PSY100H1 Chapter 4: Chapter 4 Notes
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PSY100H1 Full Course Notes
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Document Summary
The spinal cord, a rope of neural tissue inside the vertebrae, responds to sensory inputs and directs muscle responses. It is composed of 2 distinct tissue types: gray matter (dominated by the cell bodies of neurons) and white matter (consists mostly of axons and the fatty sheaths that surround them) The brainstem houses the basic programs of survival including breathing, swallowing, vomiting, urination, and orgasm. The two brain structures in this area are the reticular formation (implicated in attention and arousal) and the cerebellum (involved with initiation and motor movement) The limbic system is a subcortical region involved with basic drives and emotion. The limbic system includes the hypothalamus (eating, drinking, body temperature), the thalamus (relays sensory information), hippocampus (formation of new memories), and the amygdala (processing new strong emotional information). The basal ganglia are another system of subcortical structures crucial for planning and producing movements.
