Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chapter 2
1. Phineas Gage is a 25 year old foreman, who got a 3½ foot long, 13 pound
metal rod lodged under his left cheekbone and out through the top of his skull.
Before the accident, he was described as a hard worker who was polite,
dependable, and well liked. But the new Phineas Gage, without part of his
frontal lobe, was loud-mouthed and profane, rude and impulsive, and
contemptuous of others. (He suffered damage to his frontal lobe.)
2. A Neurotransmitter is a chemical substance that is released into the synaptic
cleft from the axon terminal of a sending neuron, crosses the synapse, and
binds to appropriate receptor sites on the dendrites or cell body of a receiving
neuron, influencing the cell either to fire or not to fire.
3. The Main Neurotransmitters are (1) Serotonin which plays an important role in
regulating mood, sleep, impulsivity, aggression, and appetite. (2)
Norepinephrine which affects eating, alertness, and sleep. (3) Acetylcholine
plays a role in learning new information, causes the skeletal muscle fibers to
contract, and keeps the heart from beating too rapidly.
4. The Central Nervous System is the part of the nervous system comprising the
brain and the spinal cord.
5. The Peripheral Nervous System connects the central nervous system to all
other parts of the body.
6. The Autonomic Nervous System operates without any conscious control or
awareness on your part. It transmits messages between the CNS and the
glands, the cardiac (heart) muscle, and the smooth muscles (such as those in
the large arteries and the gastrointestinal system), which are not normally
under voluntary control.
7. The Parietal Lobes contain the somatosensory cortex (where touch, pressure,
temperature, and pain register) and other areas that are responsible for body
awareness and spatial orientation.
8. The Right hemisphere of the brain controls the left side of the body, music
processing, emotional thinking, and perceiving visual-spatial relations.
9. The Left hemisphere of the brain controls the right side of the body, spoken
and written language, numerical skills, and reasoning (logic).