ANP 1106 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Vestibular Duct, Rapid Eye Movement Sleep, Cochlear Duct
15 Nov 2016
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ANP1106
Central Nervous System
Higher mental functions:
Language: Involves all of association cortex on the left side of the brain.
• Patients with lesions involving Broca’s area can understand language but
have trouble speaking it.
• Patients with lesions involving Wernicke’s area can speak but produce a
type of nonsense word salad.
• Aphasias: loss of language abilities due to damage of these 2 areas.
• The RIGHT/NON-language-dominant hemisphere: is involved in body
language.
• Body language= the nonverbal emotional components of language. For ex: a
soft melodious response to your question coveys a different meaning than a
sharp reply!
Memory:
• It is the storage and retrieval of information.
• Essential for learning, incorporating experiences into behaviour
• 4 different kinds of memory:
• 1.) Declarative= fact memory: names, faces, words, dates
→ This has 2 distinct stages:
1st: Short-term memory: this is working memory, its what helps you dial a
telephone number without having to think about it. Limited to about 7-8 chunks
of info.
2nd: Long-term memory: has a limitless capacity. Long-term memories can be
forgotten. Our ability to store and retrieve info declines with age.
** Sensory inputs flood into the cerebral cortex, and then get processed. STM is
like a temporary bin for data that we may or may not want to maintain.
→ 4 factors that influence what gets transferred to LTM
1. Emotional state: when we are excited, surprised, or alert!
2. Rehearsal: repeating the material enhances memory
3. Association: tying the new and old information together.
4. Automatic memory: not always consciously done. Things we do
unconsciously.
- Memory Consolidation involves fitting new facts into the categories of knowledge
already stored in the cerebral cortex.
• 2.) Procedural= skills: playing the piano
• 3.) Memory= riding a bike
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• 4.) Emotional= your pounding heart when you hear a rattlesnake.
1) Problems: AMNESIA - damage to hippocampus and surrounding medial
temporal lobe, resulting in slight memory loss, and bilateral damage causes
widespread amnesia!
2) Anterograde amnesia: old memories are not lost but NEW sensory inputs
cannot be associated with old, person lives in the here and now. Can be
from date-rape drugs!!!
3) Retrograde amnesia: the loss of memories formed in the distant past. Seen
as a problem in chronic alcoholics!
Brain Wave Patterns and the EEG:
• Normal brain function involves continuous electrical activity of neurons.
• An Electroencephalogram records this activity.
• Placing electrodes on the scalp then record cerebral cortex brain waves
does EEG.
• Brain waves are generated by synaptic activity at the surface of the cortex,
rather than action potentials in the white matter.
• Electrodes can be inserted in Burr holes- deep in skull, to examine say
where seizures come from!
4 General classes of brain waves: used to diagnose sleep disorders and Brain DEATH
1) Alpha waves: a brain that is idling/ calm
2) Beta waves: have higher frequency; occur when we are mentally alert!
3) Theta Waves: these are common in children, BUT uncommon in awake
adults.
4) Delta waves: seen during deep sleep. Such as in anaesthesia.
EPILEPSY:
• Without warning, person with epilepsy may lose consciousness, and fall
stiffly to the ground.
• They reflect a torrent of electrical discharges by groups of brain neurons; no
other messages can get through.
• Epilepsy can result from brain injuries, head injuries, stroke, infections, etc.
• Seizure focus= where seizure originates.
i. Absence/ petit mal: mild forms, which expression goes blank then
consciousness disappears. Usually seen in young children. Lasts seconds.
ii. Grand Mal: severe and convulsive. They lose consciousness, and it can last
minutes.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Consciousness:
o Perception of sensations, voluntary initiation/control of movement, higher
mental processing (logic, memory judgment, perseverance, creativity,
love/hate.
o Continuum: Alertness → Drowsiness (lethargy) → Stupor → coma
Loss of Consciousness:
o Unconsciousness (besides sleep)= a sign of brain impairment
o Syncope= fainting: usually means bad cerebral blood flow due to low BP.
o Coma: significant unresponsiveness for an extended period of time! In Coma
patients, oxygen use is always below normal resting levels.
o Inducing a coma: blows to head, tumours invading brain stem, drug
overdose, liver or kidney failure.
o Brain Death: brain has suffered irreparable damage! Problem: when do we
remove life support???
SLEEP: the stages
o Sleep= a state of partial unconsciousness from where a person can be
awaken from stimulation!
o Brain stem functions STILL continue in sleep
o Still controls vital signs: BP, (R, and Breathing…
TYPES:
1) Non-rapid eye movement (NREM):
o Gradual stages 1→4
o Sleep becomes deeper
o Nightmares and dreams (that we remember)
2) Rapid eye movement (REM):
o Eyes moving rapidly under lids
o Most skeletal muscle is paralyzed
o This is where most dreaming occurs!
Stages of NREM:
1. Relaxation begins, EEG shows alpha waves, easy to be awaken
2. Irregular EEG shows spindles (short high-amplitude bursts); awakening is
more difficult.
3. Sleep deepens, Theta and Delta waves appear, vital signs decline: BP, HR
4. EEG is dominated by Delta waves, awakening is DIFFICULT, bed-wetting,
nigh terrors, and sleepwalking may occur here.
Sleep Patterns:
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
For ex: a soft melodious response to your question coveys a different meaning than a sharp reply! It is the storage and retrieval of information: essential for learning, incorporating experiences into behaviour, 4 different kinds of memory, 1. ) 1st: short-term memory: this is working memory, its what helps you dial a telephone number without having to think about it. Our ability to store and retrieve info declines with age. ** sensory inputs flood into the cerebral cortex, and then get processed. Stm is like a temporary bin for data that we may or may not want to maintain. Memory consolidation involves fitting new facts into the categories of knowledge already stored in the cerebral cortex: 2. ) Can be from (cid:498)date-rape(cid:499) drugs!: retrograde amnesia: the loss of memories formed in the distant past. Lasts seconds: grand mal: severe and convulsive. They lose consciousness, and it can last minutes.
