Brain and Behavior
Midterm #1 Study Guide
Know you’re basic anatomy. No crazy detail required, but know the stuff we stressed in class.
 What is grey matter? What does it do? What is white matter? What does it do? What is CSF? Ventricles? What
do they do?
 What are some of the major differences between the cortex and the limbic system?
 What’s the role of the thalamus in sensory processing?
 Study tip: take the anatomy slides from lecture 2, and see if you can fill in the purpose/location of each
region/structure.
 See the image of a neuron at right. Can you name the different parts? Can you explain what each
part of the neuron does? Study tip: Make a point-form list of each part, and then associate each
with its purpose/actions.
We discussed a variety of different methods that get used in Neuroscience.
 You won’t be tested on ‘independent variables’, ‘dependent variables’, or basic issues of study design. But you
may be asked about neuroscience-specific methods like EEG, MRI, fMRI, PET, TMS, etc.
o What does EEG measure? What does MRI measure? What does PET do? etc., etc.
o Why is EEG less good for measuring deeper brain structures?
o Advanced question: If action potentials don’t require glucose, would we expect the results from EEG and
PET correlate?
We spent a LOT of time talking about action potentials, the electrical spikes that carry information regarding ‘sensed’
stimuli. So you can expect a number of questions related to this process of electrical conduction.
 Do you know the difference between action potentials and resting potentials?
 Can you explain action potentials in terms of a change in polarity?
o What about in terms of positive/negative ion flow?
o Can you explain how the sodium-potassium pump supports this process?
 Study tip: see if you can recreate, with explanations, the figure (in text and lecture slides) outlining the 5steps in an action-potential life-cycle (ie. sodium/potassium pump working, ion channels opening, action
potential spiking, refractory periods, etc.). Can you explain why/how each step in the process occurs?
 Advanced question: How does the refractory period influence the perceived intensity of a stimulus?
Action potentials are, of course, only half the story. Processing of neural information also requires neurotransmitters,
and so we discussed this biochemical process in an equal amount of detail.
 Can you explain how action potentials lead to the release of neurotransmitter?
 Do you know the difference between phasic and tonic neurotransmitter release (large vs. small molecules)
o What are the differences in terms of their structure?
o What is the difference in terms of their effect on the body?
 Do you know the various ways that neurotransmitter function can be altered in the synapse? Why are these
synaptic actions important?
 Why do we tend to use a lock/key metaphor to describe the process of receptor binding?
 Advanced question: If every action potential is exactly the same, what determines how much
neurotransmitter is released?
But this is still not the entire story, is it? Because for a neural message to reach its end-point, it must generally be carried
through a “chain” of neurons.
 How does neurotransmitter release influence action potential firing on the post-synaptic neuron?
 What is the role of the dendrites and cell body in this process?
 Study tip: try writing out the actual steps through which this whole process occurs (e.g. from the tip of the
dendrites of the presynaptic neuron all the way to the tip of the dendrites on the postsynaptic neuron). If
you can describe each step, you’re in great shape.
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Advanced question: Advil blocks pain signals from reaching the sensory cortex. What does this mean from a
process perspective?
After learning all these basics, we moved onto the visual system. Why the visual system? Is it special? NO! In fact, at a
process level all neural systems function similarly. But the visual system is “simple” (relatively speaking) and “wellunderstood” (relatively speaking). Thus, applying our knowledge of electrical conduction and chemical transmission to
the visual system is a good first step into a more macro understanding of brain function. That said:
 The visual system is sensitive to light, but then somehow sends electrical and
chemical signals. How does this happen?
 Look at the image at right: Can you see the rods and cones? What is the differences
between them? (hint: color vs. black and white, differences in acuity, spectral
sensitivity differences).
 Given how many rods and cones you see in that image, is it more likely that we’re looking at the fovea or the
periphery?
 Advanced question: Can you see the various “levels” of cells in the image? Using those levels, explain the
concepts of convergence and lateral inhibition of nearest neighbours?
o What is the effect of convergence and lateral inhibition on our actual visual experience (e.g. acuity;
shape boundaries)?
 In the sleep lecture, we learned that there are additional cells at the back of the eye in addition to
rods/cones. Do you remember what those are about?
We also discussed the visual system from the perspective of different receptive fields.
 What is a receptive field?
 How do the receptive fields differ as one looks at neurons at different levels within the visual system?
o What does the receptive field of a retinal cell generally look like?
o What does the receptive field of a cell in v1 generally look like?
o What general characteristics of receptive fields change as you go up through the visual system?
o Advanced question: How does the receptive field of a cell relate to the actual physical characteristics
of the object being perceived? Hint: What does the object look like, if a cell in secondary visual
cortex, with a “swirl-shaped” receptive field is activated?
o Very advanced question: Neurons in the secondary cortex aren’t actually “seeing” any object at all.
Only neurons in the retina are receiving actual light energy. So how is it that a neuron in the
secondary visual cortex can have a receptive field shaped like a swirl?
We talked about optic nerves, blind spots and scotomas.
 What is the relationship between these three topics?
 Can you tell if you have a blind spot right now? Why or why not?
We then talked a little bit about the other sensory systems. You won’t need to know details about those systems (ie. I
won’t ask you questions about, for instance, the organ of corti); but we did discuss the structure of sensory systems in
general, and of some of the major similarities in those systems.
 What is the similar circuitry of all sensory systems?
 The thalamus isn’t really involved in sensory processing at all. So why is it involved in all sensory hierarchies?
 What’s different about the olfactory system? Any ideas why?
 Advanced question: Why does blowing your eardrum not lead to complete deafness? What would be
required to go completely deaf?
We talked a lot about ‘what’ and ‘where’ pathways, and about the various association corticies in the brain.
 What’s the difference between the PPaC and the DLaC?
 Why does it make sense that all sensory systems (as well as the motor system) converge in the PPaC)?
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We saw videos of two patients who had damage in the what and where pathways. Their abnormalities were
very interesting, from the perspective of how specific processes are parsed in the brain. How would their
deficits change if their problem were in, say, the primary visual cortex instead?
Advanced question: what kinds of deficits would you expect of someone who had damage in the DLaC?
And finally, we talked about sleep, the hypothalamus and melatonin (a hormone)
 How is the SCN involved in controlling circadian rhythms? Study tip: describe out the process from light
entering the retina to per, cry and tau feeding back into the SCN.
 What’s the relationship between light/dark cycles and melatonin release? How does that relate to advice to
reduce blue light exposure before bed?
There were a couple of chapters in the textbook that you are responsible for that were not described in lecture. To be
clear: there will be some questions from these chapters, but they will not be as detailed, or as numerous, as from the
chapters we did cover in class. So: read them; know them; but if time is a factor and you have to make choices, focus on
the other chapters more.
Hearing
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How is the structure of the hearing system similar to the visual system?
Does the hearing system undertake a transduction process?
o Where are action potentials generated in the hearing system?
o How would these action potentials change as a sound gets louder?
Other sensory systems
 As you move from primary to secondary to association cortices, how would you expect the neurons in each
sensory system to respond?
Hormones and Sex/Gender
Because your final assignment in the course related to sex/gender, the midterm will focus more on the Hormone
content and less on the Reproductive Development or Sex/Gender Development content. So focusing on pgs. 246-261
will be most relevant.
 What is the endocrine system? What are the major regions of hormone release?
 How is hormone release similar to neurotransmitter release? How is it different?
 What are the different types of hormones (not the individual hormones; just their types)? How do they
enter the bloodstream?
 What are the differences between how the anterior and posterior pituitary function?
 Do action potentials affect hormone release?
Finally, a few general questions you could consider:
 A theme of the course is how much the brain does behind the scenes without us knowing. Can you think of
three examples of this that were discussed in class or textbook?
 A common feature of the brain is feedback loops
o What is the function of these loops? (several answers could be correct)
 Another feature of the brain is tonic/phasic (or slow/fast) mechanisms
o Can you name a few of the brain systems that show both mechanisms of action?
o Why do so many systems incorporate both mechanisms?
Please note that this guide is intended as a Study Aid only. It is intended to be helpful, to remind you of important
concepts, and to get you thinking in depth about the course material. It is not, however, intended to be absolutely
comprehensive; nor will everything that is in this guide be on the midterm. My best study advice is that you read the text
and lecture materials as you normally would, make notes, learn the material, etc. – and then use this guide to test your
knowledge. Being able to answer everything within this guide won’t guarantee 100% on the midterm, but it should be a
pretty accurate indication of how well you know the material.