Neuroscience

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Neuroscience

• The relationship between brain and behavior.

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A. Earliest work...

• Brain/body and behavior connection.
• Hippocrates brain injury and behavior
• Phrenology (Franz Gall 1800s)
• What does your skull say about you?

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B. The bodys basic communication network.

• The nervous system
• 1. Communication system.
• Encounter a bear in the woods.....
• Coordinates the body and environment.
• Electrochemical
• receives messages
• organizes messages
• sends out messages

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B. The bodys basic communication network.

• 2. Two components
• a. Central Nervous System (CNS)
• Brain and spinal cord.

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B. The bodys basic communication network

• 2. Two components
• b. Peripheral Nervous System.
• Connects CNS with rest of body.
• Controls skeletal movement and internal organs.

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C. Basic Building Blocks of Neural Communication

• THE NEURON
• Nerve or Neuron?
• A neuron is a single nerve cell
• A nerve is a bundle of neurons
• Nerve cell - most basic component.
• Information carrier and integrator.
• Talks to other cells, muscles, etc.
• 1. 3 different kinds of neurons
• Sensory receiving
• Interneuron organizing
• Motor sending

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2. Structure of a Neuron
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C. Basic Building Blocks of Neural Communication

• 2. Structure of neuron
• Dendrites receive signals.
• Carry info to cell body.
• Cell body synthesizes these signals.
• Signal travels down axon.
• Away from cell body.
• Helped along by myelin sheath.
• Made up of glial cells.

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C. Basic Building Blocks of Neural Communication

• 3. How neurons communicate.
• a. Chemistry-to-electricity process.
• Within neuron part
• Neuron at rest electrically charged.
• Resting potential.
• Ions exist outside/inside of cell membrane.
• More negative ions inside of membrane.
• Gets stimulated (by light, heat, pressure,
  chemicals from other neurons).

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C. Basic Building Blocks of Neural Communication

• 3. How neurons communicate (with neuron).
• a. Chemistry-to-electricity process.
• Positive ions move into cell if strong enough
  causes depolarization
• FIRES!
• But strong enough means must reach
• Threshold ?
• Fires signal/electric impulse down axon ?
• called Action potential.
• All-or-none process

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C. Basic Building Blocks of Neural Communication

• 3. How neurons communicate.
• b. Importance of neurotransmitters.
• (Between neuron communication).
• Synapse Junction between axon tip of sending
  neuron and dendrites of receiving neuron.
• Synaptic Gap - tiny gap between neurons.
• Action potential fires, travels down axon
  releases ?
• Neurotransmitters - chemical messengers ?
• cross the synaptic gap, binds to sites on
  receiving neuron.

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3. How neurons communicate

• a. Importance of Neurotransmitters.
• Found in different places, do different jobs.
• - Acetylcholine (learning, memory, muscle
  contraction,)
• - Endorphins (mood/pain)
• - Dopamine (smooth movement)
• - Norepinephrine (alertness, arousal)
• - Serotonin (mood, hunger, sleep)

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3. How neurons communicate

• c. Neurotransmitters and drugs.
• Agonist EXCITES.
• Drug/toxin mimics the effects of
  neurotransmitter, or heightens activity of
  neurotransmitters.
• Antagonists INHIBITS
• Drug/toxin that inhibits or blocks release of
  neurotransmitters.
• Examples

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• Influence of drugs on neurotransmitters
• Importance of REUPTAKE.
• Agonists heighten neurotransmitter activity by
  blocking reuptake of the chemical.
• Examples Cocaine

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COCAINE
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D. Brain

• 2. Structure
• a. Lower Level
• Brainstem oldest, innermost region
• controls arousal.
• Thalamus switchboard
• Cerebellum little brain
• coordinates movement and balance

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2a. Lower level brain structure

• Limbic system
• amygdala - aggression, fear
• hypothalamus - hunger, thirst, sexual behavior.
• reward center
• hippocampus - memory.

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2. Structure of brain a. Lower Level
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2. Structure of Brainb. Cerebral Cortex

• 1. Bark of the brain

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2. Structure of Brainb. Cerebral Cortex

• 2. Function of 4 Lobes
• Frontal Motor Cortex
• Specific areas stimulate movement.
• Parietal Sensory Cortex
• Receives information from skin and body parts
  (touch/movement).

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2. Structure of Brainb. Cerebral Cortex

• 2. Functions of 4 Lobes, contd.
• Occipital processes visual information, sends it
  elsewhere to be decoded.
• Temporal processes sound.
• Sensory and motor cortex, and visual and auditory
  areas take up 1/4 of brain.

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2. Structure of Brainb. Cerebral Cortex

• Association Areas
• Other 3/4 of cerebral cortex.
• Integrates, interprets, acts on information.
• (i.e. important to communication).
• Areas and their associated behaviors have been
  identified based on what happens when those areas
  are damaged.

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B. Association Areas

• Frontal Lobe
• - cannot plan or judge.
• - alters personality - Phinneas Gage
• - speech production- Brocas Area
• Temporal Lobe
• - cant recognize faces.
• - speech understanding - Wernickes Area

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C. Two Hemispheres of Brain

• Brains sides (left and right) serve different
  purposes.
• Stroke?
• Damage to left side - reading, writing,
  speaking, understanding.
• - considered major, verbal hemisphere
• Damage to right side - not as dramatic

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C. Two Hemispheres of Brain

• Important - how sides communicate with each
  other.
• Corpus Callosum bundle of neural fibers
  connecting both sides, carries messages between
  them.
• If severed, demonstrates how both sides work
  together.

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c. Two Hemispheres of Brain

• Talents of each hemisphere.
• Right perceptual
• picture recognition
• emotion, expression, creativity
• Left speaking, calculating numbers
• word recognition
• analytical, logical

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Conclusions

• There is no psychology without biology.
• From the neuron to the brain
• How information/stimuli are taken in, integrated,
  and responses (behavior) are generated based on
  the bodys communication system nervous system.

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