Today’s Class

• Exams returned Friday

• Neurotransmitters (15 min)
• The Lobes of the Brain (15 min)
• Mapping the Motor Cortex (15 min)
• Scanning Techniques (10 min)
• Brain Waves (10 min)
• Corpus callosum
• Split Brain Procedure
 Neurotransmitters… The Bodies
Chemical Messengers.
Neurotransmitter:
• manufactured in brain (endogenous
substances)
• Drugs and other substances that are
created outside of our bodies (exogenous
substances)
• Lock and key system
• Influences cell either to fire or not to fire
 Neurotransmitters:
Multitalented Chemical Couriers
Neurotransmitter
Location Effect Function
Name
Acetylcholine (ACh) Brain, spinal cord, Excitatory in brain Muscle movement,
peripheral nervous and autonomic cognitive
system, especially nervous system; functioning
some organs of the inhibitory elsewhere
parasympathetic Muscle movement,
nervous system cognitive
functioning
Glutamate Brain, spinal cord Excitatory Memory

Gamma- Brain, spinal cord Main inhibitory Eating, aggression,

Dopamine aminobutyric acid neurotransmitter sleeping
pathways (GABA)
Dopamine (DA) Brain Inhibitory or Movement control,
excitatory pleasure and
reward, attention
Serotonin Brain, spinal cord Inhibitory Sleeping, eating,
mood, pain,
depression
Endorphins Brain, spinal cord Primarily inhibitory, Pain suppression,
except in pleasurable
Serotonin hippocampus feelings, appetite
pathways regulation, placebos
 Neurotransmitters
Acetylcholine:
• learning and memory
• excites skeletal muscles, inhibits heart muscle beating
too fast.
• Decrease in Alzheimer’s
Dopamine:
• excites and inhibits learning, attention, movement,
motivation and reward.
• Decreased in Parkinson’s
Norepinephrine:
• affects eating habits, alertness, and wakefulness.
• Predominant in fear.
 Neurotransmitters
Glutamate
• Excitatory, involved in memory.
Serotonin:
• plays role in emotional states, sleep, impulsivity,
aggression and appetite.
GABA:
• Main inhibitory neurotransmitter.
• Distributed throughout CNS.
• Controls anxiety in humans.
Endorphins:
• relieve pain, feelings of pleasure and well-being;
runner’s high, strenuous exercise.
 Lobes of the Brain
Frontal Lobes:
• front of brain extends to top center of skull
• voluntary body movement, speech
production, thinking, motivation, planning
for the future, impulse control, and
emotional responses.
Motor cortex:
• Strip of tissue at the rear of the frontal
lobes.
• Controls voluntary body movement.
• Wilder Penfield 7
Motor Cortex and Somatosenory Cortex
 The Parietal Lobes
Parietal lobes:
• Contains somatosensory cortex.
• touch, pressure, temperature, and pain
register.
• responsible for body awareness and
spatial orientation
The Sensory Area
of the Cortex
• somatosensory
cortex.

•greater the area =

more sensitive that
area of the body.
Occipital Lobes: Primary Visual Cortex interpretation of
visual information
Temporal Lobes:
primary Auditory Cortex hearing registers Wernicke’s area
(left lobe) areas for interpreting auditory information.
The Major Structures in the Brain
Figure 2.14, Page 44
Figure 2.15, Page 45
 Scanning Techniques
CT scan:
• rotating X-ray, high-speed computer analysis
• Produces slice-by-slice, cross sectional images of the
• structure of the brain.
MRI:
• diagnostic scanning technique
• produces high resolution images structures of the brain
• FMRI (functional)
PET scan:
• Brain imaging technique.
• Reveals activity in various parts of the brain amount of
oxygen and glucose consumed.

15
MRI scan
Healthy individual (a)
Person with Schizophrenia (b)
Module 2.5 Discovering the Brain’s Mysteries

Brain Waves
EEG electroencephalograh uses electrodes placed
on the scalp to record waves of electrical activity.
 Today’s Class
• Exams Returned (removed two M/C questions)
• Complete Handout 3, 4, and 5 today in class
 Exam Tips
• 1. Use the specialized Language (i.e.
hemispherectomy, Rasmussen’s
Syndrome)
• 2. Define and explain all key ideas and
terms (i.e., diffusion of responsibility,
proximity)
• 3. Use example covered in class (i.e.,
Obedience to Authority study, Beagle Dog
Study, Phineas Gage, Cameron Motte)
• 4. WRITE LEGIBLY