Study Guide Chapter 3

I. Structure of the Vertebrate Nervous System

a. Terminology to Describe the Nervous System
I. central nervous system
II. peripheral nervous system.
(1)Somatic nervous system
(2)Autonomic nervous system
b. Anatomical Terms Referring to Direction
I. Dorsal: toward the back
II. Ventral: toward the stomach
III. Anterior: toward the front
IV. Posterior: toward the rear
V. Superior: above another part
VI. Inferior: below another part
VII. Lateral: toward the side, away from the midline
VIII. Medial: toward the midline, away from the side
IX. Proximal: located close to the point of origin or
attachment
X. Distal: located more distant from the point of origin or
attachment
XI. Ipsilateral: on the same side of the body
XII. Contralateral: on the opposite side of the body
XIII. Coronal plane: plane that shows the brain structures as
seen from the front
XIV. Saggital plane: plane that shows the brain structures as
seen from the side
XV. Horizontal plane: plane that shows brain structures as
seen from above
c. Terms Referring to Parts of the Nervous System
I. Lamina: a row or layer of cell bodies separated from other
cell bodies by a layer of axons and dendrites
II. Column: a set of cells perpendicular to the surface of the
cortex, with similar properties
III. Tract: a set of axons within the CNS, also known as a
projection
IV. Nerve: a set of axons in the periphery, either from the
CNS to a muscle or gland or from a sensory organ to the
CNS
V. Ganglion: a cluster of neuron cell bodies, usually outside
the CNS
VI. Gyrus (pl. gyri): a protuberance on the surface of the
brain
 VII. Sulcus: (pl. sulci): a fold or groove that separates one
gyrus from another
VIII. Fissure: a long, deep sulcus
d. The Spinal Cord
I. Dorsal root ganglia: clusters of sensory neuron cell bodies
located outside the spinal cord
II. The gray matter lies in the center of the spinal cord,
packed with cell bodies and dendrites.
III. The white matter lies in the periphery of the spinal cord,
comprised mainly of myelinated axons.
e. The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS):
I. Sympathetic nervous system
II. Parasympathetic nervous system
(1)Parasympathetic postganglionic fibers release
acetylcholine. Most sympathetic postganglionic fibers
release norepinephrine, although a few sympathetic
postganglionic fibers use acetylcholine.
f. The Hindbrain
I. Hindbrain: Posterior part of the brain; consists of the
medulla, pons, and cerebellum
II. Brainstem: Consists of the medulla, pons, midbrain, and
certain central structures of the forebrain
III. Medulla (medulla oblongata)
IV. Pons (Latin for “bridge”)
V. Cerebellum
g. The Midbrain: Middle of the brain
I. Tectum (Latin for roof):
(1)superior colliculus
(2)inferior colliculus
II. Tegmentum (Latin for covering)
(1)Includes III and IV cranial nerve nuclei, part of the
reticular formation, and many important pathways
III. Substantia Nigra: Midbrain structure that contains
dopamine neurons and facilitates readiness for
movement
h. The Forebrain: The most prominent part of the human brain.
Consists of two cerebral hemispheres, one on the left side and
one on the right. Each hemisphere receives contralateral sensory
information and controls contralateral motor movement.
I. The outer portion is the cerebral cortex. The basal ganglia
are a set of structures important for certain aspects of
movement.
 II. Limbic System: Comprised of the olfactory bulb,
hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala, and cingulate
gyrus. The limbic system is involved in motivational and
emotional behaviors (e.g., eating, drinking, sexual
activity, anxiety, and aggression).
III. Amygdala: Part of the limbic system that is most central
for evaluating emotional information, especially fear
IV. Thalamus: The thalamus and the hypothalamus form the
diencephalon. The rest of the forebrain makes up the
telencephalon. The thalamus provides the main source of
information to the cerebral cortex. Most sensory
information is first processed in the thalamus before
going to the cerebral cortex. The one exception is
olfactory information.
V. Hypothalamus: Small structure containing many distinct
nuclei. Sends messages to the pituitary gland, altering its
release of hormone. Important for motivated behavior
(e.g., eating, drinking, etc.) and temperature regulation.
VI. Pituitary Gland: Endocrine (hormone-producing) gland
attached to the base of the hypothalamus
VII. Basal Ganglia: A group of subcortical structures including
the caudate, putamen, and globus pallidus. Deterioration
of the basal ganglia is prominent in Parkinson’s disease
and Huntington’s disease.
VIII. Basal Forebrain: Structures in the dorsal surface of the
forebrain, including the nucleus basalis, a key part of the
brain’s arousal system.
IX. Hippocampus: A large structure between the thalamus
and the cerebral cortex, mostly toward the posterior of
the forebrain. This structure is critical for certain types of
memories, especially those for individual events.
i. The Ventricles
I. The ventricles consist of four fluid-filled cavities within
the brain (two lateral ventricles, a third ventricle, and a
fourth ventricle).
II. Central Canal: Fluid-filled channel in the center of the
spinal cord
III. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF): The clear fluid found in the
ventricles and central canal. The CSF is formed by the
choroid plexus (cells found inside the four ventricles).
 IV. Meninges: Thin membranes that surround the brain and
spinal cord. CSF flows through the spaces between the
brain and the meninges.
V. CSF cushions the brain against mechanical shock when
the head moves and provides a reservoir of hormones
and nutrients for the brain and spinal cord.
VI. Hydrocephalus: obstruction and accumulation of CSF
within the ventricles or in the subarachnoid space. This
condition is usually associated with intellectual disability.
II. The Cerebral Cortex
a. The cerebral cortex consists of the cellular layers on the outer
surface of the cerebral hemispheres.
I. The corpus callosum and anterior commissure: Two
bundles of axons that allow the two brain hemispheres to
communicate with one another
II. The cerebral cortex constitutes a higher percentage of
the brain in primates (monkeys, apes, and humans) than
in other species of comparable size.
b. Organization of the Cerebral Cortex
I. The cerebral cortex contains up to six distinct laminae
(layers of cell bodies that lie parallel to the surface of the
cortex and are separated from each other by layers of
fibers).
II. Cells in the cerebral cortex are also arranged in columns
(cells with similar properties, organized perpendicular to
laminae).
III. The cerebral cortex can be divided into four lobes, named
for the skull bones that lie over them: occipital, parietal,
temporal, and frontal.
c. The Occipital Lobe: Posterior (caudal) portion of the cerebral
cortex; part of the visual pathway system
I. Primary Visual Cortex (striate cortex): The most posterior
region of the occipital lobe. Destruction of any part of the
striate cortex causes cortical blindness.
d. The Parietal Lobe: Lies between the occipital lobe and the central
sulcus (one of the deepest grooves in the surface of the cortex)
I. Postcentral Gyrus or primary somatosensory cortex: Lies
posterior to the central sulcus; the primary target for
touch sensations and information from muscle-stretch
receptors and joint receptors
 II. The parietal lobe monitors all the information about eye,
head, and body positions and passes it on to brain areas
that control movement.
e. The Temporal Lobe: Located laterally in each hemisphere, near
the temples; it is the primary target for auditory information.
I. In humans, the temporal lobe (usually the left
hemisphere) is involved in comprehension of spoken
language. The temporal lobe also contributes to complex
aspects of vision, including perception of movement and
recognition of faces.
II. The temporal lobe is also implicated in emotional and
motivated behaviors.
III. Klüver-Bucy syndrome: Set of behaviors seen after
temporal lobe damage. Previously, wild and aggressive
monkeys fail to show normal fear or anxiety.
IV. Temporoparietal junction is the area where the parietal
lobe and the temporal lobe meet.
f. The Frontal Lobe: Located at the most anterior area of the
cerebral cortex and extends to the central sulcus. Contains the
primary motor cortex and prefrontal cortex.
(1)Precentral Gyrus (also known as the primary motor
cortex): Located just anterior to the central sulcus.
Specialized for the control of fine motor movements,
such as moving one finger at a time, primarily on the
contralateral side of the body.
II. Prefrontal Cortex: The most anterior portion of the frontal
lobe. Forms a large portion of the brain in large-brained
species. Receives information from all of our senses.
III. The Rise and Fall of Prefrontal Lobotomies
(1)Prefrontal lobotomy: Disconnecting the prefrontal
cortex from the rest of the brain to control
psychological disorders. This practice was almost
completely abandoned after effective drug therapies
became available.
(2)Prefrontal lobotomies commonly resulted in a loss of
the ability to plan and take initiative, memory
disorders, distractibility, and a loss of emotional
expression. In addition, people with prefrontal
damage lost their social inhibitions and often acted
impulsively.
 (3)The default network is an area in the prefrontal
cortex that dominates activity when you don’t need
to concentrate.
g. Functions of the Prefrontal Cortex
I. The prefrontal cortex is now believed to be important for
working memory (the ability to remember recent stimuli
and events).
II. Delayed Response Task: A subject must remember where
a stimulus (e.g., toy) was hidden prior to the introduction
of a time delay; damage to the prefrontal cortex leads to
deficits on this task.
(1)The prefrontal cortex is also believed to be important
for context-dependent behaviors.
(2)Beyond Gray Matter: The Connections
(3)The Human Connectome Project is an effort to map
all the long-distance connections.
h. How Do the Parts Work Together?
I. The Binding Problem (or large-scale integration problem):
The question of how the visual, auditory, and other areas
of your brain influence one another to produce a
combined perception of a single object.
II. Early researchers thought the association areas were
used for processing and linking the information from
several sensory modalities. Later studies demonstrated
that association areas do not process information from
different sensory areas but rather provide more elaborate
processing for one sensory area.
III. Binding occurs when you perceive two sensations coming
from the same place at the same time.
III. Research Methods
a. Describing the structure of the brain is a straightforward
endeavor. Understanding how the brain works is more difficult.
The main categories of methods for studying brain function are
as follows:
I. Examine the effects of brain damage.
II. Examine the effects of stimulating a brain area.
III. Record brain activity during behavior.
IV. Correlate brain anatomy with behavior.
b. Effects of Brain Damage
I. The French neurologist, Paul Broca, pioneered modern
neurology when he discovered that damage to a
particular region in the left frontal hemisphere is
 associated with a loss of the ability to speak. This area of
the brain is known as Broca’s area.
II. Since Broca’s discovery, many other researchers have
reported behavioral impairments after brain damage.
III. The strategy the researchers use is to describe the brain
damage and then examine the brain damage under a
microscope after the person dies or through brain scans
while the person lives.
IV. This type of research is problematic because of a lack of
control, as no two people will have exactly the same type
of brain damage.
V. In laboratory animals, researchers can intentionally
damage a selected area. A lesion is damage to a brain
area; an ablation is the removal of a brain area. To
precisely damage structures in the interior of the brain,
researchers use a stereotaxic instrument. In lesion
studies, researchers must compare animals with lesions
to animals with sham lesions to control for all procedures
except the actual lesion.
VI. Researchers can also use a gene-knockout approach
where they direct a mutation to a particular gene that is
important for certain types of cells, transmitters, or
receptors.
VII. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (the application of an
intense magnetic field to a portion of the scalp) can be
used to temporarily interrupt brain activity.
VIII. After causing damage to an animal’s brain, the main
problem is to specify exactly how the behavior has
changed after the damage.
c. Effects of Brain Stimulation
I. Brain stimulation should increase some behaviors, just as
brain damage impairs it.
II. For example, optogenetics enables researcher to turn on
activity in targeted neurons by using a device that shines
a laser light within the brain.
III. In laboratory animals, brain stimulation can be produced
by applying brief electrical stimulation to implanted
electrodes; in humans, brain stimulation is accomplished
by magnetic fields applied to the scalp. The magnetic
fields used to stimulate brain activity are briefer and less
intense than those used to interrupt brain activity.
 IV. Brain stimulation is very useful for understanding
behaviors that are solely mediated by a single brain area,
such as seeing a flash of light; however, this approach is
not as informative for complex behaviors, as they
typically involve the coordinated contributions of many
brain areas.
d. Recording Brain Activity
I. In laboratory animals, researchers can record brain
activity with electrodes. In humans, brain activity is
recorded using noninvasive methods such as:
(1)Electroencephalograph (EEG): A device that records
electrical activity of the brain through electrodes
attached to the scalp. EEGs can record spontaneous
brain activity or activity in response to a stimulus
called evoked potentials or evoked responses.
(2)Magnetoencephalograph (MEG): A device that
measures faint magnetic fields generated by brain
activity. This device, unlike the EEG, has excellent
temporal resolution.
(3)Positron-emission tomography (PET scan): A device
where an investigator injects a radioactive chemical
and detectors around the head map the areas of the
brain with the highest level of radioactivity. PET
scans can be used to measure brain activity or the
binding of a drug to different brain areas.
(4)Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): A
technique that measures changes in the blood’s
hemoglobin molecules as they release oxygen,
mainly in the brain’s most active areas. Because fMRI
is safer and cheaper than PET, it has replaced PET for
many purposes.
(5)fMRI is used by having participant complete a task
(e.g., reading) and a comparison task (e.g., looking at
writing of another language) while recording brain
activity. Then subtract the brain activity during the
comparison task to determine which areas are more
active during reading.
(6)One of the most difficult tasks in using fMRI is
interpreting what the images mean. Critical to
making an appropriate interpretation is choosing an
appropriate comparison task. If done correctly,
 looking at fMRI results should lead to an
understanding of what someone is doing/thinking.
II. Correlating Brain Anatomy with Behavior
(1)Phrenology
(2)Methods to examine brain anatomy
(a) Computerized axial tomography (CT or CAT
scan)
(b)Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)