parts of the brain and fxn

[Kussemek]

does anyone have a list of different parts of the brain and its function or no of a good mneominic device for it? If so, would you mind sharing?
Thanks!

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[place]

as far as i know, you dont need to know this for the mcat

 

[place]

....well, except for the pituitary and hypothalamus, but you only need to know their endocrine function.

Anterior Pituitary
Direct Hormones:
-Growth Hormone
-Prolactin
-Endorphins
Tropic Hormones:
-ACTH
-TSH
-LH
-FSH

Posterior Pituitary
-Oxytocin
-Antidiuretic Hormone

Hypothalamus
-Releases hormones that stimulate or inhibit the secretions of the anterior pituitary (GnRH)

As for the functions of these hormones... Look them up or something

 

[tank you]

also remember that ant pit hormones are synthesized and secreted in the anterior pituitary. post pit hormones are synthesized in the hypothalamus but secreted in the posterior pituitary.

 

[bottles999]

does anyone have a list of different parts of the brain and its function or no of a good mneominic device for it? If so, would you mind sharing?
Thanks!

Too add a few more areas of the brain that I have heard tend to be on the MCAT (Listing from topmost on down to the Spinal Cord):

- <b>Prefrontal Cortex</b>: Higher decision making occurs, part of the Cerebral Cortex
- <b>Corpus collosum</b>- Area that interconenctions the two hemispheres.
- <b>Thalamus</b> - Swithing center of the brain, sits right on top of the Center of the brain
- <b>Hypothalamus & Pitutiary</b> - See other post
- <b>Cerebellum (little Brain)</b>: Muscle movements, Smoothes the movements of voluntary muscles of the Motor system
- <b>Medulla Oblongata</b>: Alot of the regulatory functions like breathing.

 

[BaylorGuy]

I've got some mnemonics if you would like them.

To remember the hormones of the anterior pituitary...FLAT PiG=FSH, LH, ACTH, TSH, Prolactin, (ignore), Growth Hormone.
Also, the FLAT hormones are tropic hormones (I.E. they will affect other endocrine systems), while the PiG hormones are direct hormones (I.E. they will directly affect actions in the body).

A mnemonic for nervous system pathways...SAME DAVE=Sensory Afferent Motor Efferent, Dorsal Afferent Ventral Efferent.
This helps to remember how the nerve cells enter and exit the spinal cord.

 

[nicholonious]

This is little jibber-jabber, but it'll help in one way or another:

diencephalon: hypothalamus and thalamus (di, think "two")

telencephalon: motor functions, memory, comprises of the cerebral cortex (think "tele"phone, communication between environment and conscious thought

medulla: controls and maintains basic vital signs like heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, temperature (think to "med"iate something)



and this is pure random, but my friends and I made a quick mnemonic for the pathway of the inner ear:
"MISO" SOUP : malleus - incus - stapes - oval window, Soup refers to organ of corti, which is fluid that fills the cochlea.

This isn't in very specific detail, but its silly things that usually make me remember my neuroanatomy and function a bit better...

 

[HistoRocks]

does anyone have a list of different parts of the brain and its function or no of a good mneominic device for it? If so, would you mind sharing?
Thanks!

The hypothalamus is really easy to remember. It controls body temperature (I actually learned this in psych).

 

[Kussemek]

this is great you guys! thanks!

 

[medworm]

A mnemonic for nervous system pathways...SAME DAVE=Sensory Afferent Motor Efferent, Dorsal Afferent Ventral Efferent.
This helps to remember how the nerve cells enter and exit the spinal cord.

Can you elaborate what SAME DAVE indicates? I haven't studied the nervous system in my coursework yet... encountered SAME DAVE in EK, but didn't know what to make of it.

Thanks

 

[dilated]

Can you elaborate what SAME DAVE indicates? I haven't studied the nervous system in my coursework yet... encountered SAME DAVE in EK, but didn't know what to make of it.

It says that:
Sensory neurons are afferent (they carry signals to the brain)
Motor neurons are efferent (they carry signals from the brain)
Afferent neurons exit the spinal cord dorsally (towards back)
Efferent neurons exit the spinal cord ventrally (towards front)

The "DAVE" part of it is of questionable use, and the "SAME" part can be worked out with a bit of thought: aff- in general as a prefix means "to" while eff- means "from". Sensory neurons are afferent because they carry signals TO the brain, while motor neurons are efferent because they carry signals FROM the brain.

 

[natureboy]

The hypothalamus is really easy to remember. It controls body temperature (I actually learned this in psych).

Yup, and as I posted somewhere else, there are the 4 F's of the hypothalamus...feeding, fighting, fleeing, and reproduction....this actually saved me on one of the questions in AAMC 7.

 

[BaylorGuy]

Yup, and as I posted somewhere else, there are the 4 F's of the hypothalamus...feeding, fighting, fleeing, and reproduction....this actually saved me on one of the questions in AAMC 7.

The 4 F's....brilliant, i'm never going to forget this

 

[tigress]

Aren't the 4 Fs generally used for the sympathetic nervous system? Fleeing, fighting, fear, and sex...at least that's how I learned it. How is that related to the hypothalamus? I don't know anything about the hypothalamus other than that it regulates body temp.

Could somebody go over which neurons are long pre-synaptic and short post-synaptic and which are the other way around? I don't remember that. thanks! great thread, btw

 

[natureboy]

Aren't the 4 Fs generally used for the sympathetic nervous system? Fleeing, fighting, fear, and sex...at least that's how I learned it. How is that related to the hypothalamus? I don't know anything about the hypothalamus other than that it regulates body temp.

Could somebody go over which neurons are long pre-synaptic and short post-synaptic and which are the other way around? I don't remember that. thanks! great thread, btw

That's actually how I learned it for my psychology class last quarter. It was one of the prof's mneumonics.

 

[BaylorGuy]

Sympathetic tracts have short presynaptic neurons that secrete Acetylcholine and long postsynaptic neurons that secrete epinepherine
Parasympathetic tracts have long presynaptic neurons that secrete Acetylcholine and short postsynaptic neurons that secretete Acetylcholine.

 

[tigress]

Sympathetic tracts have short presynaptic neurons that secrete Acetylcholine and long postsynaptic neurons that secrete epinepherine
Parasympathetic tracts have long presynaptic neurons that secrete Acetylcholine and short postsynaptic neurons that secretete Acetylcholine.

thanks (it's actually norepi for the sympathetic). I can never remember which the short and long ones are.

as far as sympathetic vs. parasympathetic, the 4 Fs for sympathetic are true but somewhat misleading, since sex has both a parasympathetic component (arousal) and sympathetic component (orgasm/ejaculation)

I always got sympathetic and parasympathetic confused until I learned a mneumonic based on the above info: point and shoot