Midterm 1

• Coronal plane - planes of the brain seen through the front
• Sagittal plan - plane through brain as seen from the side
• Horizontal plane - plane through brain as seen from above
• Ipsi-lateral connection - cell communicates with cells on same side and stays on same side
• Contra-lateral connection - cells controlling opposite side
• Dura mater - thick outer layer immediately under (skull) bone
• Arachnoid - spider-web-like spongey layer that is the shock absorber; Subarachnoid space is filled with CSF
• Pia mater - pliant inner layer, conforms to brain and spine surface, includes blood vessels
• Ventricle - structure that produces and is filled with cerebral spinal fluid (CSF)
• Blood-brain barrier - exercises tight control over what enters brain from bloodstream; semi-permeable
• Blood vessels - complex web of arteries(in) and veins(out) feed and cleanse brain; warm blood exits heart and cool blood returns to heart
• Central nervous system - consists of brain and spinal cord
• Peripheral nervous system - consists of nerves that enter/exit CNS
• Somatic nervous system - responsible for interaction with external world (sensory motor)
• Autonomic nervous system - regulates internal environment (controls internal organs, digestion)
• Pons - relays info between cortex and cerebellum and between brain and spinal cord
• Cerebellum - motor programs; organizes online sensory input to guide movement
• Medulla oblongata - primal reflexes; keeps you alive
• Midbrain - central structure above hindbrain; proportionally larger and more important in simpler brains
• Tectum - part of sensory pathways to brain; Consists of superior colliculus (vision) and inferior colliculus (audition)
• Tegmentum - controls major motor pathways
• Thalamus - paired central structures atop midbrain; primary source of input to cerebral cortex
• Hypothalamus - oversees "4 Fs" (feeding, fighting, fleeing, and sex); acts as internal clock and temperature regulator
• Limbic system - Involved in motivational and emotional behavior; surrounds most of diencephalon
• Hippocampus - important in forming new memories and active in spatial mapping
• Amygdala - controls emotion expression and interpreting emotions
• Cingulate Gyrus (limbic cortex) - “re-entrant” system that interacts with cortex and other limbic systems to assess good/bad; involved in deciding if something is good or bad
• Olfactory bulb - receives input from olfactory(smell) receptors in nasal cavity; extends on stalk out of brain towards nasal cavity
• Basal ganglia - organizes activity into tasks/goals; important in habits and routines
• Basal Forebrain - key structures for attention and arousal of cortex
• Cerebral cortex - outermost layer, covering most of brain; bulges called gyrus; folds called sulci or fissures (if very deep)
• Occipital lobe - lobe that controls visual processing
• Temporal lobe - controls higher visual audition, emotion, and language comprehension
• Wernickes area (left hemisphere) - responsible for language comprehension
• Parietal lobe - controls higher visual somatosensory (sensation ex. pain, warmth) processing and spatial mapping
• Canonical cells - respond to “affordances” of object; how it can be handled/used
• Mirror cells - respond to seeing self or others perform an action
• Frontal lobe - has motor cortex, language production, and strategy
• Corpus callosum - bundle of axons communicating between the two hemispheres of cerebral cortex
• Soma - cell body