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42 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Localization of Function |
- the idea that various brain regions have particular functions |
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Biological Perspective |
- concerned with links between biology and behavior - psychologists working in neuroscience, behavior genetics, and evolutionary psychology |
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Neurons |
- a nerve cell - basic building block of the nervous system - consist of: cell body, dendrites, axon |
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Dendrite |
- a neuron's bushy, branching extensions that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body |
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Axon |
- the neuron extension that passes messages through its branches to other neurons or to muscles or glands - selectively permeable |
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Myelin Sheath |
- a fatty tissue layer segmentally encasing the axons of some neurons - enables vastly greater transmission speed as neural impulses hop from one node to the next |
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Action Potential |
- a neural impulse - a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon |
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Threshold |
- the level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse |
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Dendrites --> Axon --> Terminal Branches |
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Synapse |
- the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron - tiny gap at this junction is called the synaptic gap/cleft |
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Neurotransmitter |
- chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neuron - when released by the sending neuron, they travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron --> generates neural impulse |
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Reuptake |
- the neurotransmitter's reabsorption by the sending neuron |
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Acetylcholine (ACh) |
- enables muscle actions, learning, and memory - Disease: Alzheimer's disease (deteriorating neurons) |
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Dopamine |
- influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion - oversupply linked to schizophernia - undersupply linked to tremors and decreased mobility in Parkinsons isease |
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Serotonin |
- affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal - undersupply -> depression |
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Norepinephrine |
- helps control alertness and arousal - Undersupply --> depress mood |
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GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) |
- a major inhibitory neurotransmitter - undersupply--> seizures, tremors, and insomnia |
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Glutamate |
- a major excitatory neurotransmitter - involved with memory - Oversupply --> overstimlate brain --> migraines/seizures - inside MSG |
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Endorphins |
- "morphine within" - natural, opiate-like neurotransmitter linked to pain control and to pleasure |
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Antagonists |
- bind to receptors and block a neurotramistter's functioning Botulin |
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Nervous System |
- the body's speedy, electochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems |
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Central Nervous System (CNS) |
- the brain and the spinal cord |
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Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) |
- the sensory and motor neurons that connect the CNS to the rest of the body - 2 parts: Autonomic + Somatic |
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Nerves |
- electrical cables formed of bundles of axons that connect the CNS with muscles, glands, and sense organs |
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Sensory Neurons |
- neurons that carry incoming information from the sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord |
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Motor Neurons |
- neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands |
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Interneurons |
- neurons within the brain and spinal cord that communicate internally and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs |
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Somatic Nervous System |
- the division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body' s skeletal muscles - skeletal nervous system |
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Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) |
- the part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs - its sympathetic division arouses (stress) - parasympathetic division calms (at rest) |
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Sympathetic Nervous System |
- the division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations |
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Parasympathetic Nervous System |
- the division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body (conserves energy) |
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Reflex |
- a simple, automatic response to a sensory stimuluts |
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Endocrine System |
- the body's "slow" chemical communication system - a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream |
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Hormones |
- chemical messengers that are manufactured by the endocrine glands, travel through the bloodstream and affect other tissue |
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Adrenal Glands |
- a pair of endocrine glands that sit just above the kidneys and secrete hormones that help arouse the body in times of stress |
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Pituitary Gland |
- the endocrine system's most influential gland - under influence of hypothalamus --> regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands |
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Why are psychologist concerned with human biology? |
- creates a system and explaination on how some actions occur |
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What are neurons and how do they transmit information? |
- basic cells of the brain and nervous system; electrical pulses |
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How do nerve cells communicate with other nerve cells? |
- electrical impulses sent through the dendrite, axon and outer branches then synapses between other nerve cells |
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How do neurotransmitters influence behavior and how do drugs and other chemical affect neurotransmitters? |
- control certain reactions and emotions - drugs are drugs ( too lazy to answer this) |
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What are the functions of the nervous system's main divisions, and what are the three main types of neurons? |
- CNS ( brain and spine) and PNS ( connects CNS to the rest of the body --> relfex reactions) - motor neurons, interneurons, sensory neurons |
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How does the endocrine system transmit information and interact with the nervous system? |
- the endocrine system secretes hormones that affect other tissues, which produces molecules that act of receptors |