Lecture 3

What are the 3 types of neurons?

Sensory: Transmit information from sensory receptors to the brain (afferent)

Th dorsal root ganglia contain the cell bodies of sensory neurons and the axons of these
sensory neurons travel into the spinal cord via the dorsal roots

Motor: Transmit commands from the brain to the muscles and glands of the body (efferent)
Motor neurons in the spinal cord project their axons into the periphery to innervate muscles
and autonomic ganglia

Interneurons: Nerve cells that connect other neurons with one another
A spinal interneuron, found in the spinal cord, relays signals between sensory neurons and
motor neurons

Firing of a neurons

Important chemicals consist of:

Sodium (Na+) – Tends to be outside of the cell
Chloride (CL-) – Tends to be outside of the cell
Potassium (K+) – Tends to be inside of the cell

The resting potential varies from -65—70 minivolt, and the threshold potential have to
reach -50mV to meet in order for the cell to fire, to initiate an action potential. So, once the
stimulus occurs, the sodium gate will open and cause the sodium ions to rush in which
depolarization takes place in the cell causing the inside to be positive relatively the same as
outside. The polarization change opens the potassium gate and cause the potassium ions to
rush out of the cell which repolarizes the inside to a negative charge and it may be more
than -70mV and it is called hyperpolarization or undershoot known as the graded potential.
If the cell reaches firing threshold, the neuron will fire which is the action potential.

This will be reflected during the refractory period where the sodium potassium pump uses
the ATP to restore resting potential. Once the resting potential is reached, the neurons is
ready to fire again.
Neurotransmitters and receptors

They are chemicals that transmit information from one cell to another:
- Stored in vesicles of the presynaptic cell
- Released in response to the action potential from the presynaptic membrane
- Molecules diffuse across the synaptic cleft and bind to postsynaptic receptors
- Receptor binding produces a graded potential in the next cell

Define the role of neurotransmitters and explain the psychological functions of some of
these neurotransmitters?

The endocrine system

- The endocrine system is a collection of glands that release hormones into the blood
stream
- System for intercellular communication but global messages through the
bloodstream
- More like a broadcast than a private cell
 - Hormones are like neurotransmitters except that they travel through the
bloodstream and can thus activate many cells simultaneously

Neurotransmitters, Hormones and Love

Neurotransmitters – dopamine, serotonin

Hormones – Oxytocin, vasopressin

Examples of the SNS are that it stops digestion, diverting blood away from the stomach and
redirecting it to the muscles, which may need extra oxygen for an emergency response. It
increases heart rate, dilates the pupils and causes hairs on the body and head to stand
erect.

Examples of the PNS are that it regulates blood-sugar levels, secreting saliva and eliminating
wastes.
When the spinal cord is severed, the result is loss of feeling and paralysis at all levels below
the injury, which can no longer communicate with the brain.

The central nervous system (CNS) consists of the brain and the spinal cord. The spinal cord
carries out reflexes (automatic motor responses), transmits sensory information to the brain
and transmits messages from the brain to the muscles and organs. Each of its segments
controls sensation and movement in a different part of the body.
The Hindbrain: (Specialized for control of movement)
Medulla Oblongata: Extension of spinal cord that regulates heartbeat, circulation and
respiration

Cerebellum: Involved in movement, learning and sensory discrimination

Reticular Formation: A network of neurons involved in consciousness and arousal

Pons: Links Medulla Oblongata and Cerebellum with upper part of brainstem

The Midbrain: (Specialised for sensation at a distance, namely vision and hearing)
Tectum: involved in orienting to visual and auditory stimuli
In making connections with an intriguing phenomenon called blindsight, although they may
protest that they cannot see anything, they can nevertheless ‘guess’ correctly whether a
visual stimulus is to their left or right because the tectum is still inact.

Tegmentum: is involved in movement and arousal

Play an important role in learning to produce behaviors that minimize unpleasant (aversive)
consequences and maximize pleasant (rewarding) consequences

The Forebrain: (Specialized for sensing nearby stimuli, notably smells and tastes)
The Forebrain is involved in complex ‘higher order’ sensations and behaviors:
Hypothalamus: Helps regulate eating, sleeping, sexual activity and emotional experiences

Thalamus: Processes incoming sensory information and transmits it to higher brain areas

Basal Ganglia: Involved in the control of movement and also plays a part in ‘automatic’
responses and judgements

Limbic System
Septal area: involved in pleasure, relief from pain, emotionally-significant learning

Amygdala: involved in learning and remembering emotionally significant events, and

recognition of fear

Hippocampus: involved in the storage of new memories

Functions of cerebral cortex:

- Provides for flexible control of patterns of movement
- Permits subtle discrimination among complex sensory patterns
- Makes possible symbolic thinking

Functional organisation of cortex:

- Primary areas
- Association areas
The occipital lobes
- It is specialised for vision
- Primary areas of the occipital lobes receive visual input from the thalamus, which in
turn receives information from the receptors in the retina via the optic nerve

The parietal lobes

- Involved in several functions including the sense of touch, detecting movement in
the environment, locating objects in space and experiencing one’s own body as it
moves through space

The frontal lobes

- Involved in movement, attention, planning, social skills, abstract thinking, memory,
and some aspects of personality
- The primary area is motor rather than sensory
- The association cortex is involved in planning and putting together sequences of
behaviours, neurons in the primary areas then issue specific commands to motor
neurons throughout the body

Broca’s area
- Specialised for movements of the mouth and tongue necessary to produce speech
- Plays a pivotal role in using and understanding grammar

Temporal’s lobes
- Important in audition (hearing) and language
 - The primary cortex receives sensory information from the ears, and the association
cortex breaks the flow of sound into meaningful units and are arranged anatomically
from low (towards the front of the brain) to high frequencies (towards the back).

Wernicke’s area
- Important in language comphension

Cerabral Lateralisation
Hemispheric specialization
- Left hemisphere is dominant for language, logic and complex motor behaviour.
- Right hemisphere is dominant for
non-linguistic functions including forming visual maps of the environment.

Information has been gathered from split brain patients (where the corpus callosum has
been severed).

Sex differences in lateralisation

Issue is whether the brains of males and females may be organised differently and whether
such organisation might have functional significance
- Females typically score higher on tests of verbal fluency, perceptual speed and
manual dexterity.
- Males typically score higher on tests of mathematical ability and spatial processing.

Behavioural genetics
Interested in the influence of genotypes (genetic blueprints) on phenotypes (observable
psychological qualities or attributes)

Gene: the unit of hereditary transmission

Genes are arranged along chromosomes — strands of paired DNA

Degree of relatedness: is the probability of sharing genes among relatives