Brain

context: The brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. Only a few invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, adult sea squirts and starfish do not have a brain; diffuse or localised nerve nets are present instead. The brain is located in the head, usually close to the primary sensory organs for such senses as vision, hearing, balance, taste, and smell. The brain is the most complex organ in a vertebrate's body. In a typical human, the cerebral cortex (the largest part) is estimated to contain 15–33 billion neurons, each connected by synapses to several thousand other neurons. These neurons communicate with one another by means of long protoplasmic fibers called axons, which carry trains of signal pulses called action potentials to distant parts of the brain or body targeting specific recipient cells.
qas: answers: The brain
question: What is the center of the nervous system in all creatures?

answers: The brain
question: What is the most complex organ in an animal's body?

answers: 15–33 billion
question: In people, how many neurons make up the cerebral cortex?

answers: axons
question: Neurons in the brain interact with each other by fibers called what?

answers: sponges, jellyfish, adult sea squirts
question: A few animals without spines that do not have a brain are what?

context: Physiologically, the function of the brain is to exert centralized control over the other organs of the body. The brain acts on the rest of the body both by generating patterns of muscle activity and by driving the secretion of chemicals called hormones. This centralized control allows rapid and coordinated responses to changes in the environment. Some basic types of responsiveness such as reflexes can be mediated by the spinal cord or peripheral ganglia, but sophisticated purposeful control of behavior based on complex sensory input requires the information integrating capabilities of a centralized brain.
qas: answers: The brain
question: Hormones secreted are driven by what organ in the body?

answers: reflexes
question: What type of responsiveness can be used without a brain?

answers: spinal cord or peripheral ganglia
question: Reflexes only require one of what two structures in a body?

context: The operations of individual brain cells are now understood in considerable detail but the way they cooperate in ensembles of millions is yet to be solved. Recent models in modern neuroscience treat the brain as a biological computer, very different in mechanism from an electronic computer, but similar in the sense that it acquires information from the surrounding world, stores it, and processes it in a variety of ways, analogous to the central processing unit (CPU) in a computer.
qas: answers: central processing unit (CPU)
question: Which part of a computer does the brain most resemble?

context: This article compares the properties of brains across the entire range of animal species, with the greatest attention to vertebrates. It deals with the human brain insofar as it shares the properties of other brains. The ways in which the human brain differs from other brains are covered in the human brain article. Several topics that might be covered here are instead covered there because much more can be said about them in a human context. The most important is brain disease and the effects of brain damage, covered in the human brain article because the most common diseases of the human brain either do not show up in other species, or else manifest themselves in different ways.
qas: answers: vertebrates
question: Animals with a spine are called what?

context: The shape and size of the brain varies greatly in different species, and identifying common features is often difficult. Nevertheless, there are a number of principles of brain architecture that apply across a wide range of species. Some aspects of brain structure are common to almost the entire range of animal species; others distinguish "advanced" brains from more primitive ones, or distinguish vertebrates from invertebrates.
qas: answers: invertebrates
question: Animals without a spine are called what?

context: The simplest way to gain information about brain anatomy is by visual inspection, but many more sophisticated techniques have been developed. Brain tissue in its natural state is too soft to work with, but it can be hardened by immersion in alcohol or other fixatives, and then sliced apart for examination of the interior. Visually, the interior of the brain consists of areas of so-called grey matter, with a dark color, separated by areas of white matter, with a lighter color. Further information can be gained by staining slices of brain tissue with a variety of chemicals that bring out areas where specific types of molecules are present in high concentrations. It is also possible to examine the microstructure of brain tissue using a microscope, and to trace the pattern of connections from one brain area to another.
qas: answers: visual inspection
question: The easiest way to learn about brain anatomy is by what?

answers: alcohol
question: Brain tissue is naturally soft, but can be stiffened with what liquid?

answers: grey matter, with a dark color, separated by areas of white matter
question: The two main areas of the brain are what colors?

answers: microscope
question: What instrument can you use to examine the microstructure of the brain?

answers: dark color
question: Grey matter of the brain is what color?

context: The brains of all species are composed primarily of two broad classes of cells: neurons and glial cells. Glial cells (also known as glia or neuroglia) come in several types, and perform a number of critical functions, including structural support, metabolic support, insulation, and guidance of development. Neurons, however, are usually considered the most important cells in the brain. The property that makes neurons unique is their ability to send signals to specific target cells over long distances. They send these signals by means of an axon, which is a thin protoplasmic fiber that extends from the cell body and projects, usually with numerous branches, to other areas, sometimes nearby, sometimes in distant parts of the brain or body. The length of an axon can be extraordinary: for example, if a pyramidal cell, (an excitatory neuron) of the cerebral cortex were magnified so that its cell body became the size of a human body, its axon, equally magnified, would become a cable a few centimeters in diameter, extending more than a kilometer. These axons transmit signals in the form of electrochemical pulses called action potentials, which last less than a thousandth of a second and travel along the axon at speeds of 1–100 meters per second. Some neurons emit action potentials constantly, at rates of 10–100 per second, usually in irregular patterns; other neurons are quiet most of the time, but occasionally emit a burst of action potentials.
qas: answers: neurons and glial cells
question: Brains of organisms are made up mostly of what two classes of cells?

answers: glia or neuroglia
question: Glial cells are also referred to as what?

answers: neurons
question: Which of the two broad classes of cells: neurons and glial cells send signals to other cells?

answers: action potentials
question: Axons send signals that are named what?

answers: 1–100 meters per second
question: What is the typical speed that axons send their electrical signals?

context: Axons transmit signals to other neurons by means of specialized junctions called synapses. A single axon may make as many as several thousand synaptic connections with other cells. When an action potential, traveling along an axon, arrives at a synapse, it causes a chemical called a neurotransmitter to be released. The neurotransmitter binds to receptor molecules in the membrane of the target cell.
qas: answers: synapses
question: Axons send signals to other neurons by junctions known as what?

answers: receptor molecules
question: The neurotansmitter binds to what of a target cell?

answers: several thousand
question: An axon can connect to how many other cells?

context: Synapses are the key functional elements of the brain. The essential function of the brain is cell-to-cell communication, and synapses are the points at which communication occurs. The human brain has been estimated to contain approximately 100 trillion synapses; even the brain of a fruit fly contains several million. The functions of these synapses are very diverse: some are excitatory (exciting the target cell); others are inhibitory; others work by activating second messenger systems that change the internal chemistry of their target cells in complex ways. A large number of synapses are dynamically modifiable; that is, they are capable of changing strength in a way that is controlled by the patterns of signals that pass through them. It is widely believed that activity-dependent modification of synapses is the brain's primary mechanism for learning and memory.
qas: answers: 100 trillion synapses;
question: How many synapses does the human brain supposedly contain?

answers: several million
question: The fruit fly has a brain that has how many synapses?

answers: excitatory
question: A synapse whose purpose is to excite the target cell are called what?

answers: cell-to-cell communication
question: The primary job of the brain is what?

context: Most of the space in the brain is taken up by axons, which are often bundled together in what are called nerve fiber tracts. A myelinated axon is wrapped in a fatty insulating sheath of myelin, which serves to greatly increase the speed of signal propagation. (There are also unmyelinated axons). Myelin is white, making parts of the brain filled exclusively with nerve fibers appear as light-colored white matter, in contrast to the darker-colored grey matter that marks areas with high densities of neuron cell bodies.
qas: answers: nerve fiber tracts
question: Axons grouped together are known as what?

answers: sheath of myelin
question: An axon that can greatly increase speed of signals is wrapped in what?

answers: white
question: Myelin is what color in the brain?

answers: axons
question: Most of the space in the brain is made up of what structures?

answers: neuron cell bodies
question: Grey matter of the brain consist of lots of what?

context: Except for a few primitive organisms such as sponges (which have no nervous system) and cnidarians (which have a nervous system consisting of a diffuse nerve net), all living multicellular animals are bilaterians, meaning animals with a bilaterally symmetric body shape (that is, left and right sides that are approximate mirror images of each other). All bilaterians are thought to have descended from a common ancestor that appeared early in the Cambrian period, 485-540 million years ago, and it has been hypothesized that this common ancestor had the shape of a simple tubeworm with a segmented body. At a schematic level, that basic worm-shape continues to be reflected in the body and nervous system architecture of all modern bilaterians, including vertebrates. The fundamental bilateral body form is a tube with a hollow gut cavity running from the mouth to the anus, and a nerve cord with an enlargement (a ganglion) for each body segment, with an especially large ganglion at the front, called the brain. The brain is small and simple in some species, such as nematode worms; in other species, including vertebrates, it is the most complex organ in the body. Some types of worms, such as leeches, also have an enlarged ganglion at the back end of the nerve cord, known as a "tail brain".
qas: answers: cnidarians
question: Creatures that have a diffuse nerve net are called what?

answers: symmetric body shape
question: Bilaterians are animals that have what?

answers: 485-540 million years ago
question: The Cambrian period was how long ago?

answers: a ganglion
question: A nerve cord with an enlargement is called what?

answers: leeches
question: What type of creature has a ganglion at the back end of the nerve cord as well?

context: There are a few types of existing bilaterians that lack a recognizable brain, including echinoderms, tunicates, and acoelomorphs (a group of primitive flatworms). It has not been definitively established whether the existence of these brainless species indicates that the earliest bilaterians lacked a brain, or whether their ancestors evolved in a way that led to the disappearance of a previously existing brain structure.
qas: answers: acoelomorphs
question: A name for a group of primitive flatworms is what?

answers: echinoderms, tunicates, and acoelomorphs
question: Some bilaterians without a brain are what?

context: Two groups of invertebrates have notably complex brains: arthropods (insects, crustaceans, arachnids, and others), and cephalopods (octopuses, squids, and similar molluscs). The brains of arthropods and cephalopods arise from twin parallel nerve cords that extend through the body of the animal. Arthropods have a central brain with three divisions and large optical lobes behind each eye for visual processing. Cephalopods such as the octopus and squid have the largest brains of any invertebrates.
qas: answers: arthropods (insects, crustaceans, arachnids, and others), and cephalopods
question: Which two groups of invertebrates have complex brains?

answers: parallel nerve cords
question: Arthropods and cephalopods have brains that come from a pair of what?

answers: octopus and squid
question: The invertebrates with the largest brain are what two animals?

context: There are several invertebrate species whose brains have been studied intensively because they have properties that make them convenient for experimental work:
qas: answers: invertebrate
question: Which brains are easier to work on, vertebrates or invertebrates?

context: The first vertebrates appeared over 500 million years ago (Mya), during the Cambrian period, and may have resembled the modern hagfish in form. Sharks appeared about 450 Mya, amphibians about 400 Mya, reptiles about 350 Mya, and mammals about 200 Mya. Each species has an equally long evolutionary history, but the brains of modern hagfishes, lampreys, sharks, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals show a gradient of size and complexity that roughly follows the evolutionary sequence. All of these brains contain the same set of basic anatomical components, but many are rudimentary in the hagfish, whereas in mammals the foremost part (the telencephalon) is greatly elaborated and expanded.
qas: answers: over 500 million years ago
question: How long ago did the first vertebrate organisms appear?

answers: Cambrian period
question: During which scientific period did vertebrates appear?

answers: 450 Mya
question: Sharks appeared at about how many Mya?

answers: (the telencephalon
question: The foremost part of the brain in mammals is known as what?

answers: 200 Mya
question: At how many mya did mammals first appear in time?

context: Brains are most simply compared in terms of their size. The relationship between brain size, body size and other variables has been studied across a wide range of vertebrate species. As a rule, brain size increases with body size, but not in a simple linear proportion. In general, smaller animals tend to have larger brains, measured as a fraction of body size. For mammals, the relationship between brain volume and body mass essentially follows a power law with an exponent of about 0.75. This formula describes the central tendency, but every family of mammals departs from it to some degree, in a way that reflects in part the complexity of their behavior. For example, primates have brains 5 to 10 times larger than the formula predicts. Predators tend to have larger brains than their prey, relative to body size.
qas: answers: larger
question: Do predators have larger or smaller brains compared to their prey?

answers: 0.75
question: In mammals, brain volume and body mass follows a power law with an exponent of what?

answers: primates
question: Which group of animals have brains 5-10 times larger than the formula predicts?

context: All vertebrate brains share a common underlying form, which appears most clearly during early stages of embryonic development. In its earliest form, the brain appears as three swellings at the front end of the neural tube; these swellings eventually become the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain (the prosencephalon, mesencephalon, and rhombencephalon, respectively). At the earliest stages of brain development, the three areas are roughly equal in size. In many classes of vertebrates, such as fish and amphibians, the three parts remain similar in size in the adult, but in mammals the forebrain becomes much larger than the other parts, and the midbrain becomes very small.
qas: answers: prosencephalon
question: The forebrain during development is known as what?

answers: mesencephalon
question: The midbrain during development is known as what?

answers: rhombencephalon
question: The hindbrain during development is known as what?

answers: mammals
question: Which group of animals does the forebrain grow the largest?

answers: neural tube;
question: During development, the brain is made up of three swellings at the front of what?

context: The brains of vertebrates are made of very soft tissue. Living brain tissue is pinkish on the outside and mostly white on the inside, with subtle variations in color. Vertebrate brains are surrounded by a system of connective tissue membranes called meninges that separate the skull from the brain. Blood vessels enter the central nervous system through holes in the meningeal layers. The cells in the blood vessel walls are joined tightly to one another, forming the blood–brain barrier, which blocks the passage of many toxins and pathogens (though at the same time blocking antibodies and some drugs, thereby presenting special challenges in treatment of diseases of the brain).
qas: answers: pinkish
question: Brain tissue that is living is what color on the outside?

answers: white
question: The color of the brain inside is what?

answers: meninges
question: Brains are surrounded by what system of tissues?

answers: the skull
question: Meninges separate what structure from the brain?

answers: cells in the blood vessel walls
question: The blood-brain barrier is made up of what?

context: Neuroanatomists usually divide the vertebrate brain into six main regions: the telencephalon (cerebral hemispheres), diencephalon (thalamus and hypothalamus), mesencephalon (midbrain), cerebellum, pons, and medulla oblongata. Each of these areas has a complex internal structure. Some parts, such as the cerebral cortex and the cerebellar cortex, consist of layers that are folded or convoluted to fit within the available space. Other parts, such as the thalamus and hypothalamus, consist of clusters of many small nuclei. Thousands of distinguishable areas can be identified within the vertebrate brain based on fine distinctions of neural structure, chemistry, and connectivity.
qas: answers: Neuroanatomists
question: People who study the anatomy of the central nervous system are known as what?

answers: telencephalon
question: The cerebral hemispheres of the brain are called what?

answers: diencephalon
question: The thalamus and hypothalamus comprise what region of the brain?

answers: mesencephalon
question: The midbrain region of the brain is known as what?

answers: thalamus and hypothalamus
question: Clusters of small nuclei comprise what parts of the brain?

context: Although the same basic components are present in all vertebrate brains, some branches of vertebrate evolution have led to substantial distortions of brain geometry, especially in the forebrain area. The brain of a shark shows the basic components in a straightforward way, but in teleost fishes (the great majority of existing fish species), the forebrain has become "everted", like a sock turned inside out. In birds, there are also major changes in forebrain structure. These distortions can make it difficult to match brain components from one species with those of another species.
qas: answers: teleost fishes
question: The forebrain is everted in what type of fishes?

answers: forebrain area
question: Which part of the brain has led to many distortions among different species?

context: The most obvious difference between the brains of mammals and other vertebrates is in terms of size. On average, a mammal has a brain roughly twice as large as that of a bird of the same body size, and ten times as large as that of a reptile of the same body size.
qas: answers: twice as large
question: A mammal's brain is how many times larger than a birds relative to body size?

answers: ten times
question: A mammal's brain is how many times larger than a reptiles relative to body size?

answers: size.
question: The biggest difference between brains of mammals and other vertebrates is what?

context: Size, however, is not the only difference: there are also substantial differences in shape. The hindbrain and midbrain of mammals are generally similar to those of other vertebrates, but dramatic differences appear in the forebrain, which is greatly enlarged and also altered in structure. The cerebral cortex is the part of the brain that most strongly distinguishes mammals. In non-mammalian vertebrates, the surface of the cerebrum is lined with a comparatively simple three-layered structure called the pallium. In mammals, the pallium evolves into a complex six-layered structure called neocortex or isocortex. Several areas at the edge of the neocortex, including the hippocampus and amygdala, are also much more extensively developed in mammals than in other vertebrates.
qas: answers: The cerebral cortex
question: What part of the brain most strongly differentiates mammals from other vertebrates?

answers: pallium
question: The three-layered structure covering the cerebrum in non-mammals is known as what?

answers: neocortex or isocortex
question: Mammals have a pallium that involved into what?

answers: neocortex
question: The hippocampus and amygdala are ares inside what structure?

context: The elaboration of the cerebral cortex carries with it changes to other brain areas. The superior colliculus, which plays a major role in visual control of behavior in most vertebrates, shrinks to a small size in mammals, and many of its functions are taken over by visual areas of the cerebral cortex. The cerebellum of mammals contains a large portion (the neocerebellum) dedicated to supporting the cerebral cortex, which has no counterpart in other vertebrates.
qas: answers: visual
question: The superior colliculus is related to what sensual control of vertebrates?

answers: (the neocerebellum
question: The larger part of the cerebellum in mammals is called what?

answers: cerebral cortex
question: The Neocerebellum supports what other part of the brain?

context: The brains of humans and other primates contain the same structures as the brains of other mammals, but are generally larger in proportion to body size. The most widely accepted way of comparing brain sizes across species is the so-called encephalization quotient (EQ), which takes into account the nonlinearity of the brain-to-body relationship. Humans have an average EQ in the 7-to-8 range, while most other primates have an EQ in the 2-to-3 range. Dolphins have values higher than those of primates other than humans, but nearly all other mammals have EQ values that are substantially lower.
qas: answers: encephalization quotient (EQ)
question: Comparing brain sizes among different creatures is used most commonly by what?

answers: 7-to-8 range
question: What is the average EQ of a person?

answers: 2-to-3
question: Primates have an EQ in what range?

context: Most of the enlargement of the primate brain comes from a massive expansion of the cerebral cortex, especially the prefrontal cortex and the parts of the cortex involved in vision. The visual processing network of primates includes at least 30 distinguishable brain areas, with a complex web of interconnections. It has been estimated that visual processing areas occupy more than half of the total surface of the primate neocortex. The prefrontal cortex carries out functions that include planning, working memory, motivation, attention, and executive control. It takes up a much larger proportion of the brain for primates than for other species, and an especially large fraction of the human brain.
qas: answers: 30
question: Primates have a visual processing network of how many brain areas?

answers: more than half
question: The visual processing areas occupy how much of the surface of the neocortex or primates?

answers: prefrontal cortex
question: Planning, motivation, and attention are controlled by what area?

answers: primates
question: The prefrontal cortex is the largest in what animals?

context: For vertebrates, the early stages of neural development are similar across all species. As the embryo transforms from a round blob of cells into a wormlike structure, a narrow strip of ectoderm running along the midline of the back is induced to become the neural plate, the precursor of the nervous system. The neural plate folds inward to form the neural groove, and then the lips that line the groove merge to enclose the neural tube, a hollow cord of cells with a fluid-filled ventricle at the center. At the front end, the ventricles and cord swell to form three vesicles that are the precursors of the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain. At the next stage, the forebrain splits into two vesicles called the telencephalon (which will contain the cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, and related structures) and the diencephalon (which will contain the thalamus and hypothalamus). At about the same time, the hindbrain splits into the metencephalon (which will contain the cerebellum and pons) and the myelencephalon (which will contain the medulla oblongata). Each of these areas contains proliferative zones where neurons and glial cells are generated; the resulting cells then migrate, sometimes for long distances, to their final positions.
qas: answers: the neural plate
question: The precursor of the nervous system is called what in vertebrates?

answers: fluid-filled ventricle
question: The neural groove is a hollow cord of cells with what in the center?

answers: telencephalon (which will contain the cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, and related structures) and the diencephalon
question: The forebrain splits during development into vesicles called what?

answers: telencephalon
question: The vesicle that contains the cerebral cortex is which one?

answers: the diencephalon
question: The thalamus and hypothalamus are contained in which vesicle?

context: Once a neuron is in place, it extends dendrites and an axon into the area around it. Axons, because they commonly extend a great distance from the cell body and need to reach specific targets, grow in a particularly complex way. The tip of a growing axon consists of a blob of protoplasm called a growth cone, studded with chemical receptors. These receptors sense the local environment, causing the growth cone to be attracted or repelled by various cellular elements, and thus to be pulled in a particular direction at each point along its path. The result of this pathfinding process is that the growth cone navigates through the brain until it reaches its destination area, where other chemical cues cause it to begin generating synapses. Considering the entire brain, thousands of genes create products that influence axonal pathfinding.
qas: answers: protoplasm
question: A growth cone of an axon is made up of a blob of what?

answers: dendrites and an axon
question: What two structures does a neuron extend when it is in place during development?

context: In humans and many other mammals, new neurons are created mainly before birth, and the infant brain contains substantially more neurons than the adult brain. There are, however, a few areas where new neurons continue to be generated throughout life. The two areas for which adult neurogenesis is well established are the olfactory bulb, which is involved in the sense of smell, and the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, where there is evidence that the new neurons play a role in storing newly acquired memories. With these exceptions, however, the set of neurons that is present in early childhood is the set that is present for life. Glial cells are different: as with most types of cells in the body, they are generated throughout the lifespan.
qas: answers: neurons
question: The infant brain contains more of what type of cells in the brain than the adult brain?

answers: sense of smell
question: The olfactory bulb is related to what sense?

answers: dentate gyrus of the hippocampus
question: What area of the hippocampus plays a role in storing new memories?

answers: Glial cells
question: Which type of cells in the brain are generated throughout your lifetime?

answers: neurons continue to be generated throughout life
question: Neurogenesis is the process of what?

context: The functions of the brain depend on the ability of neurons to transmit electrochemical signals to other cells, and their ability to respond appropriately to electrochemical signals received from other cells. The electrical properties of neurons are controlled by a wide variety of biochemical and metabolic processes, most notably the interactions between neurotransmitters and receptors that take place at synapses.
qas: answers: neurotransmitters and receptors that take place at synapses
question: The electrical properties of neurons are controlled by what?

answers: electrochemical
question: What type of signals do neurons transfer from one another?

context: Neurotransmitters are chemicals that are released at synapses when an action potential activates them—neurotransmitters attach themselves to receptor molecules on the membrane of the synapse's target cell, and thereby alter the electrical or chemical properties of the receptor molecules. With few exceptions, each neuron in the brain releases the same chemical neurotransmitter, or combination of neurotransmitters, at all the synaptic connections it makes with other neurons; this rule is known as Dale's principle. Thus, a neuron can be characterized by the neurotransmitters that it releases. The great majority of psychoactive drugs exert their effects by altering specific neurotransmitter systems. This applies to drugs such as cannabinoids, nicotine, heroin, cocaine, alcohol, fluoxetine, chlorpromazine, and many others.
qas: answers: synapses
question: Chemicals called neurotransmitters are released at what part of the brain?

answers: receptor molecules on the membrane of the synapse's target cell
question: What do neurotransmitters attach to?

answers: Dale's principle
question: Neurons that release the same chemicals are following what rule?

context: The two neurotransmitters that are used most widely in the vertebrate brain are glutamate, which almost always exerts excitatory effects on target neurons, and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which is almost always inhibitory. Neurons using these transmitters can be found in nearly every part of the brain. Because of their ubiquity, drugs that act on glutamate or GABA tend to have broad and powerful effects. Some general anesthetics act by reducing the effects of glutamate; most tranquilizers exert their sedative effects by enhancing the effects of GABA.
qas: answers: gamma-aminobutyric acid
question: GABA is the abbreviation for what?

answers: gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)
question: Which of two neurotransmitters is usually inhibitory?

answers: glutamate,
question: The neurostransmitter that usually excites targets is called what?

answers: gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)
question: Tranquilizers affect which of the two common neurotransmitters?

context: There are dozens of other chemical neurotransmitters that are used in more limited areas of the brain, often areas dedicated to a particular function. Serotonin, for example—the primary target of antidepressant drugs and many dietary aids—comes exclusively from a small brainstem area called the Raphe nuclei. Norepinephrine, which is involved in arousal, comes exclusively from a nearby small area called the locus coeruleus. Other neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine and dopamine have multiple sources in the brain, but are not as ubiquitously distributed as glutamate and GABA.
qas: answers: Raphe nuclei
question: Serotonin comes from what part of the brain?

answers: Serotonin
question: Antidepressants typically affect what chemical of the brain?

answers: Norepinephrine
question: Which chemical of the brain is involved with arousal?

answers: locus coeruleus
question: Norepinephrine comes from an area of the brain known as what?

context: As a side effect of the electrochemical processes used by neurons for signaling, brain tissue generates electric fields when it is active. When large numbers of neurons show synchronized activity, the electric fields that they generate can be large enough to detect outside the skull, using electroencephalography (EEG) or magnetoencephalography (MEG). EEG recordings, along with recordings made from electrodes implanted inside the brains of animals such as rats, show that the brain of a living animal is constantly active, even during sleep. Each part of the brain shows a mixture of rhythmic and nonrhythmic activity, which may vary according to behavioral state. In mammals, the cerebral cortex tends to show large slow delta waves during sleep, faster alpha waves when the animal is awake but inattentive, and chaotic-looking irregular activity when the animal is actively engaged in a task. During an epileptic seizure, the brain's inhibitory control mechanisms fail to function and electrical activity rises to pathological levels, producing EEG traces that show large wave and spike patterns not seen in a healthy brain. Relating these population-level patterns to the computational functions of individual neurons is a major focus of current research in neurophysiology.
qas: answers: electroencephalography
question: An EEG of the brain stands for what?

answers: magnetoencephalography
question: MEG of the brain is an abbreviation of what?

answers: EEG
question: What type of test is used to tell that a brain is active even during sleep?

answers: large slow delta waves
question: What type of brain waves are seen in mammals during sleep?

answers: faster alpha waves
question: What type of brain waves are sen when a creature is awake, but inattentive?

context: All vertebrates have a blood–brain barrier that allows metabolism inside the brain to operate differently from metabolism in other parts of the body. Glial cells play a major role in brain metabolism by controlling the chemical composition of the fluid that surrounds neurons, including levels of ions and nutrients.
qas: answers: Glial cells
question: What type of cells have a huge role in brain metabolism?

answers: chemical composition of the fluid that surrounds neurons
question: Glial cells control what inside the brain?

context: Brain tissue consumes a large amount of energy in proportion to its volume, so large brains place severe metabolic demands on animals. The need to limit body weight in order, for example, to fly, has apparently led to selection for a reduction of brain size in some species, such as bats. Most of the brain's energy consumption goes into sustaining the electric charge (membrane potential) of neurons. Most vertebrate species devote between 2% and 8% of basal metabolism to the brain. In primates, however, the percentage is much higher—in humans it rises to 20–25%. The energy consumption of the brain does not vary greatly over time, but active regions of the cerebral cortex consume somewhat more energy than inactive regions; this forms the basis for the functional brain imaging methods PET, fMRI, and NIRS. The brain typically gets most of its energy from oxygen-dependent metabolism of glucose (i.e., blood sugar), but ketones provide a major alternative source, together with contributions from medium chain fatty acids (caprylic and heptanoic acids), lactate, acetate, and possibly amino acids.
qas: answers: glucose (i.e., blood sugar
question: Where does the brain usually get most of its energy from inside the body?

answers: 20–25%
question: The energy used for metabolism of the brain in humans is what percentage?

answers: ketones
question: Other sources than glucose that provide energy to the brain are what?

answers: 2% and 8%
question: Most vertebrates usually devote how much metabolism to the brain?

context: From an evolutionary-biological perspective, the function of the brain is to provide coherent control over the actions of an animal. A centralized brain allows groups of muscles to be co-activated in complex patterns; it also allows stimuli impinging on one part of the body to evoke responses in other parts, and it can prevent different parts of the body from acting at cross-purposes to each other.
qas: answers: provide coherent control over the actions of an animal
question: The function of the brain from an evolutionary-biological thought is what?

context: The invention of electronic computers in the 1940s, along with the development of mathematical information theory, led to a realization that brains can potentially be understood as information processing systems. This concept formed the basis of the field of cybernetics, and eventually gave rise to the field now known as computational neuroscience. The earliest attempts at cybernetics were somewhat crude in that they treated the brain as essentially a digital computer in disguise, as for example in John von Neumann's 1958 book, The Computer and the Brain. Over the years, though, accumulating information about the electrical responses of brain cells recorded from behaving animals has steadily moved theoretical concepts in the direction of increasing realism.
qas: answers: 1940s
question: Computers were invented in what decade in history?

answers: cybernetics
question: Neuroscience spawned from what field of science in history?

answers: John von Neumann's
question: Who wrote the book, The Computer and the Brain?

answers: 1958
question: When was John von Neumann's book, The Computer and the Brain published?

context: The essence of the information processing approach is to try to understand brain function in terms of information flow and implementation of algorithms. One of the most influential early contributions was a 1959 paper titled What the frog's eye tells the frog's brain: the paper examined the visual responses of neurons in the retina and optic tectum of frogs, and came to the conclusion that some neurons in the tectum of the frog are wired to combine elementary responses in a way that makes them function as "bug perceivers". A few years later David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel discovered cells in the primary visual cortex of monkeys that become active when sharp edges move across specific points in the field of view—a discovery for which they won a Nobel Prize. Follow-up studies in higher-order visual areas found cells that detect binocular disparity, color, movement, and aspects of shape, with areas located at increasing distances from the primary visual cortex showing increasingly complex responses. Other investigations of brain areas unrelated to vision have revealed cells with a wide variety of response correlates, some related to memory, some to abstract types of cognition such as space.
qas: answers: 1959
question: The scientific paper, What the frog's eye tells the frog's brain was released in what year?

answers: David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel
question: Who won a Nobel Prize for the discovery that cells in the visual cortex of monkeys become active when sharp edges move?

context: Furthermore, even single neurons appear to be complex and capable of performing computations. So, brain models that don't reflect this are arguably too abstractive to be representative of brain operation; models that do try to capture this are very computationally expensive and arguably intractable with present computational resources. However, having said this, the Human Brain Project is trying to build a realistic, detailed computational model of the entire human brain. It remains to be seen what level of success they can achieve in the time frame of the project and the wisdom of it has been publicly contested, with high-profile scientists on both sides of the argument.
qas: answers: the Human Brain Project
question: What is the project called that is trying to build a realistic, detailed computer model of the human brain?

context: One of the primary functions of a brain is to extract biologically relevant information from sensory inputs. The human brain is provided with information about light, sound, the chemical composition of the atmosphere, temperature, head orientation, limb position, the chemical composition of the bloodstream, and more. In other animals additional senses may be present, such as the infrared heat-sense of snakes, the magnetic field sense of some birds, or the electric field sense of some types of fish. Moreover, other animals may develop existing sensory systems in new ways, such as the adaptation by bats of the auditory sense into a form of sonar. One way or another, all of these sensory modalities are initially detected by specialized sensors that project signals into the brain.
qas: answers: bats
question: What type of animal has a sense that adapted into sonar?

answers: snakes
question: What type of animal uses infrared heat to sense?

answers: birds
question: The group of animals that can detect magnetic fields is what?

answers: fish
question: The group of creatures that can sense electric fields is what?

context: Each sensory system begins with specialized receptor cells, such as light-receptive neurons in the retina of the eye, vibration-sensitive neurons in the cochlea of the ear, or pressure-sensitive neurons in the skin. The axons of sensory receptor cells travel into the spinal cord or brain, where they transmit their signals to a first-order sensory nucleus dedicated to one specific sensory modality. This primary sensory nucleus sends information to higher-order sensory areas that are dedicated to the same modality. Eventually, via a way-station in the thalamus, the signals are sent to the cerebral cortex, where they are processed to extract biologically relevant features, and integrated with signals coming from other sensory systems.
qas: answers: retina
question: Light-receptive neurons are located in what part of the eye?

answers: cochlea
question: Vibration-sensitive neurons are found in what part of the ear?

answers: cerebral cortex
question: Signals are sent from the thalamus to what part of the brain?

context: Motor systems are areas of the brain that are directly or indirectly involved in producing body movements, that is, in activating muscles. Except for the muscles that control the eye, which are driven by nuclei in the midbrain, all the voluntary muscles in the body are directly innervated by motor neurons in the spinal cord and hindbrain. Spinal motor neurons are controlled both by neural circuits intrinsic to the spinal cord, and by inputs that descend from the brain. The intrinsic spinal circuits implement many reflex responses, and contain pattern generators for rhythmic movements such as walking or swimming. The descending connections from the brain allow for more sophisticated control.
qas: answers: the eye,
question: What part of the body is controlled by nuclei in the midbrain?

answers: spinal cord and hindbrain
question: All the muscles controlled by motor neurons in the body are controlled by what?

context: The brain contains several motor areas that project directly to the spinal cord. At the lowest level are motor areas in the medulla and pons, which control stereotyped movements such as walking, breathing, or swallowing. At a higher level are areas in the midbrain, such as the red nucleus, which is responsible for coordinating movements of the arms and legs. At a higher level yet is the primary motor cortex, a strip of tissue located at the posterior edge of the frontal lobe. The primary motor cortex sends projections to the subcortical motor areas, but also sends a massive projection directly to the spinal cord, through the pyramidal tract. This direct corticospinal projection allows for precise voluntary control of the fine details of movements. Other motor-related brain areas exert secondary effects by projecting to the primary motor areas. Among the most important secondary areas are the premotor cortex, basal ganglia, and cerebellum.
qas: answers: the medulla and pons,
question: Which motor areas of the brain control breathing and swallowing?

answers: the medulla and pons
question: At the lowest level of the brain and spinal cord, are what areas?

answers: coordinating movements of the arms and legs
question: The red nucleus controls what part(s) of the body?

answers: primary motor cortex
question: A strip of tissue found at the edge of the frontal lobe is called what?

answers: pyramidal tract.
question: The primary motor cortex sends signals to the spinal cord through what?

context: In addition to all of the above, the brain and spinal cord contain extensive circuitry to control the autonomic nervous system, which works by secreting hormones and by modulating the "smooth" muscles of the gut. The autonomic nervous system affects heart rate, digestion, respiration rate, salivation, perspiration, urination, and sexual arousal, and several other processes. Most of its functions are not under direct voluntary control.
qas: answers: autonomic nervous system
question: The brain and spinal cord work together to control what system of the body?

answers: autonomic nervous system
question: What system in the body controls heart rate?

answers: autonomic nervous system
question: What system in the body controls salivation?

answers: not under direct voluntary control
question: Most of the processes of the autonomic nervous system are called what?

answers: The autonomic nervous system
question: Which system in the body controls urination?

context: A key component of the arousal system is the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), a tiny part of the hypothalamus located directly above the point at which the optic nerves from the two eyes cross. The SCN contains the body's central biological clock. Neurons there show activity levels that rise and fall with a period of about 24 hours, circadian rhythms: these activity fluctuations are driven by rhythmic changes in expression of a set of "clock genes". The SCN continues to keep time even if it is excised from the brain and placed in a dish of warm nutrient solution, but it ordinarily receives input from the optic nerves, through the retinohypothalamic tract (RHT), that allows daily light-dark cycles to calibrate the clock.
qas: answers: suprachiasmatic nucleus
question: The SCN of the nervous system is an abbreviation for what?

answers: the hypothalamus
question: The suprachiasmatic nucleus is a small part of what part of the brain?

answers: the suprachiasmatic nucleus
question: Which part of the arousal system controls the body's biological clock?

answers: retinohypothalamic tract
question: The RHT is an abbreviation for what?

answers: the retinohypothalamic tract (RHT
question: THE SCN receives information from the optic nerves through what?

context: The SCN projects to a set of areas in the hypothalamus, brainstem, and midbrain that are involved in implementing sleep-wake cycles. An important component of the system is the reticular formation, a group of neuron-clusters scattered diffusely through the core of the lower brain. Reticular neurons send signals to the thalamus, which in turn sends activity-level-controlling signals to every part of the cortex. Damage to the reticular formation can produce a permanent state of coma.
qas: answers: the reticular formation
question: A group of neuron-clusters scattered in the core of the lower brain is called what?

answers: the thalamus
question: Reticular neurons transfer signals to what part of the brain?

answers: state of coma
question: Damage to the reticular formation can cause what?

answers: sleep-wake cycles.
question: The SCN transfers signals to a set of areas that implement what?

context: Sleep involves great changes in brain activity. Until the 1950s it was generally believed that the brain essentially shuts off during sleep, but this is now known to be far from true; activity continues, but patterns become very different. There are two types of sleep: REM sleep (with dreaming) and NREM (non-REM, usually without dreaming) sleep, which repeat in slightly varying patterns throughout a sleep episode. Three broad types of distinct brain activity patterns can be measured: REM, light NREM and deep NREM. During deep NREM sleep, also called slow wave sleep, activity in the cortex takes the form of large synchronized waves, whereas in the waking state it is noisy and desynchronized. Levels of the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and serotonin drop during slow wave sleep, and fall almost to zero during REM sleep; levels of acetylcholine show the reverse pattern.
qas: answers: REM sleep (with dreaming) and NREM
question: There are two types of sleep called what?

answers: REM sleep
question: What type of sleep involves dreaming?

answers: REM, light NREM and deep NREM
question: The three types of brain activity that can be measured are what?

answers: deep NREM sleep
question: Slow wave sleep is also known as what?

answers: slow wave sleep
question: During what stage of sleep do serotonin and norepinephrine levels drop?

context: For any animal, survival requires maintaining a variety of parameters of bodily state within a limited range of variation: these include temperature, water content, salt concentration in the bloodstream, blood glucose levels, blood oxygen level, and others. The ability of an animal to regulate the internal environment of its body—the milieu intérieur, as pioneering physiologist Claude Bernard called it—is known as homeostasis (Greek for "standing still"). Maintaining homeostasis is a crucial function of the brain. The basic principle that underlies homeostasis is negative feedback: any time a parameter diverges from its set-point, sensors generate an error signal that evokes a response that causes the parameter to shift back toward its optimum value. (This principle is widely used in engineering, for example in the control of temperature using a thermostat.)
qas: answers: The ability of an animal to regulate the internal environment of its body
question: Homeostasis is defined as what?

answers: "standing still"
question: Homeostasis is Greek for what phrase?

answers: Claude Bernard
question: The milieu interieur term was used by what physiologist?

answers: a thermostat.
question: Homeostasis is like what household tool?

context: In vertebrates, the part of the brain that plays the greatest role is the hypothalamus, a small region at the base of the forebrain whose size does not reflect its complexity or the importance of its function. The hypothalamus is a collection of small nuclei, most of which are involved in basic biological functions. Some of these functions relate to arousal or to social interactions such as sexuality, aggression, or maternal behaviors; but many of them relate to homeostasis. Several hypothalamic nuclei receive input from sensors located in the lining of blood vessels, conveying information about temperature, sodium level, glucose level, blood oxygen level, and other parameters. These hypothalamic nuclei send output signals to motor areas that can generate actions to rectify deficiencies. Some of the outputs also go to the pituitary gland, a tiny gland attached to the brain directly underneath the hypothalamus. The pituitary gland secretes hormones into the bloodstream, where they circulate throughout the body and induce changes in cellular activity.
qas: answers: the forebrain
question: The hypothalamus is located at the base of what?

answers: the hypothalamus,
question: In vertebrates, the most important part of the brain is what?

answers: the hypothalamus,
question: A collection of small nuclei at the base of the forebrain is called what?

answers: the pituitary gland
question: The gland directly underneath the hypothalamus is which gland?

answers: the bloodstream
question: The pituitary gland sends hormones through what in the body?

context: Most organisms studied to date utilize a reward–punishment mechanism: for instance, worms and insects can alter their behavior to seek food sources or to avoid dangers. In vertebrates, the reward-punishment system is implemented by a specific set of brain structures, at the heart of which lie the basal ganglia, a set of interconnected areas at the base of the forebrain. There is substantial evidence that the basal ganglia are the central site at which decisions are made: the basal ganglia exert a sustained inhibitory control over most of the motor systems in the brain; when this inhibition is released, a motor system is permitted to execute the action it is programmed to carry out. Rewards and punishments function by altering the relationship between the inputs that the basal ganglia receive and the decision-signals that are emitted. The reward mechanism is better understood than the punishment mechanism, because its role in drug abuse has caused it to be studied very intensively. Research has shown that the neurotransmitter dopamine plays a central role: addictive drugs such as cocaine, amphetamine, and nicotine either cause dopamine levels to rise or cause the effects of dopamine inside the brain to be enhanced.
qas: answers: basal ganglia
question: A set of interconnected areas at the base of the forebrain is called what?

answers: decisions
question: The basal ganglia is thought to be the central location at which what are made?

answers: dopamine
question: Which neurotransmitter plays a large role in drug abuse?

answers: The reward mechanism
question: Which of the two systems, reward or punishment is better understood?

context: Almost all animals are capable of modifying their behavior as a result of experience—even the most primitive types of worms. Because behavior is driven by brain activity, changes in behavior must somehow correspond to changes inside the brain. Theorists dating back to Santiago Ramón y Cajal argued that the most plausible explanation is that learning and memory are expressed as changes in the synaptic connections between neurons. Until 1970, however, experimental evidence to support the synaptic plasticity hypothesis was lacking. In 1971 Tim Bliss and Terje Lømo published a paper on a phenomenon now called long-term potentiation: the paper showed clear evidence of activity-induced synaptic changes that lasted for at least several days. Since then technical advances have made these sorts of experiments much easier to carry out, and thousands of studies have been made that have clarified the mechanism of synaptic change, and uncovered other types of activity-driven synaptic change in a variety of brain areas, including the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, basal ganglia, and cerebellum. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and physical activity appear to play a beneficial role in the process.
qas: answers: 1971
question: In what year did Tim Bliss and Terje Lomo publish a paper about long-term potentiation?

answers: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor
question: BDNF is an abbreviation for what term?

answers: Santiago Ramón y Cajal
question: Learning and memory expressed as changes in the synaptic connections was first theorized by whom?

context: The field of neuroscience encompasses all approaches that seek to understand the brain and the rest of the nervous system. Psychology seeks to understand mind and behavior, and neurology is the medical discipline that diagnoses and treats diseases of the nervous system. The brain is also the most important organ studied in psychiatry, the branch of medicine that works to study, prevent, and treat mental disorders. Cognitive science seeks to unify neuroscience and psychology with other fields that concern themselves with the brain, such as computer science (artificial intelligence and similar fields) and philosophy.
qas: answers: neuroscience
question: What field of science studies the brain and the central nervous system?

answers: Psychology
question: What scientific field tries to understand the mind and behavior?

answers: neurology
question: What field of science strives to diagnose and treat diseases of the nervous system?

answers: study, prevent, and treat mental disorders
question: Psychiatry is the branch of science that does what?

answers: neuroscience and psychology
question: Cognitive science seeks to join what two branches of science with other fields?

context: The oldest method of studying the brain is anatomical, and until the middle of the 20th century, much of the progress in neuroscience came from the development of better cell stains and better microscopes. Neuroanatomists study the large-scale structure of the brain as well as the microscopic structure of neurons and their components, especially synapses. Among other tools, they employ a plethora of stains that reveal neural structure, chemistry, and connectivity. In recent years, the development of immunostaining techniques has allowed investigation of neurons that express specific sets of genes. Also, functional neuroanatomy uses medical imaging techniques to correlate variations in human brain structure with differences in cognition or behavior.
qas: answers: anatomical,
question: The oldest known method of studying the brain is what?

answers: the large-scale structure of the brain
question: What do neuroanatomists study?

answers: neuroanatomy
question: What type of study uses medical imaging techniques to correlate changes in brain structure?

answers: the middle of the 20th century,
question: Until what century was brain studying mostly anatomical?

context: Neurophysiologists study the chemical, pharmacological, and electrical properties of the brain: their primary tools are drugs and recording devices. Thousands of experimentally developed drugs affect the nervous system, some in highly specific ways. Recordings of brain activity can be made using electrodes, either glued to the scalp as in EEG studies, or implanted inside the brains of animals for extracellular recordings, which can detect action potentials generated by individual neurons. Because the brain does not contain pain receptors, it is possible using these techniques to record brain activity from animals that are awake and behaving without causing distress. The same techniques have occasionally been used to study brain activity in human patients suffering from intractable epilepsy, in cases where there was a medical necessity to implant electrodes to localize the brain area responsible for epileptic seizures. Functional imaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging are also used to study brain activity; these techniques have mainly been used with human subjects, because they require a conscious subject to remain motionless for long periods of time, but they have the great advantage of being noninvasive.
qas: answers: the chemical, pharmacological, and electrical properties of the brain
question: What do neurophysiologists study?

answers: drugs and recording devices
question: The most common tools that neurophysiologists use are what?

answers: pain receptors
question: What type of receptors does the brain lack?

answers: the scalp
question: Electrodes are often glued to what like in EEG studies?

context: Another approach to brain function is to examine the consequences of damage to specific brain areas. Even though it is protected by the skull and meninges, surrounded by cerebrospinal fluid, and isolated from the bloodstream by the blood–brain barrier, the delicate nature of the brain makes it vulnerable to numerous diseases and several types of damage. In humans, the effects of strokes and other types of brain damage have been a key source of information about brain function. Because there is no ability to experimentally control the nature of the damage, however, this information is often difficult to interpret. In animal studies, most commonly involving rats, it is possible to use electrodes or locally injected chemicals to produce precise patterns of damage and then examine the consequences for behavior.
qas: answers: cerebrospinal fluid
question: The brain is surrounded by what type of fluid?

answers: the blood–brain barrier
question: The brain is separated from the bloodstream by what feature?

answers: the skull and meninges
question: The two main structures that protect the brain are what?

answers: strokes
question: What type of disease if often studied to understand damage to the brain?

answers: rats
question: What type of animal is most commonly used to study brain damage?

context: Computational neuroscience encompasses two approaches: first, the use of computers to study the brain; second, the study of how brains perform computation. On one hand, it is possible to write a computer program to simulate the operation of a group of neurons by making use of systems of equations that describe their electrochemical activity; such simulations are known as biologically realistic neural networks. On the other hand, it is possible to study algorithms for neural computation by simulating, or mathematically analyzing, the operations of simplified "units" that have some of the properties of neurons but abstract out much of their biological complexity. The computational functions of the brain are studied both by computer scientists and neuroscientists.
qas: answers: the use of computers to study the brain; second, the study of how brains perform computation.
question: Computational neuroscience is concerned with what two studies?

context: Recent years have seen increasing applications of genetic and genomic techniques to the study of the brain  and a focus on the roles of neurotrophic factors and physical activity in neuroplasticity. The most common subjects are mice, because of the availability of technical tools. It is now possible with relative ease to "knock out" or mutate a wide variety of genes, and then examine the effects on brain function. More sophisticated approaches are also being used: for example, using Cre-Lox recombination it is possible to activate or deactivate genes in specific parts of the brain, at specific times.
qas: answers: mice
question: What is the most common test subjects for studying of the brain?

context: The oldest brain to have been discovered was in Armenia in the Areni-1 cave complex. The brain, estimated to be over 5,000 years old, was found in the skull of a 12 to 14-year-old girl. Although the brains were shriveled, they were well preserved due to the climate found inside the cave.
qas: answers: Armenia
question: Where was the oldest brain that was found?

answers: over 5,000 years old
question: How old was the oldest brain discovered thought to be?

answers: 12 to 14-year-old
question: The oldest known brain discovered was found in how old of a person?

answers: girl
question: The oldest brain found in a cave was from what gender of human?

context: Early philosophers were divided as to whether the seat of the soul lies in the brain or heart. Aristotle favored the heart, and thought that the function of the brain was merely to cool the blood. Democritus, the inventor of the atomic theory of matter, argued for a three-part soul, with intellect in the head, emotion in the heart, and lust near the liver. Hippocrates, the "father of medicine", came down unequivocally in favor of the brain. In his treatise on epilepsy he wrote:
qas: answers: brain or heart.
question: The seal of the soul was debated to lie in what two organs of the body?

answers: the heart
question: Aristotle thought the soul lied in what organ?

answers: Democritus,
question: Who invented the atomic theory of matter?

answers: Hippocrates
question: The "father of medicine" is a name given to whom in history?

answers: Democritus
question: What philosopher in history argued for a three-part soul?

context: The Roman physician Galen also argued for the importance of the brain, and theorized in some depth about how it might work. Galen traced out the anatomical relationships among brain, nerves, and muscles, demonstrating that all muscles in the body are connected to the brain through a branching network of nerves. He postulated that nerves activate muscles mechanically by carrying a mysterious substance he called pneumata psychikon, usually translated as "animal spirits". Galen's ideas were widely known during the Middle Ages, but not much further progress came until the Renaissance, when detailed anatomical study resumed, combined with the theoretical speculations of René Descartes and those who followed him. Descartes, like Galen, thought of the nervous system in hydraulic terms. He believed that the highest cognitive functions are carried out by a non-physical res cogitans, but that the majority of behaviors of humans, and all behaviors of animals, could be explained mechanistically.
qas: answers: Roman
question: The physician Galen was from which country in history?

answers: the Renaissance
question: What period in history was anatomical  studies of nerves greatly increased?

answers: The Roman physician Galen
question: Who coined the term pneumata psychikon?

answers: animal spirits
question: Penumata psychikon is usually translated as what?

context: The first real progress toward a modern understanding of nervous function, though, came from the investigations of Luigi Galvani, who discovered that a shock of static electricity applied to an exposed nerve of a dead frog could cause its leg to contract. Since that time, each major advance in understanding has followed more or less directly from the development of a new technique of investigation. Until the early years of the 20th century, the most important advances were derived from new methods for staining cells. Particularly critical was the invention of the Golgi stain, which (when correctly used) stains only a small fraction of neurons, but stains them in their entirety, including cell body, dendrites, and axon. Without such a stain, brain tissue under a microscope appears as an impenetrable tangle of protoplasmic fibers, in which it is impossible to determine any structure. In the hands of Camillo Golgi, and especially of the Spanish neuroanatomist Santiago Ramón y Cajal, the new stain revealed hundreds of distinct types of neurons, each with its own unique dendritic structure and pattern of connectivity.
qas: answers: Luigi Galvani
question: Who found out that a shock of electricity to an exposed nerve of a dead frog caused contractions?

answers: the Golgi stain
question: The tool that was invented to stain only a small fractions of neurons was called what?

answers: Spanish
question: What nationality was santiago Ramon y Cajal?

context: In the first half of the 20th century, advances in electronics enabled investigation of the electrical properties of nerve cells, culminating in work by Alan Hodgkin, Andrew Huxley, and others on the biophysics of the action potential, and the work of Bernard Katz and others on the electrochemistry of the synapse. These studies complemented the anatomical picture with a conception of the brain as a dynamic entity. Reflecting the new understanding, in 1942 Charles Sherrington visualized the workings of the brain waking from sleep:
qas: answers: Alan Hodgkin, Andrew Huxley
question: Work in the first half the 20th century in electrical properties of nerve cells were by what two main scientists?

context: In the second half of the 20th century, developments in chemistry, electron microscopy, genetics, computer science, functional brain imaging, and other fields progressively opened new windows into brain structure and function. In the United States, the 1990s were officially designated as the "Decade of the Brain" to commemorate advances made in brain research, and to promote funding for such research.
qas: answers: the 1990s
question: Which decade in history was officially called the "Decade of the Brain"?

context: In the 21st century, these trends have continued, and several new approaches have come into prominence, including multielectrode recording, which allows the activity of many brain cells to be recorded all at the same time; genetic engineering, which allows molecular components of the brain to be altered experimentally; genomics, which allows variations in brain structure to be correlated with variations in DNA properties and neuroimaging.
qas: answers: the activity of many brain cells to be recorded all at the same time;
question: Multielectrode recording allows what?

answers: molecular components of the brain to be altered experimentally;
question: Genetic engineering allows what?

answers: variations in brain structure to be correlated with variations in DNA properties and neuroimaging.
question: What does genomics allow the study of?

answers: the 21st century,
question: During what century was multielectrode recording invented?

answers: the 21st century,
question: Genetic engineering was first discovered in what century?