Unit 1

• What Is Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)?


  A progressive and fatal brain disease associated with repeated head injuries and concussions.
• What Is A Neurodegenerative Disease?

  A disease characterised by the progressive loss of neurons in the brain.
• What Are Neurofibrillary Tangles?

  An accumulation of the protein tau that forms insoluble tangles within neurons, which then inhibit the transportation of essential substances and eventually kill the neuron entirely.
• What Is A Neurological Disorder?

  Diseases characterised by any damage to or malfunctioning of the nervous system.
• What Is A Concussion?

  A mild traumatic brain injury that temporarily disrupts brain function.
• What Is A Post-Mortem Examination?

  An assessment of a dead body that occurs to determine cause of death.
• What Is An Acquired Brain Injury?

  All Types of brain injury that occur after birth
• What Is Parkinson's Disease?

  A progressive disease of the nervous system characterised by both motor and non-motor symptoms.
• What Is Dopamine?

  A neurotransmitter that is responsible for the coordination of voluntary movement and the experience of pleasure and pain.
• What Is Epilepsy?

  A neurological disorder that is associated with abnormal electrical activity in the brain and is categorized by recurrent seizures.
• What Are Seizures?

  Brief episodes of uncontrolled and unrestricted electrical discharging of neurons in the brain.
• What Is Machine Learning?

  'AI' that allows software to become more accurate at predicting outcomes by mimicking the way that humans learn.
• What Is The Gut?

  The long flexible tube from the mouth to anus that is a passage way involved in digestion.
• What Is The Gut-Brain Axis?

  A bi-directional connection between the gut and the brain through multiple parts of the nervous system.
• What Is Gut Micro-biota?

  All of the micro-organisms that live in the gut.
• What Is A Neuron?

  A nerve cell that receives and transfers neuronal information
• What Is A Synapse?

  The region that includes the axon terminals of the pre-synaptic neuron, that synaptic gap and the dendrites of the post-synaptic neuron.
• What Is Neuroplasticity?

  The ability of the brain to change in response to experience or environment stimulation
• What Is Developmental Plasticity?

  Changes in the brain that occur in response to ageing and maturation
• What Is Synaptogenesis?

  The formation of synapses between neurons as axon terminals and dendrites grow
• What Is Synaptic Pruning?

  The elimination of underused synapses
• What Is Myelination?

  The formation and development of myelin around the axon of a neuron
• What Is Brain Trauma?

  Damage to the brain caused by external force
• What Is Adaptive Plasticity?

  The brains ability to restore adequate neural functioning over time after sustaining injury
• What Is Sprouting?

  A neurons ability to develop new branches on the dendrites or axons
• What Is Rerouting?

  A neurons ability to form an new connection with anther undamaged neuron
• What Is A Positron Emission Tomography (PET)?

  A neuro-imaging technique that uses a scanning device to take a coloured image of the brain showing its functional activity by tracing the levels of a radioactive substance in the brain
• What Is Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)?

  A neuro-imaging technique that uses magnetic and radio fields to take 2D and 3D images of the brain and record it's energy levels.
• What Is The Brain?

  A complex organ contained within the skull that coordinates mental processes and behaviour and regulates bodily activity
• What Is The Brain-stem?

  An extension of the spinal cord that is made up of the medulla, pons and mid-brain
• What Is The Hindbrain?

  The hindbrain is the region of the brain that includes the medulla, pons, and cerebellum.
• What Is The Mid-Brain?

  A region at the centre of the brain, between hind-brain and fore-brain and is part of the brain-stem.
• What Is The Fore-Brain?

  A large and prominent brain region that is located at the top and front of the brain
• What Is The Cerebral Cortex?

  The outer layer of the cerebrum that covers the brain
• What Is The Frontal Lobe?

  The longest and front-most lobe of the cerebral cortex that is composed of motor and associated areas.
• What Is The Parietal Lobe?

  The lobe of the cerebral cortex, located behind the frontal lobe and is composed of sensory and associations areas.
• What Is The Occipital Lobe?

  The rear-most lobe of the cerebral cortex, located behind the parietal lobe and is composed of sensory and associations areas.
• What Is The Temporal Lobe?

  The lowest lobe of the cerebral cortex, located beneath the parietal lobe and is composed of sensory and associations areas.
• What Is Psychology?

  The scientific study of human mental states and behavior
• What Is The Brain VS Heart Debate?

  A historical debate as to whether the heart or the brain is responsible for mental processes, such as thought, emotion and behaviour.