Psychology 100 Exam 2 (Electric Boogaloo)

consists of the brain and spinal cord and processes sensory information and sends messages to muscles, glands, and internal organs

Central Nervous System

Consists of all portions of the nervous system outside of the brain and spinal cord and sends sensory information to the central nervous system

Peripheral Nervous System

Consists of nerves connected to sensory receptors and skeletal muscles (voluntary action)

Somatic Nervous System

Regulates functioning of blood vessels, glands, and internal organs (involuntary action)

Autonomic Nervous System

Mobilizes body resources and increases energy output during emotion and stress (excitatory; an accelerator)

Sympathetic Nervous System

Operates during relaxed states and conserves energy output (inhibitory; a brake)

Parasympathetic Nervous System

Nerve cells; transmits electrochemical messages to and from the central nervous system

Neurons

Cells that support, nurture, and insulate neurons; make up about 90% of the brain's cells

Glial Cells

Branches from a neuron that receive information from other neurons and transmits data to the cell body

Dendrites

Part of the neuron that keeps it alive and determines whether or not it will fire a message

Soma / Cell Body

Fiber that transmits electrical signals from the cell body

Axon

A fatty substance that insulates some axons

Myelin Sheath

Small knobs at the end of an axon that hold pockets of chemicals (neurotransmitters)

Synaptic Bulbs

Neuron that releases chemicals into the synapse

Presynaptic Neuron

Neuron that receives chemicals from the synapse

Postsynaptic Neuron

Small gap between the synaptic bulbs of one neuron and the dendrites of another neuron; site where the message of one neuron is sent to another neuron

The Synaptic Cleft

Occurs within the neuron

Electrical Component

Occurs between neurons

Chemical Component

The neuron is inactive, with a negative charge inside the cell and a positive charge outside the cell

The Resting Potential

A brief change in the neurons electrical charge that occurs when channels open, allowing + ions to rush into the cell

The Action Potential

A neuron will either fire or not

All-Or-None Law

How can we discriminate between different intensities of a stimulus?

The number of neurons that fire

Brief period of time after an action potential during which the neuron cannot fire

The Absolute Refractory Period

Chemical substances used to communicate messages from one neuron to another

Neurotransmitters

Neurotransmitter associated with sleep and appetite

Seratonin

Neurotransmitter associated with voluntary movement

Dopamine

Neurotransmitter associated with memory and emotion

Acetylcholine

Neurotransmitter associated with increasing heart rate and dreaming

Norepinephrine

Neurotransmitter that acts as a general inhibitory

GABA

Neurotransmitter that acts as a general excitatory

Glutamate

Dendrites of one neuron receive neurotransmitters from the synaptic cleft (step ____)

1

Message from incoming neurotransmitters is sent to the soma - decision is made to fire or not (step ____)

2

If firing, neuron becomes less negative, and an electrical message is sent from the stoma down the axon (step ____)

3

Neurotransmitters stored in the synaptic bulbs are released into the synaptic cleft (step ____)

4

A post-synaptic neuron receives the neurotransmitters and the process begins again (step ____)

5

Contain areas involved in short-term memory, emotion, thinking creatively, speech production (Broca's area), and motor movements

Frontal Lobes

Controls voluntary muscle movements

Motor cortex

The most forward part of the frontal lobe involved in social judgement

Prefrontal Cortex

Contains areas involved in attention, touch, pressure, pain, and temperature

Parietal Lobe

Receives information for the touch sense

Somatosensory Cortex

Contains the visual cortex, which processes visual information

Occipital Lobe

Contains the auditory cortex, which processes sound and is involved in language comprehension, memory, perception, and emotion

Temporal Lobe

Involved in controlling involuntary processes, such as breathing and heart rate

Medulla

Involved in regulating sleeping, waking, and dreaming

Pons

Involved in regulating movement and balance and plays a role in some higher cognitive processes, such as problem solving

Cerebellum

Regulates emotion, hunger, thirst, and reproduction (drives to survive)

Hypothalamus

Directs sensory information to other areas of the brain

Thalamus

Involved in regulating our response to sensory stimuli and highly involved with our memory system

Hippocampus

Involved in the arousal and regulation of emotions

Amygdala

The bundle of fibers that connect the left and right brain hemispheres

Corpus Callosum

According to Sperry's findings, the left hemisphere of the brain responsible for ____

language

According to Sperry's findings, the right hemisphere of the brain could recognize a word but not ____ it

articulate

Frontal Lobe

Motor Complex

Parietal Lobe

Somatosensory Cortex

Occipital Lobe

Temporal Lobe

Medulla

Pons

Cerebellum

Thalamus

Hypothalamus

Hippocampus

Amygdala

Corpus Callosum

Dendrites

Cell Body/ Soma

Axon

Myelin Sheath

Node

Axon Terminals

Synaptic End Bulbs

Synapse

Periodic, more or less regular fluctuations in a biological system (typically in tune with external time cues)

Biological Rhythms

Generated from within the body and still cycle absence of external time cues

Endogenous

A biological rhythm with a period of about 24 hours

Circadian Rhythms

Small cluster of cells contained within the hypothalamus that controls messages related to circadian rhythms

Suprachiasmatic Nucleus

A state in which biological rhythms are not in phase with one another

Internal Desynchronization (Definition answer)

Appears to be responsible for whether you are a "morning or night person"

Variation in a single gene

The cluster of physical and emotional symptoms presumed to occur in the days preceding mensuration

Premenstrual Syndrome

Reporting PMS symptoms varies by ____

culture

Many women ____ have physical symptoms, but emotional symptoms are ____.

do, rare

There is ____ difference between men and women in symptoms related to PMS

no

Women's moods fluctuate based more on ____ ____ ____ ____

day of the week

Women who tracked their daily symptoms, ____ reported PMS symptoms

retroactively

More attention is paid to emotional and physical symptoms around ____.

mensuration

Women may attribute symptoms to menstruation just before, and to a situation at ____ ____.

other times

A controversial disorder in which a person experiences depression during winter, when there is less light, and an improvement of mood in the spring, typically treated with light therapy

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

A high percentage of studies on light therapy are ____

flawed

An assessment of 20 acceptable studies found reduced symptoms following exposure to ____ ____ for a brief period after waking or to a light that slowly became brighter

bright light

Many researchers believe that SAD is a result of chronic ____ ____ or an abnormality in how the body produces or responds to the hormone melatonin

Internal Desynchronization

Brain waves become small and irregular and you begin to drift off

Stage 1

brain waves begin to show rapid, high-peaking waves called sleep spindles

Stage 2

In addition to sleep spindles, the brain begins to show delta waves, which are very slow waves with high peaks; breathing begins to slow and a person is difficult to wake

Stage 3

Brain waves are mostly delta waves and person is in very deep sleep; almost impossible to wake person, but this is likely when sleep talking and walking occur

Stage 4

Sleep periods characterized by eye movement, loss of muscle tone, and dreaming

REM Sleep

Typical length of a sleep cycle

90 minutes

The process by which a memory becomes durable and stable and is believed to be highly related to sleep

Consolidation

Freud argued that our dreams are unconscious wishes and thoughts being expressed symbolically

Unconscious Wishes