AP Psych Unit 1 Vocab

Heredity

the genetic transfer of characteristics from parents to offspring

Eugenics

a discredited belief system focused on improving the human species through selective breeding of people with desirable hereditary traits

Sympathetic Nervous System

the division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy (fight or flight, speeds things up)

Parasympathetic Nervous System

the division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy (rest and digest, pumps the brakes)

Neuron

a nerve cell that is the building block of the nervous system, designed to transmit information throughout the body

Glial Cells

cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons; they may also play a role in learning, thinking, and memory

Sensory Neurons

neurons that carry incoming information from the body’s tissues and sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord

Motor Neurons

neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands

Interneurons

neurons within the brain and spinal cord; they communicate internally and process information between the sensory inputs and motor outputs

Reflex Arc

a fast, autonomic neural pathways that controls an involuntary response to a stimulus without immediate input from the brain

Action Potential

a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon

All-or-None Response

a neuron’s reaction of either firing (with a full-strength response) or not firing

Resting Potential

the electrical state of a neuron when it is not actively firing or sending a signal (-70 mV)

Depolarization

the loss of the inside/outside charge difference which causes the next section of axon channels to open/ membrane potential is more positive

Threshold

the minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus (-55 mV)

Refractory Period

in neural processing, a brief resting pause that occurs after a neuron has fired

Reuptake

a neurotransmitter’s reabsorption by the sending neuron/goes from firing to receiving neuron/pushed through synapse

Multiple Sclerosis

a chronic autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks and degrades the myelin sheath

Myasthenia Gravis

a chronic autoimmune disorder in which the immune system blocks/destroys acetylcholine receptor sites, preventing muscles from receiving signals to contract causing muscle weakness

Neurotransmitters

chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gap between neurons; when released by the sending neuron, they travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether that neuron will generate a neural impulse

Dopamine

a neurotransmitter that regulates voluntary movement, motivation, attention, and the brain’s reward system (lack in parkinson’s, excess in schizophrenia)

Serotonin

a neurotransmitter that controls/regulates mood/emotional stability and affects hunger, sleep, and arousal

Norepinephrine

a neurotransmitter that helps control alertness and arousal (fight or flight, attention, and memory)

Glutamate

a major excitatory neurotransmitter, involved in learning and memory

GABA

major inhibitory neurotransmitter (slows down central nervous system activity and calms neural firing)

Endorphins

neurotransmitters that modulate the experience of pain or pleasure

Substance P

involved in pain perception and immune response (transmits pain signals from sensory nerves to central nervous system)

Acetylcholine

neurotransmitter that enables muscle action, learning, and memory (nodding head when listening to someone explain something)

Hormones

chemical messengers that are manufactured by the endocrine glands, travel through the bloodstream, and affect other tissues

Adrenaline

released by adrenal glands; triggers the body’s “fight or flight” response during times of stress or danger (epinephrine)

Leptin

hormone released by fat cells that signal the hypothalamus to reduce hunger and suppress appetite when energy stores are high

Ghrelin

hormone produced by the stomach that stimulate hunger and signals the brain that it is time to eat