PSY 001 Lecture 5: Psych - Neuroscience
12 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Class 3 – Neuroscience
Jadzia Wray
Central Nervous System
- Brain Dura matter (hard covering – like the skull), Arachnoid layer (membrane like a web), Pia
matter (thin layer directly on the brain)
- Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) – protects the brain from impact and keeps it clean, flows around, and
if you have brain trauma, it absorbs the shock.
o Ex: when someone has brain trauma and CSF builds up from protecting the brain, and a
person has to have a shunt to clear that up
- Blood – capillary beds through the brain tissue – like the blood brain barrier (BBB)
- Spinal chord
Peripheral Nervous System
- Nerves, organs, and glands
- Autonomic nervous system (involuntary)
o Sympathetic – fight (protect self), flight (run), or freeze (some predators will ignore you if
they see that ou’e dead
o Parasympathetic – rest and digest
- Somatic nervous system (voluntary)
- When faced with danger, the brain shuts down other unnecessary functions so that it can focus
on giving you as much energy as possible in order to run or protect yourself
- If you get too stressed on a test, your brain sees it as fear and stress and it freezes and shuts down
o But if you are slightly stressed enough to have some energy and concentrate, then you
will do better
- Sexual activity activates both sympathetic and parasympathetic at the same time.
The Brain
- Superior → top; Inferior → bottom; Anterior → front; Posterior → back
- Gyri – the raised folds of the cortex
- Sulci – the buried grooves of the cortex
- Gray matter: neuronal cell bodies
- White matter: tissue consisting of axon cell bodies and support cells
- Ventricles: hollow chambers of the brain that contain CSF
- Corpus callosum: (in the middle) tract of white matter connecting 2 halves of the brain
o When someone has an epileptic fit, it may have started in one part of the brain but the
corpus callosum causes it to spread. If you take it out, then you may prevent this from
happening, but the person may lose their ability to understand the meaning of words
although they know to say them
- Frontal lobe: (newest part of brain, last to develop) executive function and higher order cognition
→ making decisions, abstract thought, higher order thought
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find more resources at oneclass.com
- Temporal lobe: (right and left side) hearing, language and memory → involvement with words
o So, if the middle part is taking out then the sides a’t oet ad futio as the should
- Occipital lobe: vision
- Parietal lobe: spatial cognition → Understanding space and 3-dimensions, take info and
understand how it works, koig that soeoe is fa aa ad that ou a’t touh the uless
you go towards them, etc.
The Brain – Internal Structures
- Thalamus – relay station for the sensory systems → vision, hearing, touch, taste. NOT smell →
that goes to the brain
- Hypothalamus – maintenance center (sleep, hunger, sex drive) → biological maintenance. Fight
or flight
- Hippocampus – memory
- Amygdala – fear and disgust (emotion) → has to do with remembering things. If you remember
feaig soethig ou o’t go ak to it. If ou ae disgusted a food, the ou o’t go ad
have it again
- Basal ganglia – movement and reward.
o Ex: if you eat chocolate, the body stores the sugar for later use.
o E: eig a addit is’t a hoie, the peso a see galig as a ead eause the
outoe is iig oe. The do’t ko to stop.
o Ex: some people are driven by their reward system → if they wanted candy they may not
see anything wrong with killing the person who is taking the candy they want. The person
may not have empathy either
o Psychopaths understand empathy, they just do’t feel it. Epath is atiated fo the
when hearing about bad things but not when seeing bad things
The Brain Stem
- Cerebellum (hindbrain) – coordination of movement
o When people get drunk it goes to the cerebellum and messes it up and they have no
balance. Alcohol works like a drug and affects the chemicals in the brain. Alcoholics mess
up thei eeellu ad that’s h soeties the shake ad will act strange.
o Supports other systems of the brain and has evolved with time.
- Mid brain/brain stem:
o Substantia nigra – control movement - aea affeted Pakiso’s
o Colliculi (inferior and superior) – attention grabbers
▪ If there is a bang sound, everyone will focus on that and look towards the sound,
the olliuli oeides a peso’s ailit to fous on one person
o Reticular formation – basic arousal center
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find more resources at oneclass.com
The Brain Cells
- Glial cells: support cells within the nervous system that help maintain homeostasis, form myelin,
and provide support and protection to neurons
o Astrocytes: intermediaries between blood system and brain tissue. Regulate transmission
of electrical impulses in the brain.
o Microglial cells – trash collectors
o Oligodendrocytes: provide support and insulation to neuron cells by producing myelin
The Neuron
- Neuron: a type of cell that makes up the nervous system
- Myelin: layer of fat around the axon for insulation
- Dendrites: branching structures that carry info from other neurons through chemical signals
- Cell body: part of the cell that contains the nucleus. Collects positively and negatively charged
ions. Electrical signals.
o In the neuron the signal is electrical, and from neuron to neuron it is chemical.
Neurotransmitters are chemical.
- Axon: conduction zone allows sodium to flow to the axon terminals (helps the action potential
travel to the next neuron). Wave of sodium is called an action potential.
- Axon terminals – release neurotransmitters to reach to the next neuron
- Axon initial segment (axon hillock): part of the cell body/soma where signal summation results in
action potential generation (or not)
- Action potential: a sudden change (depolarization and repolarization) in the electrical properties
of the neuron membrane in an axon
o Neurotransmitter decides whether to send positive or negative charges and excite or
inhibit. Once the action potetial fies, that’s it. It’s all o othig
- Synapse: post and pre. The small gap between neurons where neurotransmitters are released
- Vesicles: package of neurotransmitters in the pre-synaptic side. Vesicles release
neurotransmitters to travel across the synapse to the post-synaptic neuron.
- Auto receptors: feedback mechanism. Indicator of how much neurotransmitter has the neuron
released.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Brain dura matter (hard covering like the skull), arachnoid layer (membrane like a web), pia matter (thin layer directly on the brain) Blood capillary beds through the brain tissue like the blood brain barrier (bbb) Autonomic nervous system (involuntary: sympathetic fight (protect self), flight (run), or freeze (some predators will ignore you if they see that (cid:455)ou"(cid:396)e (cid:862)dead(cid:863)(cid:895, parasympathetic rest and digest. When faced with danger, the brain shuts down other unnecessary functions so that it can focus on giving you as much energy as possible in order to run or protect yourself. Sexual activity activates both sympathetic and parasympathetic at the same time. Superior top; inferior bottom; anterior front; posterior back. Gyri the raised folds of the cortex. Sulci the buried grooves of the cortex. White matter: tissue consisting of axon cell bodies and support cells. Ventricles: hollow chambers of the brain that contain csf.
