Brain & cognition summary itrem
exam 3
Chapter 1
Old societies believed that nature was just like us with desires, thoughts and emotions. The ancient
Greek changed the view that nature was an it and human beings were separate form it. Thales
every event has a natural cause, no longer supernatural causes.
History: debates:
- Dualism versus monism (materialism). Thales monism, Descartes dualism (mind is
separate from body).
Monism Thales, also the view that cognitive neuroscientists take the flesh and blood
brain produces thought.
Dualism Descartes the body has material properties and works like a machine whereas
the mind is nonmaterial and does not follow the laws of nature. He thought the interaction
was in the pineal gland. No bilateral structure.
- Functional specialization (the brain is made up of different areas with different functions, e.g.
fusiform face area) versus aggregate field area (the brain is one organ) Flourens.
Functional specialization: first Thomas Willis, then Franz Joseph Gall and his disciple
Spurzheim phrenology character could be defined by palpating the skull.
- Rationalism: from the enlightenment, knowledge was intellectual only, not sensory. All
knowledge and truth could be gained through reason. Empiricism: the opposite, all
knowledge comes from sensory information and you start as a tabula rasa. Associationism
comes from this: the idea that experience determines the course of mental development
(Thorndike). Behaviourism: all behaviour can be learned (Watson). Montreal procedure went
against it because they thought biology causes behaviour destroying neurons that caused
epileptic seizures.
Insights:
- Electrical signals produce movement
- Brodmann 52 areas with different functions (not completely true e.g. the language area).
how cells differ between brain regions is cytoarchitectonics (cellular architecture).
- Visualisation of individual neurons (Golgi: the cells form a continuous mass of tissue
(syncytium), Ramon y Cajal: neural doctrine, the concept that the nervous system is made up
of individual cells).
Cognation: empiricism associationism behaviourism. Chomsky was in the cognitive revolution
(we should study the brain) with language. Knowing the brain in order to know the mind.
Broca: damage in left hemisphere inferior frontal lobe leads to not being able to produce language,
Wernicke: damage to posterior region of the left hemisphere where the temporal and parietal lobes
meet, causes someone to not be able to understand language.
Chapter 2
There are two types of cells in the nervous system: glial cells and neurons.
, Glial cells: for a long time they were thought to be just for support, but they might have more
functions.
Astrocytes: surrounding a neuron, connected to the blood vessel extracting stuff from blood.
Blood brain barrier (no toxic stuff in the brain) between central nervous system and the
blood. It restrict the diffusion of microscopic objects and large hydrophilic objects, but it
allows the diffusion of small hydrophobic molecules such as oxygen, carbon dioxide and
hormones. Also: modulate neuron activity, research on this has been done by silencing them.
They respond to and release neurotransmitters.
Oligodendrocytes: forming myelin sheet around the axon. In peripheral nervous system they
are called Schwann cells. They wrap their cell membranes around the axon. Myelin is a good
electrical insulator, preventing loss of electrical current.
Microglial cells: phagocytes that remove damaged cells.
Neurons: dendrites are for input and axons for output of
information. Resting potential is -70mV. In the cell membrane there
are selective ion channels which are passive, more K+ channels. Ion
pumps are active. Sodium potassium pump (3Na+ out, 2K+ in). This
requires energy.
Because cellular fluid is made up of ions (intracellular fluid contains
more potassium K+ and extracellular fluid contains more sodium
Na+). The balance is negative because K+ wants to go out, and Na+
wants to go in to balance it better (concentration gradient), however, there is predominantly K+
channels so they all go out, making the neuron negatively charged (electrical gradient) and they don’t
want to go out anymore so equilibrium.
In an active neuron: there is an action potential (very rapid depolarization and repolarization of the
neurons output). Receive a signal at dendrite they open ion channels when a neurotransmitter
binds. Positive charge, change in potential due to Na+. excitatory postsynaptic potentials happen
very fast over a short distance (decremental conduction). Integrated in an axon hillock. A single epsp
is not strong enough, you need multiple after each other (temporal summation). Voltage gated
channels are closed they open when there is a big chance in potential (-55mv), they open, Na+ enters
and there is a large depolarization.
exam 3
Chapter 1
Old societies believed that nature was just like us with desires, thoughts and emotions. The ancient
Greek changed the view that nature was an it and human beings were separate form it. Thales
every event has a natural cause, no longer supernatural causes.
History: debates:
- Dualism versus monism (materialism). Thales monism, Descartes dualism (mind is
separate from body).
Monism Thales, also the view that cognitive neuroscientists take the flesh and blood
brain produces thought.
Dualism Descartes the body has material properties and works like a machine whereas
the mind is nonmaterial and does not follow the laws of nature. He thought the interaction
was in the pineal gland. No bilateral structure.
- Functional specialization (the brain is made up of different areas with different functions, e.g.
fusiform face area) versus aggregate field area (the brain is one organ) Flourens.
Functional specialization: first Thomas Willis, then Franz Joseph Gall and his disciple
Spurzheim phrenology character could be defined by palpating the skull.
- Rationalism: from the enlightenment, knowledge was intellectual only, not sensory. All
knowledge and truth could be gained through reason. Empiricism: the opposite, all
knowledge comes from sensory information and you start as a tabula rasa. Associationism
comes from this: the idea that experience determines the course of mental development
(Thorndike). Behaviourism: all behaviour can be learned (Watson). Montreal procedure went
against it because they thought biology causes behaviour destroying neurons that caused
epileptic seizures.
Insights:
- Electrical signals produce movement
- Brodmann 52 areas with different functions (not completely true e.g. the language area).
how cells differ between brain regions is cytoarchitectonics (cellular architecture).
- Visualisation of individual neurons (Golgi: the cells form a continuous mass of tissue
(syncytium), Ramon y Cajal: neural doctrine, the concept that the nervous system is made up
of individual cells).
Cognation: empiricism associationism behaviourism. Chomsky was in the cognitive revolution
(we should study the brain) with language. Knowing the brain in order to know the mind.
Broca: damage in left hemisphere inferior frontal lobe leads to not being able to produce language,
Wernicke: damage to posterior region of the left hemisphere where the temporal and parietal lobes
meet, causes someone to not be able to understand language.
Chapter 2
There are two types of cells in the nervous system: glial cells and neurons.
, Glial cells: for a long time they were thought to be just for support, but they might have more
functions.
Astrocytes: surrounding a neuron, connected to the blood vessel extracting stuff from blood.
Blood brain barrier (no toxic stuff in the brain) between central nervous system and the
blood. It restrict the diffusion of microscopic objects and large hydrophilic objects, but it
allows the diffusion of small hydrophobic molecules such as oxygen, carbon dioxide and
hormones. Also: modulate neuron activity, research on this has been done by silencing them.
They respond to and release neurotransmitters.
Oligodendrocytes: forming myelin sheet around the axon. In peripheral nervous system they
are called Schwann cells. They wrap their cell membranes around the axon. Myelin is a good
electrical insulator, preventing loss of electrical current.
Microglial cells: phagocytes that remove damaged cells.
Neurons: dendrites are for input and axons for output of
information. Resting potential is -70mV. In the cell membrane there
are selective ion channels which are passive, more K+ channels. Ion
pumps are active. Sodium potassium pump (3Na+ out, 2K+ in). This
requires energy.
Because cellular fluid is made up of ions (intracellular fluid contains
more potassium K+ and extracellular fluid contains more sodium
Na+). The balance is negative because K+ wants to go out, and Na+
wants to go in to balance it better (concentration gradient), however, there is predominantly K+
channels so they all go out, making the neuron negatively charged (electrical gradient) and they don’t
want to go out anymore so equilibrium.
In an active neuron: there is an action potential (very rapid depolarization and repolarization of the
neurons output). Receive a signal at dendrite they open ion channels when a neurotransmitter
binds. Positive charge, change in potential due to Na+. excitatory postsynaptic potentials happen
very fast over a short distance (decremental conduction). Integrated in an axon hillock. A single epsp
is not strong enough, you need multiple after each other (temporal summation). Voltage gated
channels are closed they open when there is a big chance in potential (-55mv), they open, Na+ enters
and there is a large depolarization.
