! Psychology- Chapter 2

Front 1

biological psychology

Back 1

a branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior

Front 2

neuron

Back 2

a nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system

Front 3

dendrite

Back 3

the bushy, branching extensions of a neruon that receive mesages and conduct impulses toward the cell body

Front 4

axon

Back 4

the extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands.

Front 5

myelin sheath

Back 5

a layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses as the impulse hops from one node to the next

Front 6

action potential

Back 6

a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon. The action potenial is generated by the movement of positively charged atoms in and out of channels in the axon's membrane.

Front 7

cell body

Back 7

the cell's life, support center

Front 8

neural impulse

Back 8

electrical signal traveling down the axon

Front 9

threshold

Back 9

the level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse

Front 10

synapse

Back 10

the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron.

Front 11

synaptic gap/cleft

Back 11

gap at the synapse

Front 12

neurotransmitters

Back 12

chemical messengers that traverse the synaptic gaps between neurons. When released by the sending neuron, neurotransmitters travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether that neuron will generate a neural impulse

Front 13

Acetylcholine, ACh

Back 13

triggers muscle contraction (black widow), learning, and memory/ undersupply marks Alzheimer's disease

Front 14

Dopamine

Back 14

influences movement, leaning, attention, and emotion/ excess receptor activity is linked with schizophrenia; low amounts causes tremors and Parkinson's disease

Front 15

Serotonin

Back 15

affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal/ undersupply linked to depression; Prozac and other antid. drugs raise serotonin levels

Front 16

Norepinephrine

Back 16

helps control alertness and arousal/ undersupply can supress mood

Front 17

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)

Back 17

a major inhibitory neurotransmitter/ undersupply linked to seizures, tremors, and insomnia (anxiety)

Front 18

Glutamate

Back 18

a major excitatory neurotransmitter; involved in memory/ oversupply overstimulates brain, producing migranes or seizers, which is why some people avoid MSG

Front 19

endorphines

Back 19

"morphine within"- natural, opiatelike neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure

Front 20

nervous system

Back 20

the body's speedy electrochemical communication system, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems.

Front 21

central nervous system (CNS)

Back 21

the brain and spinal cord

Front 22

peripheral nervus system (PNS)

Back 22

the sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system to the rest of the body

Front 23

nerves

Back 23

neural "cables" containing many axons. These bundled axons, which are part of the peripheral nervous system, conect the central nervous system with muscles, glands, and sense organs.

Front 24

sensory neurons

Back 24

neurons that carry incoming information from the sense receptors to the central nervous system.

Front 25

interneurons

Back 25

central nervous system neurons that internally communicate and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs.

Front 26

motor neurons

Back 26

neurons that carry outgoing information from the central nervous system to the muscles and glands

Front 27

somatic nervous system

Back 27

the division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body's skeletal muscles. Also called the skeletal nervous system.

Front 28

autonomic nervous system

Back 28

the part of the peripheral nervous system that controls teh glands and the muscles of the interal organs such as the heart. Its sympathetic system aroundes, its parasympathetic system calms.

Front 29

sympathetic nervous system

Back 29

the division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations.

Front 30

parasympathetic nervous system

Back 30

the division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy

Front 31

reflex

Back 31

a simple, autmatic, inborn response to a sensory stimulus, such as the knee-jerk response

Front 32

neural networks

Back 32

interconnected neural cells. With experience, networks can learn, as feedback strengthens or inhibits connections that produce certain results. Computer simulations of this show analogous learning.

Front 33

lesion

Back 33

tissue destruction. A brain ____ is a naturally or experimentally caused destruction of brain tissue.

Front 34

electroencephalogram (EEG)

Back 34

an amplified recording of te waves of electrical activity that sweep across the brain's surface. These waves are measured by electrodes placed on the scalp.

Front 35

CT (computed tomography) scan

Back 35

a series of x-ray photographs taken from different angles and combined by computer into a composite representation of a slice through the body. Also called a CAT scan.

Front 36

PET (positron emission tomography) scan

Back 36

a visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task.

Front 37

MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)

Back 37

a technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer-generated imagesthat distinguish among different tpes of soft tissue; allows us to see structures within the brain.

Front 38

brainstem

Back 38

the oldest part and central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull; the brainstem is responsible for autonomic survival functions

Front 39

medulla

Back 39

the base of the brainstem; controls heartbeat and breathing.

Front 40

reticular formation

Back 40

a nerve network in the brainstem that plays an important role in controlling arousal

Front 41

thalamus

Back 41

the brain's sensory switchboard, located on top of the brainstem; it directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla.

Front 42

cerebellum

Back 42

the "little brain" attached to the rear of the brainstem; it helps coordinate voluntary movement and balance.

Front 43

limbic system

Back 43

a doughnut-shaped system of neural structures at the border of the brainstem and cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions such as fear and agression and drives such as those for food and sex. Includes the hippocampus, amygdala, and hypothalamus.

Front 44

amygdala

Back 44

two almond-shaped neural clusters that are components of the limbic system and are linked to emotion.

Front 45

hypothalamus

Back 45

a neural structure lying below the thalamus; it directs several maintenence activities (eating, drinking, body temperature), helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland, and is linked to emotion.

Front 46

cerebral cortex

Back 46

the intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells that covers the cerebral hemispheres; the body's ultimate control and information-processing center.

Front 47

glial cells

Back 47

cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons.

Front 48

frontal lobes

Back 48

the portion of the cerebal cortex lying just behind the forehead; involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgements.

Front 49

parietal lobes

Back 49

the portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the top of the head and toward the rear; includes the sensory cortex.

Front 50

occipital lobes

Back 50

the portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the back of the head; includes the visual areas, which receive visual information from the opposite visual field.

Front 51

temporal lobes

Back 51

the portion of the cerebral cortex lying roughly above the ears; includes the auditory areas, each of which receives auditory information primarily from the opposite ear.

Front 52

motor cortex

Back 52

an area at the rear of the frontal loves that controls voluntary movements

Front 53

sensory cortex

Back 53

the area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body sensations.

Front 54

association areas

Back 54

areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions; rather, they are involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking.

Front 55

aphasia

Back 55

impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding).

Front 56

Broca's area

Back 56

controls language expression, an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech.

Front 57

Wernicke's area

Back 57

controls language reception- a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe.

Front 58

plasticity

Back 58

the brain's capacity for modification, as evident in brain reorganization following damage (especially in children) and in experiments on the effects of experience on brain development.

Front 59

corpus callosum

Back 59

the large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them.

Front 60

split brain

Back 60

a condition in which the two hemispheres of the brain are isolated by cutting the connecting fibers (mainly those of the corpus callosum) between them.

Front 61

endocrine system

Back 61

the body's "slow" chemical comunication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream.

Front 62

hormones

Back 62

chemical messengers, mostly those manufactured by the endocrine glands, that are produced in one tissue and affect another.

Front 63

adrenal glands

Back 63

a pair of endocrine glands just above the kidneys. The adrenals secrete the hormones epinephrene (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline), which help to arouse the body in times of stress.

Front 64

pituitary gland

Back 64

the endocrine system's most infuential gland. Under the influence of the hypothalamus, the pituitary regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands.

Front 65

hypothalamus- hormonal

Back 65

brain region controlling the pituitary gland

Front 66

thyroid gland

Back 66

affects metabolism, among other things

Front 67

parathyroids

Back 67

help regulate the level of calcium in the blood

Front 68

pancreas

Back 68

reguates the level of sugar in the blood

Front 69

testis

Back 69

secretes male sex hormones

Front 70

ovary

Back 70

secretes female sex hormones