evolutionary psych exam 2

The decorticate cats from Bard's experiement were observed to exhibit species-typical emotional arousal linked to aggression. When provoked these cats would respond with a display called _____ which involved ____, ____, ____, and ____, while ____,____ and ____ any object nearby.

"sham rage" crouching down, arching their backs, pulling back their ears, and unsheathing their claws hissing, snarling, and biting

We now know that almost all neuronal communication depends on chemical agents, classified into three types: 1. 2. 3.

1. Neurotransmitters 2. Neurohormones 3. hormones

Since 1990, there has been an explosive growth in the use of brain imaging techniques: 1. 2. 3.

1. Positron Emission Topography (PET Scan) 2. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) 3. Magneto encephalography (MEG).

MacLean Triune Brain's three structures: 1. 2. 3.

1. Striatal region 2. Limbic system 3. Cortical region or outer rim

Brain anatomists organize the brain into three basic units: 1. 2. 3.

1. hindbrain 2. midbrain 3. forebrain

Four rudimentary communicative displays: 1. 2. 3. 4.

1. signature of the individual 2. dominance or challenge 3. submission or appeasement 4. courtship

Three broad classes of behavior are universally present in mammals, but completely absent in reptiles: 1. 2. 3.

1. vocal signal systems 2. attachment systems 3. juvenile play

From shrews to whales, mammalian brains vary over _____ in volume.

10,000-fold

The fossil remains of the therapsids have been uncovered on every continent, indicating a very successful adaptation from about ______years ago.

250 to about 200 million

Across different sized _____ one can identify all of the major structures and _____ that are common to a wide range of vertebrates, as well as patterns of evolutionary advances.

Brains/ neural pathways

The hind brain controls functions like

Breathing, heart rate, and muscle coordination are controlled here and sensory impulses are filtered and routed at this point.

The brain communicates on the basis of _____ and _____ signals transmitted from neurons in one area of the brain to another.

Chemical electrical

Guided by his hypothesis, Bard made progressively larger lesions, starting with the cortex and moving _____ until he was able to eliminate the display of "sham rage". After removing the hypothalamus the reactions were _____.

Downwards essentially eliminated

The _____ or _____ is progressively larger as one compares fish to reptiles to mammals, culminating in the human brain.it is also more differentiated, containing elements not found in other animal brains.

Forebrain or cerebrum

Once activated, the pituitary gland secrets stress _____ that stimulate the production and release of ACTH and eventually _____ that circulate in the blood stream to reach the specific organs that respond to their presence.

Hormones cortisol

This hereditary disease (_____) does not have known effects in childhood, but later in life patients become incapable of organizing and planning even simple daily routines. They can be engaged in these activities if directed by others, but appear to lack the self-organizing capacity for such actions.

Huntington's chorea

These observations led Bard and Cannon to suspect that the _____ was the emotional center of the brain, while the _____ functioned to check or inhibit unrestrained emotional expressions.

Hypothalamus neocortex

Darwin's theory of evolution provided 19th century neuroscientists like _____ and _____ with a strong reason for expecting structural and functional continuity in the basic brain structures of various animals, including humans. We now know that there is a _____, which is due to the essentially conservative nature of the _____process.

John Hughlings-Jackson & Paul Broca great deal of structural similarity among various vertebrate brains evolutionary

_____ provides a color image of the brain at work that is based on electro-magnetic fields that are created as electrochemical information passes between neurons.

MEG

During a _____, a patient may be told to move the right index finger and an instant readout of the brain's activity is provided that pinpoints the signals in the brain even prior to moving the finger!

MEG test

Allows physicians and scientists to study the living brain by viewing it at different depths as if in slices.

MRIs

This lowering progression of limbic lobe more complex animals reflects the growth of the _____, which reaches its zenith in the human brain where it accounts for more than _____% of the total cortical mass.

Neocortex 90%

The discovery of the brain's chemical messengers was made by the German scientist, _____, in his research on electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve in frogs (_____, 1960). This discovery opened a whole new area of research on the brain and _____ was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology in 1936 in recognition of this breakthrough.

Otto Loewi

These _____techniques give neuroscientists the opportunity to study the human brain at work by identifying those brain structures that are activated while subjects perform various tasks that call on specific abilities.

PET scan

_____ provide a color image of the brain displayed on the screen of a computer monitor.

PET scans

As early as 1878, the French neuroanatomist _____demonstrated that the area of the limbic lobe immediately surrounding the brain stem is common to the brains of _____.

Paul Broca all mammals

_____ in _____ pioneered the strategy of conducting systematic lesions to study localization of function in the brain.

Philip Bard (1928)

In 1848 an explosion drove an iron spike through _____ forebrain.

Phineas Gage

_____ is an example of an evolved neurotransmitter. Antidepressants are designed to relieve depressive mood by making certain transmitter substances, such as _____, more available for use at synapses.

Serotonin

Electrical stimulation instigates the brain's natural communication flow. When sufficiently stimulated a neuron will release a wave of electrical charge, or _____, down the output _____ where it branches off into many _____ terminals

action potential axon (2)

Not only are lizards "remiss" in the care and protection of their offspring, the young must _____ to avoid being eaten by them!

actually hide from their parents and other adult lizards

Limbic system common to

all mammals

Basic brain common to

all vertebrates

Later studies showed that lesions confined to the _____, an almond shaped structure located in the temporal lobe, but sparing surrounding structures, were sufficient to produce the emotional components of the syndrome.

amygdala

Along with the imaging and tracing techniques introduced later, activating specific areas of the brain through _____, or deactivating areas by _____ remain the key tools for understanding brain function.

artificial stimulation/ surgical lesions

Prior to his accident Gage had been one of the railroad's _____ foremen, described by family and friends as _____. However after the injury to his brain he became _____ and subject to _____. His physician commented that the "balance, so to speak, between his intellectual faculties and his animal propensities seems to have been destroyed"

best liked and responsible amiable in character capricious sudden fits of ill temper

Striatal region

brain stem; same across all mammalian features to control basic functioning; heart rate, temperature

An early tool for understanding how the different components of the human brain work together was the study of _____

brain trauma caused by accidents that affect brain functioning

Philip Bard's initial experiments involved the surgical removal of the entire _____ of cats.

cerebral cortex

The forebrain, which contains the _____, is the region where most of the _____ such as _____ are carried out

cerebral cortex higher processes memory, logical thought, consciousness, and reasoning

When the heartbeat of the second frog slowed down as a result of the transfer of fluid, he deduced that a _____must have been released from the nerve endings of the first frog.

chemical agent

While quite different in function, neuro-transmitters and hormones are quite similar in their _____

chemical structure

As neuroscientists began to develop the necessary research tools the _____ of brain structure led to systematic research on the function of the different structures of the brain.

comparative description

The cerebral cortex and cerebrum are divided into right and left hemispheres. These hemispheres, which are separated by a band of nerve fibers called the _____, have their own level of specialization.

corpus callosum

If an area of the motor cortex is surgically removed:

corresponding deficits in motor movements will occur.

An important experimental technique that complements studies involving brain lesions is _____.

electrical stimulation

_____ involves sending small amounts of electric current through an electrode attached to the skull and inserted into a specific brain area. This artificial stimulation can reproduce the chain of events that occurs due to natural stimulation.

electrical stimulation

Lowewl, a German scientist working with frogs, discovers that the beating of a heart can be controlled by _____ and can be sped-up. But after giving electrical stimulation to speed-up heart and removing its sped-up heart and giving the sped-hearted frog a new non-sped heart will, the new non-sped heart beat becomes sped-up because of the frog's _____.

electrical stimulation neurotransmitters

The _____ includes a wide variety of animal behaviors that have evolved within a species (or group of species) in order to promote the organism's adaptation to its ecological niche and to assure its survival and reproduction.

ethogram

Turning to ethology, he identified about 25 forms of behavior that constitute the _____, or general profile of species-typical behavior patterns.

ethogram

The hind brain, which is separated from the_____ by the _____, is located at the junction of the _____ and _____.

forebrain by the midbrain spinal cord and cerebrum

Certain areas of the _____ can be electrically stimulated to produce corresponding movements of certainly bodily parts. This happens because the _____ is connected to the _____ which sends messages to control the movement of limbs.

frontal cortex motor cortex spinal cord

One PET scan test consists of injecting a small quantity of _____ that is tagged with a radio-active substance which can be used to trace where the _____ is consumed in the brain

glucose

A _____ is exhibited when a new monkey comes into view, readily elicited by presenting the monkey with its mirror image, thus facilitating experimental work.

greeting display

MRI uses magnetic detectors to measure the amounts of _____, with and without oxygen.

hemoglobin

The _____contains the more primitive structures of the brain from an evolutionary standpoint, but they function to regulate some of the most vital processes in the body.

hind brain

Another important difference between hormones and neurotransmitters is that the effects of _____ can be felt over the lifespan of the organism and some effects are irreversible and occur before birth.

hormones

The forebrain also contains important switching centers and metabolic regulatory centers like the _____

hypothalamus and pituitary gland

On the basis of PET scans we know that certain areas of the right hemisphere are activated when a person is asked to _____

identify faces.

Considering the social ecology of lizards, it should be clear that selection pressures lead away from _____, _____ and _____, all vital characteristics of mammals in general, and primates in particular.

infant vocalization, parental care and the evolution of family cohesion and group living

MacLean speculates that the earliest vocalizations in the evolution of mammals were the:

infant's cries of separation distress in order to restore the vital contact with the parent

Unlike birds, the eggs are laid and _____.

left to hatch on their own

A similar comparative analysis underlies MacLean's assertion that the _____ has evolved as the common denominator in the paleommalian brain.

limbic system

The physical structure in the brain thought by MacLean to be responsible for regulating the evolving behavioral programs related to maternal care, infant attachment, vocal signaling and play was the_____

limbic system.

The critical changes of this period involved the acquisition of _____, _____, _____, _____, and ______.

mammalian posture, five digit fingers and toes, mammalian like jaws and teeth, the mammalian ear, and the gradual transition from a cold-blooded to warm-blooded organism

From a comparative perspective, the major unifying component of the mammalian order is the universality of _____ and _____.

maternal nursing and caregiving

Large brains are _____ than small brains.

more folded

Reptiles ,like lizards and turtles, are_____.

mute

Electrical and chemical stimulation form the basis for communication between_____.

nerve cells

For lizards, the ethogram includes basic behaviors such as _____, _____, ______, ______, ______, _______, _______, _______, and _____.

nesting, foraging, territorial behavior, hunting, greeting, grooming, flocking, migration, and mating.

If a particular set of _____, or nerve cells, in the brain are stimulated electrically, and a certain type of behavior follows, then neuroscientists assume that those _____ are the part of the brain that controls that behavior.

neurons

Hormones require more time to have an impact on the body than _____

neurotransmitters

The chemical, _____, can act either as a hormone in the blood stream where it increases heart rate, or as a neurotransmitter in the brain, where it produces an alert state.

norepinephrine

In contrast to the reptilian order, mammals invest heavily in the care and protection of their _____.

offspring

The brain with large cortex common to

only primates

Cortex (Cortical region)

outer rim of brain; 90% of total portion of brain

Brains areas that have been highly active can be identified because they have used up the _____

oxygen bound to hemoglobin.

The three major developments in the evolution of the human brain correspond to _____ common to reptiles, early mammals and late mammals.

phylogenetic adaptations

A useful metaphor for thinking about brain evolution is the _____. In this metaphor, nothing is wasted or thrown away once it is built, and the order of the construction is not random, but guided by functional concerns. The first constructions may be crude, but are effective in promoting survival. As time passes, more refined structures serving a broader range of more specialized functions are added to the whole.

pioneer homestead

Hormonal systems like the HPA system are activated by the _____ or other glands located in the body, which are controlled by outputs from the hypothalamus.

pituitary gland

MacLean argues with the emergence of these new behavioral systems, the limbic system evolved in mammals as the brain's ____ and ____ system.

primary emotional and motivational

The limbic lobe accounts for _____ of the total cortical mass in the cat or monkey compared to the rabbit.

progressively less

Loewi observed that he could _____ the frog's heartbeat by electrical stimulation, but he went one step further in his inquiry.

slow

Limbic

space linking striatal region to outer rim; governs emotions; animals have similarly wide range of emotions much like humans

In experiments performed squirrel monkeys and lizards, MacLean found that only the removal of portions of the _____ region eliminated the display behavior, whereas removal of limbic or cortical systems did not eliminate the display.

striatal

The idea that the _____ region of the brain functions to schedule species-typical behavior patterns in order to promote the adaptation of the organism has also been supported by clinical observations of patients suffering from a genetic disease known as_____.

striatal Huntington's chorea

Without external direction, Huntington's chorea patients appear to be listless and apathetic, but this striking passivity is simply a lack of initiative, due to damage caused by the disease to the _____ responsible for organizing daily routines and motivating the individual.

striatal region of the brain

When the action potential reaches a terminal it causes a chemical, called a neurotransmitter to be released. The neurotransmitter flows across the _____ to the _____ of surrounding neurons where it helps release electrical energy.

synapse dendrites

If it was possible to gain insight into the function of different areas of the brain by describing the effects of accidental lesions, which are essentially uncontrolled experiments of nature, it might be possible to build a science of the brain by conducting more controlled experiments involving _____

systematic brain lesions

Unlike fish and amphibians, reptiles evolved a mode of reproduction involving that _____ permitted them to adapt to life on land.

the amniotes egg

Early separation from the parent inevitably results in _____ offspring and this intensive selective pressure led to the evolution of behavioral systems "designed" to maintain proximity between _____ and _____.

the death of the parent and offspring

Unlike mammals, the only investment reptile parents provide to their offspring is _____.

the fertilized egg

When we state that brain evolution is essentially conservative we mean

the most basic systems in the brain responsible for controlling behavior that promote survival are phylogenetically ancient, having been preserved throughout vertebrates notwithstanding many important evolutionary advances.

MacLean asserts that these two ancient modules (_____ and _____) lack any communication with those areas of the human brain responsible for speech.

the striatal region and limbic system

The amniotes egg change permitted an adaptive radiation into a new terrestrial environment which eventually led to an evolutionary line of mammal-like reptiles called _____

therapsids

A key idea of MacLean was the concept that the brain, as a product of a long evolutionary history was modular in its design, composed of a hierarchy of _____

three major developments.

He decided to _____ a frog's heart that had been slowed by stimulation to a second frog's heart.

transfer the fluid surrounding

Brain scientists tried to understand the function of specific areas of the brain by recording the results of _____.

trauma

Together these changes, _____, _____, and _____, provided a major impetus for the evolution of social life, and with it a primary role for emotions in regulating social interaction.

vocal signal systems, attachment systems, and juvenile play

The combination of surgical lesions and electrical stimulation in animal research is referred to by LeDoux (1996) as the:

yin and yang of brain science methodology.