bumps at the back of the hypothalamus) --> thalamus --> now referred to as the limbic system |
| monoamine oxidase A (MAO_A) | enzyme that breaks down the neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin people maltreated in childhood --> rate of antisocial behavior was significantly higher for those with low MAO_A activity |
| testosterone's effect on the brain | increases the responses of emotion-related areas (e.g the amygdala) while decreasing the ability of the cerebral cortex to identity the emotion consciously increased emotional arousal and decreased ability ability to regulate that emotion deliberately |
| turnover | the amount that neurons released and replaced serotonin turnover from the concentration of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, serotonin's main metabolite in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) |
| lowest serotonin turnover | more aggressive |
| nucleus accumbens | a brain area important for reinforcement cells toward one end are more important for approach responses and cells toward the other end are turned for avoidance |
| startle reflex | response to an unexpected loud noise auditory info --> cochlear nculeus in the medulla --> pons --> tensing of muscles, especially neck |
| amygdala is important for startle reflex | output to hypothalamus --> controls autonomic fear responses (e.g. increased blood pressure) axons to prefrontal cortex --> control approach and avoidance responses damage to amygdala interferes with learning of fear responses more than the retention of fear responses learned previously |
| Kluver-Bucy syndrome | monkeys showing this syndrome are tame and placid due to amygdala damage attempt to pick up lighted matches and other objects that they ordinarily avoid |
| amygdala neurotransmitters | excitatory: CCK (cholecystokinin) --> increases anxiety inhibitory: GABA --> inhibits anxiety |
| benzodiazephines | anti-anxiety drugs |
| GABA receptors | GABA_A receptor = chloride channel at the center when it opens, permits chloride ions to cross into the neuron & hyperpolarize (inhibit) the cell benzodiazephines twists receptors so that GABA can bind more easily |
| diazepam-binding inhibitor (DBI) | protein that blocks the behavioral effects of diazepam and other benzodiazepines known as endozepines increase levels of fear & anxieties |
| Le Doux | wanted to study the nerual basis of emotions play a sound information picked up in cochlea --> cochlear nucleus --> inferior colliculus --> medial geniculate nucleus --> cortex |
| conditioned emotional response | - one trial learning (tone --> shock) - autonomic nervous systems response - startle, eyes blink - don't feel pain as well play a sound information picked up in cochlea --> cochlear nucleus --> inferior colliculus --> medial geniculate nucleus --> cortex |
| go step by step in output pathways that cause blinking, freezing, sympathetic NS, hormoned & lesion | lesion corticomedial nucleus, inferior colliculus, medial geniculate nucleus --> don't learn lesion link w/ cortex --> animal starts to learn |
| lesion & their affects on fear | central gray area lesion (don't freeze) lateral hypothalamus ( no sympathetic NS response) stria terminalis (no hormonal response) |
| John Flynn | electrically stimulated cats' brains to elicit behavior medial hypothalamus --> affective attack (hissing, back arched) lateral hypothalamus --> quite biting attack (predator, crouching, slinking) dorsal hypothalamus --> fear-induced attack in humans: dorsal --> quesy, distrust lateral --> pleasurable medial --> anxious, fearful |
| psychosurgery | removing a piece of tissue in the brain to change behavior |
| Moniz | in charge of an asylum in Portugal performed frontal lobotomy on patients and observed they became calmer |
| Walter Freeman | 41 lobotomies in the late 30s |
| classical conditioning | pairing two stimuli changes the response to one of them conditioned stimulus --> unconditioned response pair unconconditioned stimulus with conditioned stimulus UCS --> conditioned response |
| operant conditioning | individual's response leads to a reinforcer or punishment |
| reinforcer | any event that increases the future probability of the response |
| punishment | an event that suppresses the frequency of the response |
| learning | change in response to a stimulus; behavioral difference in response to a stimulus |
| types of stimulus | appetitive - pleasant stimulus aversive - punishing stimulus |
| Thompson | studied nicitating membrane response puff of air to eye (UCS) --> blinking (UCR) somewhere along the line there will be a change in output looking for the place where learning happens happened in the lateral interpostus nucleus of cerebellum |
| cerebellum fibers | mossy fibers & climbing ffibers if two things came in at the same time, purkinje cells activated |
| Thorndike | put his cat in a puzzle box |
| Skinner | operant conditioning as animals walk through their environment, they operate/behavior if the behaviors result in reward, probability increases if the behaviors result in punishment, probability decreases |
| engram | physical representation of what has been learned e.g. a connection between two brain areas |
| Lashley | tested whether any part of the cerebral cortex was where the connection for learning was two principles found: 1) equipotentiality - all parts of the cortex contribute equally to complex behaviors such as learning, and any part of the cortex can substitute for any other 2) mass action - the cortex works as a whole, and more cortex is better |
| lateral interpositus nucleus (LIP) | essential for learning temporarily suppressed --> rabbits show no responses during training waited for LIP to recover & continued training rabbit began to learn but learned at the same speed as animals that had received no previous training |
| red nucleus | midbrain motor area that receives input from the cerebellum rabbit again showed no responses during training when red nucleus was suppressed as soon as RN recovered, rabbits showed strong responses to tone |
| Wilder Penfield | applied a brief, weak electrical stimulus to part of the brain --> patient could describe the experience that stimulation evoked |
| G. A. Horridge | demonstrated that decapitated cockroaches can learn |
| investigators believed that memory was coded as ? | RNA or protein fed planaria to planaria |
| Hebbian synapse | a synapse that increases in effectiveness because of simultaneous activity in the presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons |
| habituation | decrease in response to a stimulus that is presented repeatedly and accompanied by no change in other stimuli |
| sensitization | an increase in response to mild stimuli as a result of exposure to more intense stimuli |
| long-term potentiation (LTP) | one or more axons connected to a dendrite bombard it with a brief but rapid series of stimuli (e.g. 100 per second for 1-4 seconds) burst of intense stimulating leaves some of synapses potentiated (more response to new input of the same type) |
| LTP has three properties that make it an attractive candidate for a cellular basis of learning and memory | 1) specificity 2) cooperativity - nearly simultaneous stimulation by two or more axons produces LTP much more strongly than does repeated stimulation by just one axon 3) associativity - pairing a weak input with a strong input enhances later response to the weak input |
| long-term depression (LTD) | a prolonged decrease in response at a synapse occurs when axons have been less active than others |
| AMPA vs NMDA receptor | AMPA - typical ionotropic receptor that opens sodium channels NMDA - response to the transmitter glutamate depends on the degree of polarization across the membrane |
| NMDA vs AMPA receptors | |
| NMDA receptors | both sodium & calcium enters calcium activates a protein called CaMKII which migrates to the synapse --> causes long term potentiation/long term changes |
| What happens when LTP occurs | - dendrite builds more AMPA receptors or moves old ones into better positions - neuron makes more NMDA receptors - dendrite may make more branches, thus forming additional synapses with the same axon - possibly some individual AMPA receptors become more responsive than before |
| retrograde transmitter | a protein/chemical that travels back to the presynaptic cell to modify it part of LTP |
| two theories of learning | 1) localizationist 2) equipotentiacs |
| aplysia | sea slugs 1) 100,000 neurons --> relatively small population of neurons 2) single neurons can be isolated in a certain area (same in every slug) 3) neurons are really big (almost 1 mm across) |
| declarative memory | facts that you can talk about |
| procedural memory | things that you can do/demonstrate |
| short-term memory vs long-term memory | short capacity (7) vs vast short timespan (fade quickly) vs long timespan non-permanent vs can remember with a hint |
| working memory | temporary storage is not a station on the route to long-term memory but the way we store information while we are working with it probably found in prefrontal cortex due to calcium |
| delayed response task | requires responding to something that you saw or heard a short while ago |
| anterograde amnesia | inability to form memories for events that happened after brain damage |
| retrograde amnesia | loss of memory for events that occurred before the brain damage |
| episodic memories | memories of single events |
| people with amnesia | - normal short-term or working memory - severe anterograde amnesia for declarative memory - that is, difficulty forming new declarative memories - in many cases, a severe loss of episodic memories - better implicit than explicit memory |
| hippocampus & basal ganglia | hippocampus - important for declarative memory basal ganglia - important for procedural memory |
| emotional response enhances consolidation | stressful or emotionally exciting experiences increase the secretion of epinephrine (adrenaline) and cortisol small to moderate amounts of cortisol activate the amygdala and hippocampus, where they enhance the storage and consolidation of recent experiences |
| Korsakoff's syndrome | a.k.a Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome brain damage caused by prolonged thiamine deficiency (brain needs thiamine to metabolize glucose) prolonged deficiency --> loss/shrinkage of neurons, specifically the dorsomedial thalamus (main source of input to the prefrontal cortex) apathy, confusion, memory loss confabulation (patients guess to fill in memory gaps) |
| amyloid-beta | protein that accumulate both inside & outside neurons during early-onset Alzheimer's damaged structure form plaques tau protein (intracellular support structure of neurons) --> produces tangles |
| parietal lobe damage | have trouble associating one piece of memory with another |
| damage to the anterior & inferior regions of the temporal lobe | semantic dementia (loss of semantic memory) |
| parts of cortex & relations with memory | prefrontal - learning about rwards and punishments basal ganglia - reward values over time prefrontal cortex - responds more quickly based on recent events ventromedial prefrontal cortex - respond based on the reward to be expected, based on past experience orbitofrontal cortex - respond based on how that reward compares to other possible choices |
| reverberating circuit | a circuit that involved a cycle of released neurotransmitters in the brain perhaps short term memory was based on this |
| one trial passive avoidance | let mice jump off --> get shocked next day animals don't jump off |
| electroconvulsive shock (ECS) | wipes off patterns of activity in reverberating circuits the longer you wait, the less effect ECS had on memory |
| state dependent learning | contex that you're in affects how much you learn |
| symptoms of a stroke | face drooping arm weakness speech difficulty |
| types of stroke | hemorrhagic stroke (blood vessel bursts) ischemic stroke (blood vessel constricted) |
| tumor | bunch of cells that divide and take up room either a glioma (from glial cells) or a neuroma (from neural cells) |
| Williams syndrome | despite mental retardation in many regards, many people with Williams syndrome speak gramatically and fluently bad with visuospatial skills & spatial perception, good with complex rhythm and friendliness |
| language acquisition device | a built-in mechanism for acquiring language |
| poverty of the stimulus argument | children use complex grammar structures that they have seldom heard |
| parts of brain essential to human language | left temporal & frontal cortex |
| Broca's area | left frontal cortex; speech production |
| Broca's aphasia | nonfluent aphasia (can understand language but have a hard time speaking) comprehension deficits when the meaning of a sentence is complicated |
| Wernicke's area | left temporal cortex near the auditory cortex; speech comprehension |
| Wernicke's aphasia | characterized by poor language comprehension and impaired ability to remember the names of object fluent aphasia (the person can speak smoothly but their sentences make no sense) 1) articulate speech 2) difficulty finding the right word (anomia - difficulty recalling the names of objects) 3) poor language comprehension |
| dyslexia | specific impairment of reading in someone with adequate vision & adequate skills in other academic areas more common in boys than girls more likely to have a bilaterally symmetrical cerebral cortex show less arousal in the parietal and temporal cortex |
| dysphonetic dylsexics | have trouble sounding out words, so they try to memorize each word as a whole |
| dyseidetic readers | sound out words well but fail to recognize word as a whole |
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