Neuroanatomy

PSY 511.003

2024-01-18

Prelude

(ctdalilah, 2006)

(Kids Learning Tube, 2015)

Announcements

• Exercise 02 due next Wednesday, January 24, 2024.

Last time…

• Levels of analysis

Spatial & temporal levels

(Sejnowski, Churchland, & Movshon, 2014, fig. 1)

≠ Marr’s levels

(Favela, 2020, fig. 3)

Computational level

• What has to be computed?
  • What is the shape/form of that unknown object?
  • What did that person just say?
  • Is that unknown object a threat to me?

Algorithmic level

• What’s the ‘recipe’ for…
  • computing shape
  • perceiving speech
  • recognizing threats

Implementation level

• How do…
  • neurons
  • areas
  • networks
• implement the recipe?

Causality in neuroscience

• (Siddiqi, Kording, Parvizi, & Fox, 2022).
• Stimulation & lesion studies needed for inferring causation.
• Bradford-Hill criteria (Hill, 2015)

Today’s topics

• Neuroanatomy
  • Brief overview
  • In-class lab
  • Exercise 02

Neuroanatomy

Why study?

• Master basic vocabulary for reading literature

Brain anatomy through dance

Directional terms

• Anterior/Posterior
• Medial/Lateral
• Superior/Inferior
• Dorsal/Ventral
• Rostral/Caudal

Central vs. Peripheral Nervous System

Nervous system of Harriet Cole from https://www.pastmedicalhistory.co.uk/the-nervous-system-of-harriet-cole/

Organization of the CNS

Major division	Ventricular Landmark	Embryonic Division	Structure
Forebrain	Lateral	Telencephalon	Cerebral cortex
			Basal ganglia
			Hippocampus, amygdala

Major division	Ventricular Landmark	Embryonic Division	Structure
	Third	Diencephalon	Thalamus
			Hypothalamus

Major division	Ventricular Landmark	Embryonic Division	Structure
Midbrain	Cerebral Aqueduct	Mesencephalon	Tectum, tegmentum

Major division	Ventricular Landmark	Embryonic Division	Structure
Hindbrain	4th	Metencephalon	Cerebellum, pons
	–	Mylencephalon	Medulla oblongata

Forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain terminology derives from embryonic stages in CNS development.

Embryonic human brain from Wikipedia

Cerebrum

• (Cerebral) cortex
• Subcortical structures

Labelled MRI including thalamus and hypothalamus

(Cerebral) cortex

• Lobes, marked by sulci/fissures, adjacency to bones of skull
• Functional areas marked by gyri & sulci
• Brodmann Areas
  • Microstructural (cellular composition) features

• Most lobes have host primary sensory or motor area
  • Frontal: Motor cortex
  • Temporal: Auditory cortex
  • Parietal: Somatosensory cortex
  • Occipital: Visual cortex
  • Insula: Gustatory

Input/output

• Via cranial nerves (in CNS)
• Via spinal nerves (in PNS)

Cranial nerves from https://www.britannica.com/science/cranial-nerve#/media/1/141797/46720

Multiple hierarchies

(Swanson, 2005, fig. 1)

Maps

• Sensory & motor systems often use maps

[Figure 1 from@Saenz2014-ao]

Wikipedia

• Geometric issues central for perceptual/motor behavior
• Do other systems “map” function to structure?

Neuroanatomy lab

Overview

• 3 groups
• Rotate among stations
• Identify as many structures as possible

Wrap-up

Main points

• Directional terms
• What is it
• Where is it
  • Relative to other things
  • CNS/PNS
  • Forebrain/midbrain/hindbrain

• Cerebral cortex and its subparts
• Grey matter vs. white matter

Next time…

• Cellular neuroscience I

Resources

References

ctdalilah. (2006, October). Pinky and the brain-brainstem. Youtube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snO68aJTOpM

Favela, L. H. (2020). Cognitive science as complexity science. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews. Cognitive Science, 11(4), e1525. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1525

Hill, A. B. (2015). The environment and disease: Association or causation? 1965. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 108(1), 32–37. https://doi.org/10.1177/0141076814562718

Kids Learning Tube. (2015, October). Human body for Kids/Brain Song/Human body systems. Youtube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw8E9WnZTQk

Sejnowski, T. J., Churchland, P. S., & Movshon, J. A. (2014). Putting big data to good use in neuroscience. Nat. Neurosci., 17(11), 1440–1441. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3839

Siddiqi, S. H., Kording, K. P., Parvizi, J., & Fox, M. D. (2022). Causal mapping of human brain function. Nature Reviews. Neuroscience, 23(6), 361–375. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-022-00583-8

Swanson, L. W. (2005). Anatomy of the soul as reflected in the cerebral hemispheres: Neural circuits underlying voluntary control of basic motivated behaviors. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 493(1), 122–131. https://doi.org/10.1002/cne.20733