PSYCH 1XX3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Substantia Nigra, Radioactive Tracer, Magnetic Resonance Imaging

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCH 1XX3
• Professor: Joe Kim

Document Summary

In humans, the nervous system axis or neuraxis curves. Dorsal always refers to the back of the axis and ventral means to the front of the axis or. Because of the curve in the neuraxis, at the level of the head, dorsal is up, but at the level of the spinal cord, dorsal is to the back. Rostral means towards the top of the axis and caudal means towards the bottom of the axis. Locations in the brain that are more central or towards the midline of the brain are medial and regions towards the outside of the brain are lateral. These terms can be combined to locate a very specific brain region. In such scenarios, a researcher destroys, removes or inactivates a defined brain region and observes the result on behaviour. The accuracy of this emerging understanding of structure and function can depend on the precision of the lesion. Montreal procedure to treat patients experiencing severe seizures.