romikgosai/squad_modified_2 huggingface dataset:
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.

Q1: A growth cone of an axon is made up of a blob of what?
A1: protoplasm
Q2: What two structures does a neuron extend when it is in place during development?
A2: dendrites and an axon
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.

Q1: The infant brain contains more of what type of cells in the brain than the adult brain?
A1: neurons
Q2: The olfactory bulb is related to what sense?
A2: sense of smell
Q3: What area of the hippocampus plays a role in storing new memories?
A3: dentate gyrus of the hippocampus
Q4: Which type of cells in the brain are generated throughout your lifetime?
A4: Glial cells
Q5: Neurogenesis is the process of what?
A5: neurons continue to be generated throughout life
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.

Q1: The electrical properties of neurons are controlled by what?
A1: neurotransmitters and receptors that take place at synapses
Q2: What type of signals do neurons transfer from one another?
A2: electrochemical
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.

Q1: Chemicals called neurotransmitters are released at what part of the brain?
A1: synapses
Q2: What do neurotransmitters attach to?
A2: receptor molecules on the membrane of the synapse's target cell
Q3: Neurons that release the same chemicals are following what rule?
A3: Dale's principle
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.

Q1: GABA is the abbreviation for what?
A1: gamma-aminobutyric acid
Q2: Which of two neurotransmitters is usually inhibitory?
A2: gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)
Q3: The neurostransmitter that usually excites targets is called what?
A3: glutamate,
Q4: Tranquilizers affect which of the two common neurotransmitters?
A4: gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)
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.

Q1: Serotonin comes from what part of the brain?
A1: Raphe nuclei
Q2: Antidepressants typically affect what chemical of the brain?
A2: Serotonin
Q3: Which chemical of the brain is involved with arousal?
A3: Norepinephrine
Q4: Norepinephrine comes from an area of the brain known as what?
A4: locus coeruleus
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.

Q1: An EEG of the brain stands for what?
A1: electroencephalography
Q2: MEG of the brain is an abbreviation of what?
A2: magnetoencephalography
Q3: What type of test is used to tell that a brain is active even during sleep?
A3: EEG
Q4: What type of brain waves are seen in mammals during sleep?
A4: large slow delta waves
Q5: What type of brain waves are sen when a creature is awake, but inattentive?
A5: faster alpha waves
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.

Q1: What type of cells have a huge role in brain metabolism?
A1: Glial cells
Q2: Glial cells control what inside the brain?
A2: chemical composition of the fluid that surrounds neurons
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.

Q1: Where does the brain usually get most of its energy from inside the body?
A1: glucose (i.e., blood sugar
Q2: The energy used for metabolism of the brain in humans is what percentage?
A2: 20–25%
Q3: Other sources than glucose that provide energy to the brain are what?
A3: ketones
Q4: Most vertebrates usually devote how much metabolism to the brain?
A4: 2% and 8%
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.

Q1: The function of the brain from an evolutionary-biological thought is what?
A1: provide coherent control over the actions of an animal
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.

Q1: Computers were invented in what decade in history?
A1: 1940s
Q2: Neuroscience spawned from what field of science in history?
A2: cybernetics
Q3: Who wrote the book, The Computer and the Brain?
A3: John von Neumann's
Q4: When was John von Neumann's book, The Computer and the Brain published?
A4: 1958
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.

Q1: The scientific paper, What the frog's eye tells the frog's brain was released in what year?
A1: 1959
Q2: Who won a Nobel Prize for the discovery that cells in the visual cortex of monkeys become active when sharp edges move?
A2: David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel
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.

Q1: What is the project called that is trying to build a realistic, detailed computer model of the human brain?
A1: the Human Brain Project
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.

Q1: What type of animal has a sense that adapted into sonar?
A1: bats
Q2: What type of animal uses infrared heat to sense?
A2: snakes
Q3: The group of animals that can detect magnetic fields is what?
A3: birds
Q4: The group of creatures that can sense electric fields is what?
A4: fish
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.

Q1: Light-receptive neurons are located in what part of the eye?
A1: retina
Q2: Vibration-sensitive neurons are found in what part of the ear?
A2: cochlea
Q3: Signals are sent from the thalamus to what part of the brain?
A3: cerebral cortex
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.

Q1: What part of the body is controlled by nuclei in the midbrain?
A1: the eye,
Q2: All the muscles controlled by motor neurons in the body are controlled by what?
A2: spinal cord and hindbrain
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.

Q1: Which motor areas of the brain control breathing and swallowing?
A1: the medulla and pons,
Q2: At the lowest level of the brain and spinal cord, are what areas?
A2: the medulla and pons
Q3: The red nucleus controls what part(s) of the body?
A3: coordinating movements of the arms and legs
Q4: A strip of tissue found at the edge of the frontal lobe is called what?
A4: primary motor cortex
Q5: The primary motor cortex sends signals to the spinal cord through what?
A5: pyramidal tract.
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.

Q1: The brain and spinal cord work together to control what system of the body?
A1: autonomic nervous system
Q2: What system in the body controls heart rate?
A2: autonomic nervous system
Q3: What system in the body controls salivation?
A3: autonomic nervous system
Q4: Most of the processes of the autonomic nervous system are called what?
A4: not under direct voluntary control
Q5: Which system in the body controls urination?
A5: The autonomic nervous system
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.

Q1: The SCN of the nervous system is an abbreviation for what?
A1: suprachiasmatic nucleus
Q2: The suprachiasmatic nucleus is a small part of what part of the brain?
A2: the hypothalamus
Q3: Which part of the arousal system controls the body's biological clock?
A3: the suprachiasmatic nucleus
Q4: The RHT is an abbreviation for what?
A4: retinohypothalamic tract
Q5: THE SCN receives information from the optic nerves through what?
A5: the retinohypothalamic tract (RHT
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.

Q1: A group of neuron-clusters scattered in the core of the lower brain is called what?
A1: the reticular formation
Q2: Reticular neurons transfer signals to what part of the brain?
A2: the thalamus
Q3: Damage to the reticular formation can cause what?
A3: state of coma
Q4: The SCN transfers signals to a set of areas that implement what?
A4: sleep-wake cycles.
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.

Q1: There are two types of sleep called what?
A1: REM sleep (with dreaming) and NREM
Q2: What type of sleep involves dreaming?
A2: REM sleep
Q3: The three types of brain activity that can be measured are what?
A3: REM, light NREM and deep NREM
Q4: Slow wave sleep is also known as what?
A4: deep NREM sleep
Q5: During what stage of sleep do serotonin and norepinephrine levels drop?
A5: slow wave sleep
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.)

Q1: Homeostasis is defined as what?
A1: The ability of an animal to regulate the internal environment of its body
Q2: Homeostasis is Greek for what phrase?
A2: "standing still"
Q3: The milieu interieur term was used by what physiologist?
A3: Claude Bernard
Q4: Homeostasis is like what household tool?
A4: a thermostat.