The Brain And Nervous System

Front 1

Amygdala

Back 1

An almond shaped structure, located in the medial temporal lobe that is central in emotion, aggression and in implicit learning. It is vital in initiating and processing emotional responses and in forming emotional memories.

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Aphasia

Back 2

The impairment of language caused by damage to the brain (usually stroke).

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Association Areas

Back 3

Regions of the cerebral lobes that are not part of the sensory (visual, auditory, somatosensory) or motor cortices. The association areas make up 75% of the cortex and integrates the information between the the motor and sensory areas and higher-order mental processing.

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Autonomic Arousal

Back 4

The response of the autonomic nervous system generally operating below the level of conscious awareness, and responsible for the fight-or-flight response.

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Autonomic Nervous System

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Consisting of the parasympathetic and sympathetic branches and responsible for the communication between the body's nonskeletal (visceral) muscles and the internal organs; glands that carry out bodily function.

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Axon

Back 6

The part of a neuron along which the electrochemical nerve-impulse is transmitted.

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Brain Stem

Back 7

Part of the brain that connects the brain to the spinal cord.

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Brain Trauma

Back 8

Any form of organic (physical or chemical) damage to the brain.

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Broca's Aphasia

Back 9

A result from damage done to the Broca's area (left frontal lobe) and often surrounding areas that leads to difficulty in expressing messages in words and sentences but the ability to comprehend is largely unaffected. Typically, little speech is produced and what is produced tends to be slow, generated with considerable effort and poorly articulated.

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Broca's Area

Back 10

The speech production centre of the brain.

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Central Nervous System (CNS)

Back 11

Comprises of the brain and spinal cord.

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Cerebral Cortex

Back 12

Outer layer of the brain. Location of higher mental processes and complex behaviours.

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Cerebral Hemisphere

Back 13

Large, wrinkled structures of the brain that are covered by the cortex.

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Cognitive Processes

Back 14

The mental processes involved in acquiring, retaining and using knowledge. A major aspect of our cognitions involves attention, perception, memory, language and learning and linked with our conscious experience.

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Corpus Callosum

Back 15

The thick band of about 200 million nerve fibres connecting the right and left hemispheres.

Front 16

Fight, Flight or Freeze Response

Back 16

Also known as fight-or-flight response. An organism's survival response, readying the body for action. Stems from sympathetic nervous systems.

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Forebrain

Back 17

Part of the brain responsible for higher order thinking processes, includes cerebral hemispheres.

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Frontal Lobe

Back 18

The largest lobe of the brain. It has several functions, including initiating movement of the body, language, planning, judgement, problem solving, aspects of personality and emotions. It is extremely well developed in higher mammals.

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Hindbrain

Back 19

The primitive parts of the brain, comprising of the cerebellum, pons and medulla. Adjacent to the spinal cord.

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Hippocampus

Back 20

Finger-sized curved structure that lies in the medial temporal lobes. It is responsible for consolidation of explicit (declaritive) memories and acts to transfer these to other parts of the brain for storage as long-term memory.

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Hypothalamus

Back 21

Structure in the forebrain that plays a major role in controlling emotion and motivated behaviours such as eating, drinking and sexual activity.

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Lateral Fissure

Back 22

Groove that separates the temporal lobe from the frontal and parietal lobes.

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Left Visual Field

Back 23

Visual stimuli on the left hand side of the stationary point that the person's eyes are fixated on.

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Medial Temporal Lobe

Back 24

The mid-temporal lobe, within the cerebrum and beneath the cerebral cortex.

Front 25

Midbrain

Back 25

Connects the hindbrain with the forebrain and controls arousal levels, attention and consciousness; essentially comprises the reticular activating system (RAS).

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Motor Neurons (Nerves)

Back 26

Neurons that communicate messages from the central nervous system to the particular muscles that an organism intends to move at any particular moment. Also referred to as efferent neurons.

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Myelin

Back 27

A white, fatty, waxy substance that coats some axons and insulates them, protecting them from electrical interference from other neurons. This increases the efficiency of transmission of nerve impulses.

Front 28

Myelination

Back 28

A process in the brain whereby the axons of the neurons in a child's brain become covered in myelin, a white, fatty covering that insulates a neuron's axon and speeds this transmission. This process continues until the early 20s.

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Nerve

Back 29

Bundle of axons running together in the peripheral nervous system.

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Neural Adaptation

Back 30

A process in which neurons decrease their sensitivity to a continuous stimulus and therefore reduce their signalling of an event. It often used to explain the motion after-effect.

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Neural Connections

Back 31

The connections formed between the brain's neurons.

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Neural Pathway

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Bundles of neurons which provide connections between one part of the nervous system and another.

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Neurofibrillary Tangles

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An abormal buildup of of protein inside neurons. These are associated with the death of brain cells in patients with Alzheimer's Disease.

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Neurons

Back 34

Nerve cells, responsible for communication within the body.

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Neuropsychology

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A branch of psychology that studies the structure and function of the brain, taking the cognitive approach.

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Neurosis

Back 36

A disorder in which a person experiences dysfunctional thinking but realises that the thinking is not rational.

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Neurotransmitters

Back 37

Chemicals that help the communication across nerve synapses.

Front 38

Occipital Lobe

Back 38

The cerebral cortex at the rear of the brain. It is the location of the primary visual cortex and association areas involved with integration of visual stimuli.

Front 39

Parasympathetic Nervous System

Back 39

A branch of the autonomic nervous system, responsible for maintaining our day-to-day functioning and for most of the automatic functions of the body such as digestion, heart rate, breathing and some glandular functions.

Front 40

Parietal Lobes

Back 40

The location of the primary somatosensory cortex in the brain. The parietal lobes enable a person to perceive their their own body and to perceive where things are located in their immediate environment.

Front 41

Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)

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Communicates information from the body to central nervous system (for example aches and pains) and to the body's organs, glands and muscles.

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Pons

Back 42

Part of the brain stem responsible for sleep and arousal.

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Presynaptic Neuron

Back 43

A neuron which transmits information to another neuron.

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Primary Auditory Cortex

Back 44

Located in the upper part of the temporal lobe. Receives sound from the ears.

Front 45

Primary Motor Cortex

Back 45

Located at the rear of each frontal lobe. Responsible for movement of the skeletal muscles of the body.q

Front 46

Primary Somatosensory Cortex

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Located at the front of each parietal lobe. Processes sensations such as touch, pressure, temperature and pain from the body.

Front 47

Primary Visual Cortex

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Located in the occipital lobes. Processes information from the eyes.

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Receptive Aphasia

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A misleading term for Wernicke's aphasia because the difficulty is not just limited to understanding language - the same problem makes it hard to produce meaningful language.

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Right Visual Field

Back 49

Visual stimuli on the left hand side of the stationary point on which the person's eyes are fixated.

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Sensory Neuron

Back 50

A neuron that carries information from the body and from the outside world into the central nervous system.

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Serotonin

Back 51

Neurotransmitter.

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Soma

Back 52

Cell body of a neuron. Controls metabolism and maintenance of the cell.

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Somatic Nervous System

Back 53

The division of the peripheral nervous system that carries sensory information into the central nervous system, and also carries motor commands from the central nervous system to the skeletal muscles.

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Somatosensory Cortex

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Located in the parietal lobe, receives information from the sense receptors in the body.

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Spinal Cord

Back 55

A bundle of nerve fibres connecting the brain with the peripheral nervous system.

Front 56

Split Brain

Back 56

Occurs after brain surgery (known as a commisurotomy) in which the corpus callosum is severed. The two sides of the brain are still connected at the subcortical (deeper) level but the two hemispheres are separated.

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Sympathetic Nervous System

Back 57

A branch of the autonomic nervous system that activates the fight-or-flight response.

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Temporal Lobe

Back 58

The part of the forebrain beneath the temporal plate of the skull, at the side of the head above the ears. Contains Wernicke's area and the primary auditory cortex.

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Thalamus

Back 59

A structure which is shaped like two eggs beneath the cortex; it processes incoming sensory information and transmits it to other, higher parts of the brain for further processing. It also directs attention to specific sensory systems.

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Unilateral Temporal Lobectomy

Back 60

Removal of one temporal lobe.

Front 61

Wernicke's Aphasia

Back 61

Results from damage to Wernicke's area, located in the left temporal lobe near the parietal lobe boundary, that causes difficulty in understanding written and spoken language that makes sense to others. Speech is fluent, but does not make sense.

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Wernicke's Area

Back 62

Part of the left temporal lobe, responsible for language reception and interpretation and for creation of grammatically correct speech.

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Word Salad

Back 63

A jumble of meaningless words and phrases; commonly seen in schizophrenic states and Wernicke's aphasia.