Psychology Chapter 2 - Neuroscience - Terms

Front 1

Neurons

Back 1

Cells that transmit information within the nervous system.

Front 2

Glial Cells (glia)

Back 2

Cells in the nervous system that comprise the support system for the neurons.

Front 3

Dendrites

Back 3

Fibers projecting out tof the cell body of a neuron whose function is to receive information from other neurons.

Front 4

Cell Body

Back 4

The part of the neuron that contains its nuclus and the other biological machinery to keep the cell alive an that decides whether or not to generate a neural impulse in order to pass incoming information on to other neurons.

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Axon

Back 5

The long, singular fiber projecting out of the cell body of a neruron whose function is to conduct the neursal impoulse from the cell body to tha axon terminals triggering chemical communication with other neurons.

Front 6

Myelin Sheath

Back 6

An insulating layer covering an axon that allows for faster neural impulses.

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Neurotransmitter

Back 7

A naturally occurring chemical in the nervous system that specializes in transmitting information between neursons.

Front 8

Synaptic gap (synapse)

Back 8

The microscopic gap between neurons across which neurotransmitters travel to carry their messages to other neurons.

Front 9

Positron Emisson Tomography (PET) scan

Back 9

A visual display of the activity levels in various aresas in the brain generated by detecting the amount of positron emission created by the metabolization of radioactive glucose in each area.

Front 10

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (IMR)

Back 10

A computerized image of the activity levelas of various areas in the brain generated by detecting the amount of oxygen brought to each area.

Front 11

Agonist

Back 11

A drug or poison that increases the activity of one or more neurotransmitters.

Front 12

Antagonist

Back 12

A drug or poison that decreaases that activity of one or more neurotransmitters.

Front 13

Acetylcholine (ACh)

Back 13

A neurotransmitter involved in learning, memory, and muscle movement.

Front 14

Dopamine

Back 14

A neurotransmitter involved in arousal and mood states, thought processes, and physical movement.

Front 15

Parkinson's Disease

Back 15

A disease in which the person has movement problems such as mucsle tremors, difficulty initiating movements, and rigidity of movement. These movement problems stem from a scarcity of dopamine in the basal ganglia.

Front 16

Blood-brain barrier

Back 16

A protective mechanism by which the blood capillaries supplying the brain create a barrier that prevents dangerous substances access to the brain.

Front 17

L-dopa

Back 17

A drug for Parkinson's disease that contrains the precursors to dopamine so that once it is in the brains, it will be converted to dopamine.

Front 18

Serotonin and norepinephrine

Back 18

Neurotransmitters involve in levels of arousal and mood, sleep, and eating.

Front 19

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs)

Back 19

Drugs that achieve their agonistic effect on serotonin by selectively blocking its reuptake.

Front 20

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)

Back 20

The main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the nervous system. It is involved in lowering arousal and ansiety and regulatin movement.

Front 21

Glutamate

Back 21

The main excitatory neurotransmitter in the nervous sustem. It is involved in memory storage, pain perception, strokes, and schizophrenia.

Front 22

Endorphins

Back 22

A group of neurotransmitters that are involved in pain relief and feelings or pleasure.

Front 23

Central Nervous System (CNS)

Back 23

The brain and spinal cord.

Front 24

Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)

Back 24

The part of the nervous system that links the CNS with the body's sensory receptiors, muscles, and glands.

Front 25

Interneurons

Back 25

Neurons that integrate information within the CNS through their communication with each other and between sensory and motor neurons in the spinal cord.

Front 26

Sensory Neurons

Back 26

Neursons in the PNS that carry information to the CNS from sensory receptors, muscles, and glands.

Front 27

Spinal Cord

Back 27

The condut gbetween the brains and the PNS for incoming sensory data and outgoing movement commands to the muscles.

Front 28

Spinal Reflex

Back 28

A simple automatic action of the spinal cord not reuiring involvemtn of the brain, such as the knee jerk reflex.

Front 29

Motor Neurons

Back 29

Neurons in the PNS that carry movemtn commands from the CNS out to the rest of the body.

Front 30

Somatic (skeletal) nervous system

Back 30

the part of the PNS that carries sensory input from receptors to the CNS and relays commands from the CNS to skeltal muscles to control their movement.

Front 31

Autonomic Nervous System

Back 31

The part of the PNS that regulates the functioning of our internal environment (glands and organs like the heart, lungs, and stomach).

Front 32

Sympathetic Nervous System

Back 32

The part of teh autonomic nervous system that is in control when we are highly aroused as in an emergency and need to prepare for defensive action.

Front 33

Parasympathetic Nerouvs System

Back 33

The part of the autonomic nervous system that returns the body to its normal resting states after having been hightly aroused, as in an emergency.

Front 34

Hormone

Back 34

A chemical messenger that is produced by an endocrine gland and carried by the bloodsteam to target tissues throughtout the body.

Front 35

Pituitary Gland

Back 35

The most influential gland in the endocrine glandular system. It releases hormones for human grouwth and hormones that direct other endocrine glands to release their hormones.

Front 36

Emotion

Back 36

A complex psychological state that involves a state of physiological arousal, an outward behavioral expression of the emotion, an a cognitive appraisal of the situation to determine the specific emotion and its intensity.

Front 37

James-Lange Theory

Back 37

A theory of emotion propsing that an emotion is determined from a cognitive appraisal of teh physiological arousal and behavior responses which occur first.

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Cannon-Bard Theory

Back 38

A theory of emotion proposing that an emotion is determine from simultaneiously occuring physicological arousal, behavioral responses, and cognitive.

Front 39

Schachter Singer two factor theory

Back 39

A theory of emotion proposing that an emotion is determined by cognitive appraisal of the physiological arousal and the entire enviornmental situation.

Front 40

Medulla

Back 40

A brain stem structure involved in many essential body functions, such as heartbeat, breathing, blood pressure, digestion, and swallowing.

Front 41

Medulla

Back 41

A brain stem structure that serves as a bridge between the cerebellum and the rest of the brain and is involved in sleep and dreaming.

Front 42

Reticular Formation

Back 42

A network of neurons running up the center of the brains stem that is responsible for our different level s of arousal and consciousness.

Front 43

Cerebellum

Back 43

A part of the brain involved in the coordination of our movements, sense of vvalance, and motor learning.

Front 44

Thalamus

Back 44

A part of the brain that serves as a relay station for incoming sensory information.

Front 45

Basal ganglia

Back 45

A part of the brrain that is involved in the initiation and execution of movements.

Front 46

Limbic system

Back 46

A group of brain structures (hypothalamus, hippocampus, and amygdala) that play an important role in our survival, memory, and emotions.

Front 47

Hypothalamus

Back 47

A part of the brain that is involved in regulating basic drives such ase athing, drinking, and sex. It also directs the endocrine glandular system and the autonomice nervous sustem to maintain the body's internal environment.

Front 48

Hippocampus

Back 48

A part of the brain in volved in the formation of memories.

Front 49

Amygdala

Back 49

A part of the brain that is involved in emotions by invluencing aggression, anger, and frear abnd by providing the emotional element of our memories and teh interpretation of emotional expression.

Front 50

Cerebral Cortex

Back 50

The layers of interconnected cells covering the brain's two hemispheres. This is the control and information processing center for the nervous system, it is where perception, memory, language, decision making and all other higher leevel congnitive processing occurs.

Front 51

Corpus Coallosum

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The bridge of neurons that connects the two cerebral hemispheres.

Front 52

Frontal Lobe

Back 52

The area in each cerebral hemisphere in front of the central fissure and above the lateral fissure. The motor cortex is in this love.

Front 53

Pariental Lobe

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The are in each ccerebral hemisphere in back of the central fissure andabouve the larteral fissre. The somatosensor cortex is in this lobe.

Front 54

Temporal Lobe

Back 54

The area in each cerebral hemisphere located beneath the lateral fissure. The primary auditiory cortex is in this love.

Front 55

Occipital Lobe

Back 55

The area located in the lower back of each cerebral hemisphere. The primary visual cortex is in this love.

Front 56

Motor Cortex

Back 56

The strip in each cerebral hemisphere located beneath the lateral fissure. The primary auditory cortex is in this lobe.

Front 57

Somatosensory cortex

Back 57

The strip of cortex in each cerebral hemisphere in the parietal lobe directly in the back of the central fissure, which allows us to sense pressure, temperature, and pain in different parts of our body as wwelll as the position of our body parts.

Front 58

Association Cortex

Back 58

All of the cerebral cortex except those areas devted to primary sensory processing or motor processing. This is where all the higher level cognitive processing that requires the association (integreation) of information, such as perception and language, occurs.

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Broca's Area

Back 59

An area in the cerebral cortex respoonsible for fluent speech procution. It is in the left frontal lobe of te majority of people, regardless of handedness.

Front 60

Weernicke's Area

Back 60

An area in teh cerebral cortex responsible for comprhension of speech and text. it is in the left temporal lobe of the majortiy of people, regradless of handedness.

Front 61

Consciousness

Back 61

An individuals subjective awareness of their inner thinking and feeling and their external environment.

Front 62

REM (rapid eye movement) sleep

Back 62

The stage of sleep that is characterized by rapid eye moevemnts and brain wave partterns that resemble those for an awake state and in which most dreaming occurs. REM sleep is somtimes referred to as paradoxical sleep because the bodily muscles are immobilized but much of the brain is highly active.