Questions and Answers
What is the primary function of the medial corticospinal tract?
What is a characteristic of Parkinson's disease?
What is the role of synaptic plasticity in learning?
What type of neurons release normal amounts of neurotransmitter in response to a single stimulus?
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What is the term for the process by which motor neurons release neurotransmitter in response to the integration of multiple stimuli?
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Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of the medial corticospinal tract?
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What is the primary function of sensory neurons?
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What is the term for the impairment in initiating spontaneous physical activity in Parkinson's disease?
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What is the primary function of the Globus Pallidus?
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What is the characteristic feature of the Huntingtin protein?
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What is the effect of repeated stimulation on the presynaptic sensory neuron?
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Which of the following is a consequence of diminished activity between motor neurons and muscles?
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What is the function of the Lateral Corticospinal Tract?
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What is the effect of sensitization on a stimulus?
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Which brain area is involved in the control of movement in peripheral areas?
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What is the result of a mutation in a single gene - huntingtin?
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What is the function of corticospinal tracts in the nervous system?
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What is the primary mechanism underlying synaptic plasticity?
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What is the term for the involuntary, spasmodic movements characteristic of certain movement disorders?
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Which structure is responsible for transmitting messages from the brain to the medulla and spinal cord to control muscle movement?
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What is the term for the ability of an organism to focus on a specific stimulus while ignoring others?
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Which type of neuron is responsible for transmitting information from the environment to the brain?
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What is the term for the reduction in response to a stimulus after repeated exposure?
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Which nucleus is affected in Huntington's disease, leading to movement abnormalities?
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Study Notes
Corticospinal Tracts
- Medial Corticospinal Tract: a set of axons from various parts of the cortex that control muscles of the neck, shoulders, and trunk, responsible for bilateral movements like walking, turning, and standing up.
- Axons of the medial tract go to both sides of the spinal cord.
Movement Disorders
- Parkinson's Disorder: a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by muscle tremors, rigidity, slow movements, and difficulty initiating physical and mental activity.
- Associated with neurodegeneration, or the deterioration and death of neurons.
Basal Ganglia
- A group of large subcortical structures in the forebrain that receive input from the cerebral cortex and send output to the globus pallidus.
- Structures involved: caudate nucleus and putamen.
- Responsible for spontaneous, self-initiated behaviors, attention, and the ability to shift attention and attend to visual stimuli.
Huntington's Disease
- A genetic disorder caused by an autosomal dominant mutation of a single gene, resulting in a trinucleotide repeat (cytosine, adenine, guanine).
- Symptoms emerge during middle age, including chorea (involuntary, spasmodic movement), impaired coordination and balance, muscle rigidity, difficulty speaking and/or swallowing, cognitive symptoms (dementia), and psychiatric symptoms (depression).
Synaptic Plasticity
- A mechanism that allows the strength of connections between neurons to increase or decrease as a function of experience.
- Types of synaptic plasticity:
- Sensitization: repeated stimulation of a single stimulus gains the ability to influence more than one neural pathway.
- Habituation: repeated stimulation reduces the size of excitatory postsynaptic potential.
Mechanism of Synaptic Plasticity
- Repeated stimulation depletes the amount of available neurotransmitter in the presynaptic sensory neuron, leading to a decrease in the strength of synaptic transmission.
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Description
This quiz covers the medial corticospinal tract, sensory neurons, interneurons, and synaptic plasticity in learning. It's perfect for students of neuroscience and psychology.