NEUR1020 W4

• What is cognitive neuroscience?

  The study of the neural basis (brain basis) of behaviour and thought
• What is the top-down driven processes in behaviour?

  Controlled conscious choices and selection and inhibition
• What is the bottom-up driven processes in behaviour?

  Automatic brain responses, senses and learnt patterns, and evolved for survival
• What percentage of body weight is the brain?

  2%
• How much blood does the brain receive from the heart and how much energy does it consume?

  20%
• How any neurons are there?

  100 billion
• How many synapses are there?

  1,000,000 billion
• How many possible circuits are there?

  10^1mil
• What are the 3 major parts of the brain?

  Cerebrum (cerebral hemisphere) divided by the Longitudinal Fissure

  Cerebellum

  Brainstem
• What is the cerebral cortex?

  The surface layer (2-4mm thick) of the brain, also known as the grey matter and it contains neurons
• Why is the cerebral cortex highly folded?

  To maximise surface are to maximise the amount of cortex that can fit inside the skull
• Where is the white matter located and what is it for?

  Located under the grey matter, and it is all the wiring of the brain (axons of the neurons, connecting to the spinal cord and to other areas of the cortex)
• What is the corpus callosum responsible for?

  Responsible for the communication between the left and right hemispheres through neuron connections
• What are there 4 different types of lobes?

  Frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal
• What is the frontal lobe responsible for?

  It is the primary motor cortex (movement) and executive functions include reasoning, planning, problem-solving, inhibitory control and working memory. Its motor functions include premotor cortex for motor planning, and also speech production (Broca's area)
• What is the parietal lobe responsible for?

  Primary somatic sensory cortex (touch). It gives sense to stable world around us relative to our body position, spatial attention and directing to explore the world, and linking vision to action
• What is the occipital lobe responsible for?

  Primary visual cortex (vision), and for higher visual areas such as different regions processing shape, colour, orientation and motion
• What is the temporal lobe responsible for?

  Primary auditory cortex (sound), language comprehension (Wernicke's area) and the medial temporal lobe for the limbic system
• Where is the limbic system located?

  In the medial temporal lobe (the middle)
• What consist in the limbic system?

  Amygdala and hippocampus
• What does the amygdala look like and its purpose?

  Looks like an almond and its purpose is controlling emotions (fear and arousal), responding to threat and danger
• What does the hippocampus look like and its purpose?

  Looks like a seahorse and its purpose is for learning and memory, forming new episodic memories
• What happens if damage occurs to the hippocampus?

  Causes anterograde amnesia where you cannot form new memories of events
• Where is the Broca's and Wernicke's area located in the brain?

  Frontal lobe and temporal lobe respectively
• What happens if damage occurs in the Broca's area?

  Although they can convey meaning, they have difficulty in finding words (anomia), hence speech is slow and non-fluent
• What happens if damage occurs in the Wernicke's area?

  Deficit in language comprehension and speech has no meaning, but it's fluent
• What anterior and posterior?

  Anterior is the front. Posterior is the back.
• What is homunculus?

  Body representation, where different parts of motor and sensory cortex maps to different parts of the body. The fine motor control controls areas of fingers, hands, mouth, lips and jaws for articulation, while the fine sensory discrimination controls areas sensitive around the fingers and lip
• What are the 2 different nervous systems in the human body?

  Central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and the Peripheral nervous system (somatic vs autonomic)
• What are the 2 divisions of the autonomic nervous system?

  Sympathetic nervous system, which consists of emotional arousal, stress and fear, fight or flight responses, and increases in heart-rate, respiration and sweating.

  Parasympathetic nervous system, which opposes sympathetic and consists of rest of digest, reduces heart-rate and respiration and digestion
• What is the medulla in the brainstem responsible for?

  Autonomic nervous system functions, such as controlling heart-rate, respiration, regulation of blood pressure and body temperature, as well as reflex centres for coughing, sneezing and swallowing
• What are the 2 disorders of consciousness?

  Persistent vegetative state and the "locked-in" syndrome
• What causes persistent vegetative state and what happens to the patient?

  Caused by severe damage to the upper brain. Patients have no conscious awareness (brain dead). However, if the brainstem is not damaged, autonomic nervous system functions can remain
• What causes "locked-in" syndrome and what happens to the patient?

  Caused by loss of motor neurons to spinal cord (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or motor neuron disease) and the cerebrum and brainstem are intact, but disconnected from the spinal cord. Patients may be conscious and aware with normal cognitive function, vision and hearing, but are totally unresponsive and cannot move
• List the areas of the brain from low, medium to high level functions

  Brainstem, limbic system, cerebral hemispheres (where all the lobes are)
• What is the cerebellum responsible for?

  Sense of balance and coordination of complex movements, as well as motor learning of fine adjustment of movement based on feedbacks
• What does the brain do for "motor programs" for movements?

  The brain creates programs just before the moment, or the brain retrieves program for learnt skill actions
• How do our brains work in terms of feedback control of movements?

  The brain computes the difference between planned action and feedback during the performed action. Whenever we perform movements, we get feedback from that movement and we constantly evaluate that movement and the feedback we receive
• What is a sense of agency in terms of feedback?

  When the feedback matches predictions from planned actions, and the brain automatically links sensory events and own-actions to infer cause and effect
• Why can't humans tickle themselves?

  Because their planned motor action matches their sensation. The brain predicts what it'll feel like, thus it doesn't tickle. However, when someone else tickles them, their brain has no access to the motor planning part and cannot make an accurate prediction of the expected sensation, hence it tickles