AP Psych Final unit 3 part 1

hypothalamus

• maintains homeostatic internal state

• directs maintenance activities (eating, drinking, body temp)

• helps govern endocrine system via the pituitary gland

• linked to emotion and reward

• below the thalamus

hypothermia

hippocampus

helps process for storage explicit (conscious) and episodic memories of facts and events

hippo had good memories on campus

reticular formation

• controls arousal (awakeness and alertness)

• wakes you up

• filters incoming stimuli and relays info to other areas

• nerve network that goes through the brainstem into the thalamus

• damaged: coma

ret = rest

amygdala

• linked to emotion (aggression and fear)

• two lima-bean sized neural clusters in the limbic system

emotional friend amy

frontal lobes

• involved in speaking and muscle movements/making plans/judgements

• just behind forehead

• planning, movement, judgement, decisions

kid in front of line for follow the leader

parietal lobes

• receives sensory input for touch and body position

• at top and to the rear

• where we experience any touch (process touch)

p=patted on the head

temporal lobes

• includes auditory areas (each receiving info primarily from the opposite ear)

• above the ears

• processes anything we hear and ability to understand

temples→ tempo-beat of music

occipital lobes

• includes area that receive info from the visual fields

• at the back of the head

• processes view and understanding what is being seen

o=optic, hit back of heat, see stars

cerebellum

• implicit memories (skills/memories of how to do something)

• processes sensory input, coordinates voluntary movement output and balance, and enabling nonverbal learning and memory

• the “little brain” at the rear of brainstem

• helps us judge time, modulate emotions, discriminate sounds and textures

cere= sarah rang the bell with skill

medulla

• controls heartbeat and breathing

• base of the brainstem (slight swelling in spinal cord after it enters skull)

• created first

medu→ medusa= freeze

thalamus

• sensory control center

• directs messages to sensory receiving areas in cortex

• transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla

• receives all sense’s info but smell (routes this info to higher regions)

• on top of brainstem

• sensory switchboard of the brain

operator thelma

corpus callosum (and lesioning/cutting it)

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

• cutting this stops info sharing and major epileptic seizures

• surgery to cut this results in split brains, and personality and intellect hardly affected after

Dendrites

a neuron’s busy, branching extensions that receive and integrate messages, conducting impulses toward the cell body

Axon

the neuron extension that passes messages through its branches to other neurons or to muscles or glands

Cell body

the part of a neuron that contains the nucleus

Myelin Sheath

a layer of fatty tissue that insulates axons and speeds their impulses

• degeneration causes: multiple sclerosis

Terminal Branches

releases messages into synapse, form junctions with other cells

Synapse

space between two neurons, the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron

• The tiny gap at this junction is called the synaptic gap.

How the neuron works (and what it looks like)

dendrites→ cell body→ axon/myelin sheath→ terminal branches→ synapse

plasticity

the brains ability to change by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience

• ability for your brain to heal itself

plasters/bandaids = helps to heal

reuptake

excess neurotransmitters are broken down by enzymes or reabsorbed by the sending neuron

• medicine for this makes it go the right place

refractory period

in neural processing a brief resting pause that occurs after a neuron has fired; subsequent action potentials cannot occur until the axon returns to its resting state

agonist

increases neurotransmitter production

• some may increase production/release of nts or block reuptake in the synapse

antagonist

reduces how much nt is absorbed

• decrease a nts action by blocking production/release

neurotransmitters

chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons

• influences whether that neuron will create a neural impulse

endocrine system

releases hormones, made of hormones and glands, slower than the nervous system

hormones

chemical messengers made by the endocrine glands, travel in bloodstream and affect other tissues

sympathetic nervous system

arouses and expends energy

• accelerates heartbeat, sweat, and raises blood pressure

PET scan

display of brain activity that detects where radioactive glucose goes when brain performs a given task (shows most active brain areas)

• shows each brains areas use of glucose

CT scan

x-ray pics taken and combined into a representation of a slide of brains structure

• can reveal brain damage

Lesioning

tissue destruction, naturally or experimentally caused destruction of brain tissue, scientists can destroy brain cells (this can cause different behavior)

Pituitary gland

pea-sized, in core of the brain, controlled by the hypothalamus, releases a growth hormone for physical development