Chapter 2: Neuroscience and Biological Foundations
Testing your knowledge of idioms and other vocabulary
Here are some more American idioms, words used with figurative meanings, and other vocabulary items that you may not be familiar with. Match each item in column A with the appropriate meaning given in column B. If you are unsure, look at the sentence context given below. Remember that words may have different meanings in different contexts. The meanings given here are appropriate for the contexts from your textbook, but in different contexts the words in question might have different meanings. Answers are given on the last page of this document.
COLUMN A / COLUMN Ba. to hold in place / 1. many; a great number
b. to boost / 2. to stop something from moving out of its position
c. to take up / 3. occasional or miscellaneous work
d. hard wired / 4. to raise; to increase
e. odd jobs / 5. to explain
f. a host of / 6. to receive information by hearing it or seeing it
g. to account for / 7. having permanent and unchanging connections
Sentence context
a. These neurons are held in place and supported by glial cells (from the Greek for “glue”). (p. 52)
b. They found that the morphine was taken up by specialized receptors in areas of the brain linked with mood and pain sensations. (p. 57)
c. As Chapter 14 discusses, antidepressant drugs, like Prozac and Zoloft, work by boosting levels of available serotonin. (p. 56)
d. However, the brain may not be as “hard wired” as we once believed. (p. 59)
e. According to historical records by his physician, Gage never again held a job equal to that of foreman. He supported himself with odd jobs and traveled around New England, exhibiting himself and the tamping iron, and for a time he did the same at Barnum Museum. (p. 72)
f. As this case study and other research show, the frontal lobes are intimately involved in motivation, emotion, and a host of other cognitive activities. (p. 73)
Reviewing your knowledge of English grammar
As you have no doubt learned, regular verbs in the past tense in English require an -ed ending, which signals that the action took place in a previous time, not in the present. Present tense verbs, on the other hand, do not need an -ed ending. They refer to a present time or express an event which we believe to be always true or unchanging.
Compare:
Past time: In 1848, Phineas Gage suffered a bizarre accident when an explosion
happened at his work place. As a result of the explosion, an iron rod
entered his skull and pierced his frontal lobe. Phineas recovered
physically from this accident, but his personality changed forever.
Present time: From the case study of Phineas Gage, it appears that the frontal lobe
controls much of our individual personality and defines our ability to
make decisions. We now know that the frontal lobe helps us to plan
and change actions.
Read the paragraph below and decide if the verbs need an -ed ending (that is, if they show a past action) or if they refer to the present time period. Add the -ed endings where necessary. When you are finished, you may check your answers in the answer key section.
Many psychologists believe___ that the temporal lobes affect___ the emotional behavior of human beings. They base___ this belief on ongoing research with cats and monkeys. In 1939, for example, Kluver and Bucy remove___ both the temporal lobes of monkeys. As they expect___, the monkeys act___ completely different after surgery. They demonstrate___ very flat emotional behavior and show___ no fear of snakes, even though before the surgery they act___ terrified of snakes. Today we believe___ that the temporal lobes (along with the other cortical lobes) connect___ to the other areas of the brain, including the subcortical areas.
Finding key information
In this chapter, the authors present critical information about the nervous system and the brain. In doing this, they often divide up the information they are presenting into subgroups. We call this kind of organizational method classification. Usually, the authors first indicate the various subgroups of the class they are discussing. They then give additional information about each subgroup.
Read the section on pages 52 and 53 that describes the basic parts of the neuron. Fill in the chart. When you are finished, you may check your answers in the answer key section.
DENDRITES / CELL BODY (SOMA) /AXON
/ MYELIN SHEATHDefinition/Description / Definition/Description / Definition/Description / Definition/Description
Function / Function / Function / Function
Examining structural clues
Authors often use language that indicates the classification of items to signal that things fall into different classes or groups. Study the following observations about the language of classification.
· In classification, there is often a clear list of the groups being discussed.
Just as no two people are alike, no two neurons are exactly alike, although most share three basic features: dendrites, the cell body, and an axon.
· The language may indicate the number of classes into which the items fall.
The nervous system has two major divisions, the Central Nervous System (CNS), which processes and organizes information, and the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS), which serves primarily as a relay system getting information to and from the CNS.
· The sentence often contains a passive verb construction.
The autonomic nervous system is itself further divided into two branches, the sympathetic and parasympathetic.
· Classifications are usually written using the present tense.
The brain evidently produces its own naturally occurring chemical messengers that elevate mood and reduce pain, as well as affect memory, learning, blood pressure, appetite, and sexual activity.
Locate 5 sentences in chapter 2 in the book that contain the language of classification and write these sentences in the spaces provided below. Study your sentences to see if they use similar language to the language noted above.
1. ______
______
2. ______
______
3. ______
______
4. ______
______
5. ______
______
Answer key
Testing your knowledge of idioms and other vocabulary
a. 2; / b. 4; / c. 6; / d. 7; / e. 3; / f. 1; / g. 5;Reviewing your knowledge of English grammar
Many psychologists believe that the temporal lobes affect the emotional behavior of human beings. They base this belief on ongoing research with cats and monkeys. In 1939, for example, Kluver and Bucy removed both the temporal lobes of monkeys. As they expected, the monkeys acted completely different after surgery. They demonstrated very flat emotional behavior and showed no fear of snakes, even though before the surgery they acted terrified of snakes. Today we believe that the temporal lobes (along with the other cortical lobes) connect to the other areas of the brain, including the subcortical areas.
Finding key information
DENDRITES / CELL BODY (SOMA) / AXON / MYELIN SHEATHDefinition/Description: branching neuron structures; look like leafless branches of a tree / Definition/Description: the part of the neuron that contains the cell nucleus and other structures that help the neuron carry out its functions / Definition/Description: a long, tubelike structure / Definition/Description: a layer of fatty insulation wrapped around the axon of some neurons
Function: receive neural impulses from other neurons and convey impulses toward the cell body / Function: contains the biochemical machinery that keeps the neuron alive / Function: conveys impulses away from the neuron’s cell body toward other neurons or to muscles or glands / Function: increases the rate at which nerve impulses travel along the axon
Examining structural clues
Answers will vary.
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