Introduction To Psychology - 8Th Edition - Rod Plotnik - Chapter 4

Front 1

adrenal glands

Back 1

The adrenal cortex (outside part) secretes hormones that regulate sugar and salt balances and help the body resist stress; they are also responsible for growth of pubic hair, a secondary sexual characteristic. The adrenal medulla (inside part) secretes two hormones that arouse the body to deal with stress and emergencies: epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline).

Front 2

amygdala

Back 2

located in the tip of the temporal lobe, receives input from all the senses. It plays a major role in evaluating the emotional significance of stimuli and facial expressions, especially those involving fear, distress, or threat.

Front 3

anencephaly

Back 3

the condition of being born with little or no brain. If some brain or nervous tissue is present, it is totally exposed and often damaged because the top of the skull is missing. Survival is usually limited to days; the longest has been two months.

Front 4

anterior pituitary

Back 4

The front part of the pituitary regulates growth through secretion of growth hormone and produces hormones that control the adrenal cortex, pancreas, thyroid, and gonads.

Front 5

auditory association area

Back 5

receives meaningless auditory sensations in the form of neural impulses from the neighboring primary auditory cortex. The auditory association area combines meaningless auditory sensations into perceptions, which are meaningful melodies, songs, words, or sentences.

Front 6

autonomic nervous system

Back 6

regulates heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, digestion, hormone secretion, and other functions. The autonomic nervous system usually functions without conscious effort, which means that only a few of its responses, such as breathing, can also be controlled voluntarily

Front 7

Broca's aphasia

Back 7

a person cannot speak in fluent sentences but can understand written and spoken words.

Front 8

Broca's area

Back 8

usually located in the left frontal lobe, is necessary for combining sounds into words and arranging words into meaningful sentences. Damage to this area results

Front 9

central nervous system

Back 9

made up of the brain and spinal cord. From the bottom of the brain emerges the spinal cord, which is made up of neurons and bundles of axons and dendrites that carry information back and forth between the brain and the body.

Front 10

cerebellum

Back 10

is located at the very back and underneath the brain, is involved in coordinating motor movements but not in initiating voluntary movements. The cerebellum is also involved in performing timed motor responses, such as those needed in playing games or sports, and in automatic or reflexive learning, such as blinking the eye to a signal, which is called classical conditioning (discussed in Module 9) (Hazeltine & Ivry, 2002; Spencer et al., 2003).

Front 11

chromosome

Back 11

a short, rod like, microscopic structure that contains tightly coiled strands of the chemical DNA, which is an abbreviation for deoxyribonucleic (dee-ox-ee-RYE-bownew-CLEE-ick) acid. Each cell of the human body (except for the sperm and egg) contains 46 chromosomes arranged in 23 pairs.

Front 12

cortex

Back 12

a thin layer of cells that essentially covers the entire surface of the forebrain. The vast majority of our neurons are located in the cortex, which folds over on itself so that it forms a large surface area.

Front 13

endocrine system

Back 13

made up of numerous glands that are located throughout the body.

Front 14

fight-flight response

Back 14

(a) directs great resources of energy to the muscles and the brain, (b) can be triggered by either physical stimuli that threaten our survival or psychological situations that are novel, threatening, or challenging, and (c) involves numerous physiological responses that arouse and prepare the body for action—fight or flight.

Front 15

fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging)

Back 15

“f ” in fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) stands for functional and measures the activity of specific neurons that are functioning during cognitive tasks, such as thinking, listening, or reading.

Front 16

forebrain

Back 16

the largest part of the brain, has right and left sides that are called hemispheres. The hemispheres, connected by a wide band of fibers, are responsible for an incredible number of functions, including learning and memory, speaking and language, having emotional responses, experiencing sensations, initiating voluntary movements, planning, and making decisions.

Front 17

Fragile X syndrome

Back 17

inherited developmental disability, is due to a defect in the X chromosome. It can result in physical changes, such as a relatively large head with protruding ears, as well as mild to profound mental retardation.

Front 18

frontal lobe

Back 18

located in the front part of the brain, includes a huge area of cortex. The frontal lobe is involved in many functions: performing voluntary motor movements, interpreting and performing emotional behaviors, behaving normally in social situations, maintaining a healthy personality, paying attention to things in the environment, making decisions, and executing plans. Because the frontal lobe is involved in making decisions, planning, reasoning, and carrying out behaviors, it is said to have executive functions, much like the duties of a company’s executive officer.

Front 19

frontal lobotomy

Back 19

a surgical procedure in which about one-third of the front part of the frontal lobe was cut away from the rest of the brain.

Front 20

genes

Back 20

chains of chemicals arranged like rungs on a twisting ladder. There are about 20,000–25,000 genes that contain chemical instructions equal to about 300,000 pages of typed instructions (IHGSC, 2004). The chemical instructions in the genes program the development of millions of individual parts into a complex body and brain.

Front 21

gonads

Back 21

In females, the ovaries produce hormones that regulate sexual development, ovulation, and growth of sex organs. In males, the testes produce hormones that regulate sexual development, production of sperm, and growth of sex organs.

Front 22

hippocampus

Back 22

a curved structure inside the temporal lobe, is involved in saving many kinds of fleeting memories by putting them into permanent storage in various parts of the brain.

Front 23

homeostasis

Back 23

the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems work together to keep the body’s level of arousal in balance for optimum functioning.

Front 24

endocrine system

Back 24

Is made up of numerous glands that are located throughout the body. These glands secrete various chemicals, called hormones, that affect organs, muscles, and other glands in the body.

Front 25

hypothalamus

Back 25

regulates many motivational behaviors, including eating, drinking, and sexual responses; emotional behaviors, such as arousing the body when fighting or fleeing; and the secretion of hormones, such as occurs at puberty. The hypothalamus is located in the lower middle part of the brain, controls much of the endocrine system by regulating the pituitary gland, which is located directly below and outside the brain. The hypothalamus is often called the control center of the endocrine system.

Front 26

limbic system

Back 26

a group of about half a dozen interconnected structures that make up the core of the forebrain. The limbic system’s structures are involved with regulating many motivational behaviors such as obtaining food, drink, and sex; with organizing emotional behaviors such as fear, anger, and aggression; and with storing memories.

Front 27

lobes

Back 27

The cortex is divided into four separate areas, or lobes, each with different functions: the frontal lobe is involved with personality, emotions, and motor behaviors; the parietal lobe is involved with perception and sensory experiences; the occipital lobe is involved with processing visual information; and the temporal lobe is involved with hearing and speaking.

Front 28

medulla

Back 28

is located at the top of the spinal cord, includes a group of cells that control vital reflexes, such as respiration, heart rate, and blood pressure.

Front 29

midbrain

Back 29

a reward or pleasure center, which is stimulated by food, sex, money, music, attractive faces, and some drugs (cocaine); has areas for visual and auditory reflexes, such as automatically turning your head toward a noise; and contains the reticular formation, which arouses the forebrain so that it is ready to process information from the senses (Holroyd & Coles, 2002).

Front 30

motor cortex

Back 30

a narrow strip of cortex that is located on the back edge of the frontal lobe and extends down its side. The motor cortex is involved in the initiation of all voluntary movements. The right motor cortex controls muscles on the left side of the body and vice versa.

Front 31

MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging

Back 31

passing nonharmful radio frequencies through the brain. A computer measures how these signals interact with brain cells and transforms this interaction into an incredibly detailed image of the brain (or body). MRIs are used to study the structure of the brain.

Front 32

neglect syndrome

Back 32

failure of a patient to see objects or parts of the body on the side opposite the brain damage. Patients may dress only one side of their body and deny that opposite body parts are theirs (“that’s not my leg”).

Front 33

occipital lobe

Back 33

located at the very back of the brain and is involved in processing visual information, which includes seeing colors and perceiving and recognizing objects, animals, and people.

Front 34

pancreas

Back 34

This organ regulates the level of sugar in the bloodstream by secreting insulin.

Front 35

parasympathetic division

Back 35

the other part of the autonomic nervous system, decreases physiological arousal and helps return the body to a calmer, more relaxed state. It also stimulates digestion during eating.

Front 36

parietal lobe

Back 36

involved with perception and sensory experiences, which includes the functions of the somatosensory cortex, and alseo carrying out several cognitive functions such as attending to and perceiving objects.

Front 37

peripheral nervous system

Back 37

all the nerves that extend from the spinal cord and carry messages to and from various muscles, glands, and sense organs located throughout the body.

Front 38

PET scan, or positron emission tomography

Back 38

injecting a slightly radioactive solution into the blood and then measuring the amount of radiation absorbed by brain cells called neurons. Very active neurons absorb more radioactive solution than less active ones. Different levels of absorption are represented by colors—red and yellow indicate maximum activity of neurons, while blue and green indicate minimal activity.

Front 39

pituitary gland

Back 39

a key component of the endocrine system, hangs directly below the hypothalamus, to which it is connected by a narrow stalk. The pituitary gland is divided into anterior (front) and posterior (back) sections.

Front 40

pons

Back 40

functions as a bridge to transmit messages between the spinal cord and brain. The pons also makes the chemicals involved in sleep (Purves et al., 2004).

Front 41

posterior pituitary

Back 41

The rear portion of the pituitary regulates water and salt balance.

Front 42

primary auditory cortex

Back 42

located on the top edge of each temporal lobe, receives electrical signals from receptors in the ears and transforms these signals into meaningless sound sensations, such as vowels and consonants.

Front 43

primary visual cortex

Back 43

located at the very back of the occipital lobe, receives electrical signals from receptors in the eyes and transforms these signals into meaningless basic visual sensations, such as lights, lines, shadows, colors, and textures.

Front 44

sex, or gender, differences

Back 44

structural or functional differences in cognitive, behavioral, or brain processes that arise from being a male or a female.

Front 45

somatic nervous system

Back 45

a network of nerves that connect either to sensory receptors or to muscles that you can move voluntarily, such as muscles in your limbs, back, neck, and chest. Nerves in the somatic nervous system usually contain two kinds of fibers. Afferent, or sensory, fibers carry information from sensory receptors in the skin, muscles, and other organs to the spinal cord and brain. Efferent, or motor, fibers carry information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles.

Front 46

somatosensory cortex

Back 46

a narrow strip of cortex that is located on the front edge of the parietal lobe and extends down its side. The somatosensory cortex processes sensory information about touch, location of limbs, pain, and temperature. The right somatosensory cortex receives information from the left side of the body and vice versa.

Front 47

split-brain operation

Back 47

involves cutting the wide band of fibers, called the corpus callosum, that connects the right and left hemispheres. The corpus callosum has 200 million nerve fibers that allow information to pass back and forth between the hemispheres.

Front 48

sympathetic division

Back 48

part of the autonomic nervous system, is triggered by threatening or challenging physical stimuli, such as a snake, or by psychological stimuli, such as the thought of having to give a public speech. Once triggered, the sympathetic division increases the body’s physiological arousal to prepare the body for action.

Front 49

termporal lobe

Back 49

located directly below the parietal lobe and is involved in hearing, speaking coherently, and understanding verbal and written material.

Front 50

thalamus

Back 50

involved in receiving sensory information, doing some initial processing, and then relaying the sensory information to areas of the cortex, including the somatosensory cortex, primary auditory cortex, and primary visual cortex.

Front 51

theory of evolution

Back 51

different species arose from a common ancestor and that those species that survived were best adapted to meet the demands of their environment.

Front 52

thyroid

Back 52

This gland, which is located in the neck, regulates metabolism through secretion of hormones.

Front 53

visual agnosia

Back 53

the individual fails to recognize some object, person, or color, yet has the ability to see and even describe pieces or parts of some visual stimulus.

Front 54

visual association area

Back 54

located next to the primary visual cortex, transforms basic sensations, such as lights, lines, colors, and textures, into complete, meaningful visual perceptions, such as persons, objects, or animals.

Front 55

Wernicke's aphasia

Back 55

a difficulty in understanding spoken or written words and a difficulty in putting words into meaningful sentences.

Front 56

Wernicke's area

Back 56

usually located in the left temporal lobe, is necessary for speaking in coherent sentences and for understanding speech.

Front 57

zygote

Back 57

a cell that results when an egg is fertilized. A zygote contains 46 chromosomes arranged in 23 pairs.