Dr. Fraser Ch. 3 Psych Terms 1/3

Front 1

Biological Psychology

Back 1

The psychology specialty that researches physical and chemical changes that cause and occur in response to behavior and mental processes.

Front 2

nervous system

Back 2

A complex combination of cells whose primary function is to allow an organism to gain information about what is going on inside and outside the body and to respond appropriately.

Front 3

neurons

Back 3

The fundamental unit of the nervous system; nerve cells. Neurons have the ability to communicate with one another.

Front 4

glial cells

Back 4

Cells in the nervous system that hold neurons together and help them communicate with one another.

Front 5

axons

Back 5

The fibers that carry signals from the body of a neuron out to where communication can occur with other neurons. Each neuron generally has only one axon leaving the cell body but that one axon may have many branches.

Front 6

dendrites

Back 6

In a neuron, the fibers that receive signals from other axons and carry that signal to the cell body. A neuron can up to several hundred dendrites.

Front 7

synapse

Back 7

The tiny gap between neurons across which the neurons communicate.

Front 8

ions

Back 8

Molecules that carry positive or negative charge.

Front 9

action potential

Back 9

An impulse that travels down the axon when a neuron becomes depolarized and sodium rushes into the cell. This kind of nerve communication is all or none: the cell either fires at full strength or does not fire at all.

Front 10

myelin

Back 10

A fatty substance that wraps around some neurons and increases the speed of the action potential.

Front 11

Refractory period

Back 11

A short rest period between action potentials; it is so short that a neuron can send action potentials down the axon at rates of up to one thousand per second.

Front 12

neurotransmitters

Back 12

Chemicals that assist in the transfer of signals the axon of one nueron (presynaptic cell) across the synapse to the receptors on the dendrites of another neuron (postsynaptic cell)

Front 13

receptors

Back 13

1. Sites on the surface of the postsynaptic cell that allow only one type of neurotransmitter to fit into them and thus trigger the chemical responses that may lead to an action potential.
2. Cells that are specialized to detect a certain type of energy and convert it into neural activity. This conversion process is called transduction.

Front 14

postsynaptic potential

Back 14

The change in the membrane potential of a neuron that has received stimulation from another neuron.

Front 15

EPSP

Back 15

A postsynaptic potential that depolarzies the neuronal membranes, bringing the cell closer to the threshold for firing an action potential.

Front 16

IPSP

Back 16

A postsynaptic potential that hyperpolarizes the neuronal membrane, taking the cell farther from the threshold of firing an action potential.

Front 17

Neural networks

Back 17

Neurons that operate together to perform complex functions. Neuroscientists involved in artificial intelligence research are seeking to duplicate these netwoks on high-speed computers.

Front 18

sensory sytems

Back 18

The parts of the nervous system that provide information about te environment; the senses.

Front 19

motor systems

Back 19

The parts of the nervous sytem that influence muscles and other organs to respond to the environment in some way.

Front 20

Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)

Back 20

All of the nervous system that is not housed in bone. It has two main subsystems: the somatic and autonomic nervous systems.

Front 21

Central Nervous System (CNS)

Back 21

The part of the nervous system encased in bone, including the brain and spinal cord, whose primary function is to process information provided by the sensory systems and decide on an apporpriate course of action for the motor systems.

Front 22

Somatic Nervous System

Back 22

The subsystem of the peripheral nervous system that transmists information from the CNS to the muscles that move the skeleton.

Front 23

Auntonomic Nervous System

Back 23

A subsystem of the peripheral nervous system that carries messages between the central nervous system and the heart, lungs, and other organs and glands in the body. The ANS regulates the activity of these organs and glands to meet varying demands placed upon the body and also provides information to the brain about that activity.

Front 24

Nuclei

Back 24

Collection of nerve cell bodies in the central nervous system.

Front 25

Fiber tracts

Back 25

Axons that travel together in bundles. Also known as pathways.