Unit 2: AP Psychology

Albinism

________ arises from a failure to synthesize or store pigment and also involves abnormal nerve pathways to the brain, resulting in quivering eyes and the inability to perceive depth or three- dimensionality with both eyes.

Paul Broca

________ (1861) performed an autopsy on the brain of a patient, nicknamed Tan, who had lost the capacity to speak, although his mouth and his vocal cords werent damaged and he could still understand language.

Insomnia

________ is the inability to fall asleep and /or stay asleep.

Psychological dependence

________ develops when the person has an intense desire to achieve the drugged state in spite of adverse effects.

Electroencephalograms

________ (EEGs) can be recorded with electrodes on the surface of the skull.

Positron emission tomography

________ (PET) produces color computer graphics that depend on the amount of metabolic activity in the imaged brain region.

Pons

________ generates bursts of action potentials to the forebrain, which is activation.

Cyton

contains cytoplasm and the nucleus, which directs synthesis of such substances as neurotransmitters.

Glutamate

________ is a major excitatory neurotransmitter involved in information processing throughout the cortex and especially memory formation in the hippocampus.

Nonconscious

________ is the level of consciousness devoted to processes completely inaccessible to conscious awareness, such as blood flow, filtering of blood by kidneys, secretion of hormones, and lower- level processing of sensations, such as detecting edges, estimating size and distance of objects, recognizing patterns, and so forth.

Psychoactive drugs

________ are chemicals that can pass through the blood- brain barrier into the brain to alter perception, thinking, behavior, and mood, producing a wide range of effects from mild relaxation or increased alertness to vivid hallucinations.

Glial cells

________ guide the growth of developing neurons, help provide nutrition for and get rid of wastes of neurons, and form an insulating sheath around neurons that speeds conduction.

Functional MRI

________ (fMRI) shows the brain at work at higher resolution than the PET scanner.

Circadian rhythm

________ is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep- wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours.

Tay Sachs syndrome

________ produces progressive loss of nervous function and death in a baby.

Freud

________ tried to analyze dreams to uncover the unconscious desires (many of them sexual) and fears disguised in dreams.

Stimulants

________ are psychoactive drugs that activate motivational centers and reduce activity in inhibitory centers of the central nervous system by increasing activity of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine neurotransmitter systems.

Unconsciousness

________ is characterized by loss of responsiveness to the environment, resulting from disease, trauma, or anesthesia.

Cerebral cortex center

________ for higher- order processes such as thinking, planning, judgment; receives and processes sensory information and directs movement.

endocrine system

consists of glands that secrete chemical messengers called hormones into your blood.

Hypothalamus

portion of brain part that acts as endocrine gland and produces hormones that stimulate (releasing factors) or inhibit secretion of hormones by the pituitary.

Gamma aminobutyric acid

________ (GABA) inhibits firing of neurons.

Lucid dreaming

the ability to be aware of and direct ones dreams, has been used to help people make recurrent nightmares less frightening.

Hypnosis

________ is an altered state of consciousness characterized by deep relaxation and heightened suggestibility.

dissociation theory

hypnotized individuals experience two or more streams of consciousness cut off from each other.

Antagonists

________ block a receptor site, inhibiting the effect of the neurotransmitter or agonist.

Tolerance

decreasing responsivity to a drug.

Endocrine

glands include the pineal gland, hypothalamus, and pituitary gland in your brain; the thyroid and parathyroids in your neck; the adrenal glands atop your kidneys; pancreas near your stomach; and either testes or ovaries.

Withdrawal symptoms

________ include intense craving for the drug and effects opposite to those the drug usually induces.

Heritability

________ is the proportion of variation among individuals in a population that is due to genetic causes.

Agonists

________ may mimic a neurotransmitter and bind to its receptor site to produce the effect of the neurotransmitter.

Narcotics

________ are analgesics (pain reducers) that work by depressing the central nervous system.

Preconscious

________ is the level of consciousness that is outside of awareness but contains feelings and memories that you can easily bring into conscious awareness.

Depressants

________ are psychoactive drugs that reduce the activity of the central nervous system and induce relaxation.

Central nervous system

consists of your brain and your spinal cord

Somatic nervous system

has motor neurons that stimulate skeletal (voluntary) muscle

Autonomic nervous system

has motor neurons that stimulate smooth (involuntary) and heart muscle

Plasticity

Although specific regions of the brain are associated with specific functions, if one region is damaged, the brain can reorganize to take over its function

Pineal Gland

endocrine gland in brain that produces melatonin that helps regulate circadian rhythms and is associated with seasonal affective disorder

Hypothalamus

portion of brain part that acts as endocrine gland and produces hormones that stimulate (releasing factors) or inhibit secretion of hormones by the pituitary

Pituitary Gland

endocrine gland in brain that produces stimulating hormones, which promote secretion by other glands including TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone); ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone), which stimulates the adrenal glands; FSH (follicle stimulating hormone), which stimulates egg or sperm production; ADH (antidiuretic hormone) to help retain water in your body; and HGH (human growth hormone)

Thyroid Gland

endocrine gland in neck that produces thyroxine, which stimulates and maintains metabolic activities

Parathyroids

endocrine glands in neck that produce parathyroid hormone, which helps maintain calcium ion level in blood necessary for normal functioning of neurons

Adrenal Glands

endocrine glands atop kidneys

Pancreas

gland near stomach that secretes the hormones insulin and glucagon, which regulate blood sugar that fuels all behavioral processes

Ovaries and Testes

gonads in females and males, respectively, that produce hormones necessary for reproduction and development of secondary sex characteristics

Hypothalamus

systematically regulates changes in your body temperature, blood pressure, pulse, blood sugar levels, hormonal levels, and activity levels over the course of about a day

Tolerance

decreasing responsivity to a drug

dendrite

a short branched extension of a nerve cell, along which signals are received from other cells at synapses are transmitted to the cell body.

Axon

long, thin, hollow, cylindrical extension of a neuron that carries a nerve impulse away from the cell body

Cell body

the part of a neuron that contains the nucleus and most organelles

Nucleus

large membrane

Axon Terminal

The branched end of the axon contains neurotransmitters. Sends the neurotransmitters to the receiving neuron's dendrites

Myelin sheath

insulating layer around many axons that increases the speed of conduction of nerve impulses.

Schwann cell

type of cell responsible for forming the myelin sheath around the neurons, and supplying nutrients to individual axons

Node of Ranvier

any of the successive, regularly spaced gaps in the myelin sheath surrounding an axon. The gaps permit the exchange of ions across the plasma membrane at those points, allowing the nerve impulse to leap from one node to the next

neuron

the basic cellular unit of the nervous system

neuropsychologist

studies the physiological processes of the nervous system and relates them to behavior and cognition, in terms of their normal function and of the dysfunctional processes associated with brain damage.

neurogenesis

the production of new neurons during early nervous system development and throughout the lifespan

biological psychology

deals with the biological basis of behavior, thoughts, and emotions and the reciprocal relations between biological and psychological processes.

reflex

automatic, unlearned, fixed responses to stimuli that don’t require conscious effort and often involve a faster response than if a conscious evaluation of the input were required.

action potential

The electrical impulse that travels down an axon. a wave of electrical depolarization and ion exchange occurs along the axon

refractory period

a period of inactivity and repolarization occurs after action potential.

threshold

The minimum amount of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse

reflex arc

the sensory neuron sends a signal to the interneuron and activates it. The interneuron then relays that signal to a motor neuron. Motor neurons connect with interneurons in the spinal cord. Sends messages from the central nervous system to the body.

synapse

The junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving cell

neurotransmitters

chemical messengers that carry messages between the body.

reuptake

The process of neurotransmitters being reabsorbed by the sending neuron

Acetylcholine (Ach)

Excitatory, released by motor neurons. Stimulates muscle contraction; involved in attention, memory, learning and general intellectual functioning

Effect of deficit: Alzheimers

Effect of surplus: severe muscle spasms

Dopamine (DA)

Inhibitory, pleasurable sensations involved in voluntary movement, attention, and learning

Effect of deficit: Parkinson’s Disease, Schizophrenia

Effect of surplus: Drug Addiction

Serotonin

Inhibitory, moods and emotional states, hunger regulation of sleep and wakefulness (arousal)

Effect of deficit: Depression, mood disorders

Effect of surplus: autism

Norepinephrine (NE)

Excitatory, Used for arousal in the flight/fight response, modulation of mood, plays a role in learning and memory retrieval

Effect of deficit: Mental disorders, especially depression

Effect of surplus: Anxiety

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)

Inhibitory, helps to offset excitatory messages and regulate daily sleep-wake cycles

Effect of deficit: Anxiety, seizures, tremors, and insomnia

Effect of surplus: Sleep and eating disorders

Endorphins

Inhibitory, Inhibits perception of pain, involved in positive emotions

Effect of deficit: Body experiences pain

Effect of surplus: Body may not give adequate warning about pain. Artificial highs

Glutamate

Excitatory, Used in memory, learning, movement. Helps messages cross the synapse more efficiently

Effect of surplus: Too much glutamate (and too little GABA) associated with epileptic seizures

Nervous system

The body’s electrochemical communication network is made of nerve cells.

Nerves

electrical cables formed of bundles of axons link the CNS with the body’s sensory receptors, muscles, and glands.

Sensory (afferent) neurons

carry messages from the body’s tissues and sensory receptors to the spinal cord and brain

Motor (efferent) neurons

carry instructions from the central nervous system out to the body’s muscles and glands

interneurons

neurons within the brain and spinal cord that communicate internally and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs

Central nervous system (CNS)

The brain and spinal cord, are connected to the peripheral nervous system near the spinal cord. Sends information to each other.

Peripheral nervous system

all parts outside the central nervous system. Afferent fibers of the PNS bring messages from the sense organs to the central nervous system; efferent fibers transmit messages from the central nervous system to the muscles and glands.

Somatic nervous system

enables voluntary control of our skeletal muscles

Autonomic ANS) nervous system

controls our glands and the muscles of the internal organs

Sympathetic nervous system

part of ANS that arouses and mobilizes the body

Parasympathetic nervous system

part of ANS that calms and conserves energy

Endocrine system

the body’s slow chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream.

hormones

Hormones are manufactured by the endocrine glands and travel through the bloodstream to affect other tissues.

Adrenal gland

Pair of glands just above the kidneys that secrete hormones (norepinephrine, epinephrine, cortisol)

Pituitary gland

Regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands

brainstem

connects the brain and spinal cord and is responsible for automatic functions.

cerebellum

Processes sensory input and coordinating movement output and balance.

Cerebral cortex (cerebrum)

intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells covering the cerebral hemispheres. body's ultimate control and information processing center.

hypothalamus

neural structure below the thalamus. directs eating, drinking, body temperature, and helps govern the pituitary gland. Also linked to emotions and rewards

pons

Regulates sleeping and dreaming

Medulla (oblongata)

base of brainstem. controls heartbeat and breathing.

thalamus

located on the top of brainstem. directs messages to sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla.

Reticular formation

nerve network that travels through the brainstem and plays a role in controlling arousal.

amygdala

Two bean