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62 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Plasticity |
The brain’s ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience. |
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Biological psychology |
The scientific study of the links between biological and psychological processes. |
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Cognitive neuroscience |
The interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language.) |
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Neuron |
A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system. |
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Dendrites |
Neuron extensions that receive messages and conduct them toward the cell body. |
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Action potential |
A nerve impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon. |
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Attachment |
The emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to their caregiver and showing distress on separation. |
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Autonomic nervous system |
Peripheral nervous system division that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs (such as the heart). It’s sympathetic subdivision arouses; it’s parasympathetic subdivision calms. |
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Axon |
The neuron extension that sends messages to other neurons or to muscles and glands. |
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Bottom up processing |
Analysis that begins with the sensory receptions and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information. |
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Top down processing |
Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations. |
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Brain stem |
The oldest part and central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull; responsible for automatic survival functions. |
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Central nervous system (CNS) |
The brain and spinal cord |
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Cerebellum |
The “little brain” at the rear of the brain stem; functions include processing sensory input, coordinating movement out-put and balance, and enabling nonverbal learning and memory. |
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Cerebral cortex |
A thin layer of interconnected neurons covering the cerebral hemispheres; the body’s ultimate control and information-processing center. |
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Chromosomes |
Threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain the genes. |
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Genes |
The biochemical unites of heredity that make up the chromosomes; segments of the DNA. |
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DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) |
A molecule containing the genetic information that makes up the chromosomes. |
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Circadian rhythm |
Our internal biological clock; regular bodily rhythms (for example, temperature and wakefulness) that occur on a 24-hour cycle. |
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Cochlea |
A coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear; sound waves traveling through the cochlear fluid trigger nerve impulses. |
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Consciousness |
Our awareness of ourselves and our environment. |
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Dendrite |
Neuron extensions that recurve messsfrd and conduct them toward the cell body. |
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Depth perception |
The ability to see objects in 3 dimensions, although the images that strike the retina are 2-dimensional; allows us to judge distance |
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Development |
Y |
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Development in adulthood |
Y |
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Divided (split) brain |
A condition in which the brain’s two hemispheres have been isolated by surgery that cut the fibers (mainly those of the corpus callosum) connecting them. |
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Dreams |
A sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person’s mind. |
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Embryo |
The developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month. |
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Emerging adulthood |
A period from about age 18- mid 20’s, when many in western cultures are no longer adolescents but have not yet achieved full independence as adults. |
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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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Erickson’s model |
I |
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Fetus |
The developing human organism from 9 works after conception to birth. |
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Gestalt |
An organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes. |
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Identity |
Our sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent’s task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and blending various roles. |
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Intuition |
An effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contradtedneith explicit, conscious reasoning. |
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Limbo System |
Neural system (including the amygdala, hypothalamus, and hippocampus) located below the cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions and drives. |
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Maturation |
Biological growth process leading to orderly changes in behavior, mostly independent of experience. |
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Moral thinking |
Q |
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Myelin sheath |
W |
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Neuron |
A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system. |
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Neurotransmitters |
Neuron-producers chemicals that cross the synaptic gap to carry messages to other neurons or to muscles and glands |
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Parallel processing |
Processing many aspects of a problem or scene at the same time; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions. |
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Parasympathetic nervous system |
Autonomic nervous system subdivision that calms the body, conserving it’s energy. |
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Parenting styles |
Q |
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Parts of the eye |
Q |
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Perception |
The process which our brain organizes ant interprets sensory information, transforming it into meaningful objects and events. |
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Perpetual set |
A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another |
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Peripheral nervous system (PNS) |
The sensory and motor neurons connecting the central nervous system to the rest of the body. |
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Piaget’s model of cognitive development |
Sensorimotor: birth-2 Years -object permanence - stranger anxiety Preoperational: 2-6 or 7 years -pretend play -egocentrism Concrete operational: 7-11 years -conservation -mathematical transformations Formal operational: 12- adulthood -abstract logic -potential for mature mor reasoning. |
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Puberty |
The period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing. |
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REM sleep |
Rapid eye movement sleep; a recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur. Aka paradoxical sleep, because the muscles are relaxed (except for minor twitches) but other body systems are active. |
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Reticular System |
is a network of neurons located in the brain stem that project anteriorly to the hypothalamus to mediate behavior, as well as both posteriorly to the thalamus and directly to the cortex for activation of awake, desynchronized cortical EEG patterns. |
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Selective attention |
Focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus. |
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Sensation |
The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment. |
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Sleep loss |
Q |
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Subliminal |
Below a person’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness. |
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Sympathetic Nervous System |
Autonomic nervous system subdivision that arouses the body, mobilizing it’s energy. |
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Synapse |
The junction between the axon tip of a sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of a receiving neuron. The tiny gap at this junction is called the synaptic gap or synaptic cleft. |
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Temperament |
A person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity. |
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Theory of mind |
People’s ideas about their own and other’s mental states-about their feelings, perceptions and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict. |
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Threshold |
The level of stimulation required to triggers neural impulse. |
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Zygote |
The fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo. |
