ch 3: biology and behavior

my head hurts

nervous system

system that regulates the body’s responses to internal and external stimuli

central nervous and peripheral nervous

the nervous system consists of what

central nervous system

the brain and the spinal cord

peripheral nervous system

sensory and motor nerves that connect the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body

neurons

nerve cells that provide communication through the body (the building blocks)

receive info, carry info, and pass info to next neuron

the three basic tasks neurons perform

cell body, dendrites, axon, myelin

components of a neuron

cell body

produces energy for the cell

dendrites

receives impulses and conducts them to the cell body

axon

carries the messages away from the cell body

myelin

insulates and protects the axon

synapse, neurotransmitter

the communication process

synapse

junction between the axon terminals of one neuron and the dendrites of another neuron

neurotransmitter

chemical messenger that carries impulses across the synaptic gap across transmitters

action potential

electrical charge that travels down its axon

reuptake

the sending neuron reabsorbs the excess neurotransmitters form the synapse

somatic nervous and autonomic nervous

the peripheral nervous consists of two systems

somatic nervous system

communicate between central nervous system and all parts of the body; controls body’s skeletal muscles

autonomic nervous system

regulates body’s vital functions, controls glands and muscles of internal organs (heartbeat, breathing, digestion, blood pressure)

sympathetic nervous system

division of autonomic nervous that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations (fight or flight)

parasympathetic nervous system

division of ANS that calms the body, conserving its energy, bring body back to a relaxed state

endocrine system

one of the body’s two communication systems; a set of glands that produces hormones, chemical messengers that circulate the blood

hormones

chemical messengers produced by the endocrine glands and circulated in the blood; affects brain and other tissues of body

pituitary gland

called “master gland”; regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands

thyroid gland

regulates body’s metabolism by producing thyroxin

testes and ovaries

produce testosterone, estrogen, progesterone

adrenal gland

secretes hormones (epinephrine and norepinephrine) that arouse the body in times of stress

hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain

three main sections of the brain

hindbrain

lower portion, controls vital functions, heart rate, respiration, balance, and most of brainstem

medulla, pons, cerebellum

three parts of the hindbrain

medulla

vital functions

pons

body movements, attention, sleep

cerebellum

balance and coordination; “the little brain”

midbrain

involved with vision and hearing

reticular activating system

attention, sleep, arousal

forebrain

forward most part of the brain that houses the following

limbic system

donut-shaped system of neural structures at border of brainstem and cerebrum, associated with emotions like fear, aggression, hunger; includes hippocampus

thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus

four parts of the limbic system

thalamus

relay station for sensory information

hypothalamus

part of limbic system that lies below the thalamus; directs several maintenance activities like eating/cravings, body temperature, and control of emotion; works with the pituitary gland

amygdala

consists of two lima-bean sized neural clusters linked to fear and anger emotions; control center for fight, flight, and freeze

hippocampus

part of the brain shaped like a sea horse and part of limbic system; has central role in memory processes and learning

cerebrum

large part of the brain (70%), in charge of voluntary movement and activity in body

corpus callosum

largest white matter, below the cerebral cortex, connects two hemispheres, allows sides to communicate

cerebral cortex

wrinkled part of the brain; controls mental processes such as thought; body’s ultimate control center and information processing center

frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal

the four lobes of the cerebral cortex

frontal lobe

lobe that is in charge of movement and thinking (forehead area)

parietal lobe

lobe that is responsible for touch sensation and spatial relationships (top to rear head)

occipital lobe

lobe responsible for visual cortex (back of head)

temporal lobe

lobe that processes sounds, including speech (located at the side of the head)

motor cortex

area found behind the frontal lobe that controls voluntary movement

sensory cortex

strip of brain tissue at the front of the parietal lobe that registers and processes body sensations

Broca’s area

brain area of the left frontal lobe that directs the muscle movements involving speech

Broca’s aphasia

damage to Broca’s area where person can form ideas but cannot express them in speech

Wernicke’s area

brain area of the left temporal lobe involved in language comprehension and expression; the ability to understand what is being said

parts of a neuron

genes

building blocks of heredity, that make up chromosomes

chromosomes

threadlike structure in the nucleus of every living cell; contains genes

DNA

contains genetic information that makes up chromosomes

memory

system that encodes, stores. and retrieves information

encodes, storage, retrieval

the three steps in information processing model

encoding

modification of information to fit the preferred format for the memory system

automatic processing

unconscious encoding of incidental information

effortful processing

requires effort and attention to encode (rehearsal)

mnemonic device

memory aid that often rely on both acoustic and visual codes

chunking device

putting things into clusters or “chunks” so that items learned are in groups

storage

the retention of encoded material over time

sensory, working, long-term

the three types of memory

sensory memory

shortest of our memories and holds sights, sounds, smells, and textures, and other sensory information for a fraction of a second; holds the largest amount of information and constantly is in use

working memory

place where we sort and encode information before transferring it to long-term memory or forgetting it; we can hold 7 pieces of information

short-term memory

another name for working memory

limited capacity and short duration

working memory is subject to two limitations, what two limitiations

rehearsal

method or way that helps move memories from working to long-term

long-term memory

all you knowledge of yourself and the world around you; unless injury or illness, long term is limitless

procedural and declarative

two forms of longterm memory

procedural memory

(implicit); memory of how things are done; muscle memory/motor memory

declarative memory

(explicit); memory of specific information such as knowledge or personal memories

flashbulb memories

memories that are very clear and very vivid; typically high emotion events

retrieval

locating and recovering of information from memory

recall and recognition

two types of memory retrieval

recall

retrieval method where one must reproduce previously presented material

recognition

retrieval method where one must identify information that is produced, which has previously been presented

the two types of retrieval clues

encoding specificity principle and mood-congruent memory are what?

encoding specificity principle

more closely the retrieval clues match way the information was encoded, the better the info will be remembered

mood congruent memory

a theory which says we tend to selectively remember memories that match (are congruent with) our current mood

retrograde amnesia

the inability to remember information previously stored in memory.

anterograde amnesia

the inability to form memories from new material

encoding failure

what we don’t encode, we don’t remember; some info processing is automatic but some require more attention

storage decay

even if someone is able to encode well, they can still forget