AP Psychology Unit 1

Acetylcholine

A neurotransmitter that enables muscle action, learning, and memory

Acetylcholine malfunction

Alzhemier’s disease: caused when _ producing neurons deteriorate

Blocked Acetycholine causes:

weakness, muscle control difficulties, or paralysis

Dopamine

A neurotransmitter that influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion

Dopamine malfunction

oversupply: linked to schizophrenia

Parkinson’s disease: tremors and decreased mobility cause by an undersupply in _.

Serotonin

A neurotransmitter that affects hunger, sleep, mood, and arousal

Serotonin undersupply

can lead to depression, drugs that raise _ are used to treat depression

Norepinephrine

A neurotransmitter that helps control alertness and arousal

Norepinephrine undersupply

Can depress mood

GABA

A major inhibitory neurotransmitter

GABA undersupply

Linked to seizures, tremors, and insomnia

Glutamate

A major excitatory neurotransmitter involved in memory

Glutamate oversupply

Overstimulates the brain causing migraines and seizures

Endorphins

A neurotransmitter that influences the perception of pain and pleasure

Endorphins oversupply

Often caused by opioid drugs, suppresses natural _ supply

Substance P

A neurotransmitter that influences pain perception and immune response

Substance P oversupply

Leads to chronic pain

Agonist

A molecule that increases a neurotransmitter’s action

Antagonist

A molecule that decreases a neurotransmitters action by blocking production or release

Endocrine System

The body’s “slow” chemical communication system; a set of glands and fat tissue that secretes hormones into the bloodstream

Hormones

Chemical messengers manufactured by endocrine glands and travel through the bloodstream to affect other tissues, influences things like sex, food, and aggression

Evolutionary psychology

the study of the evolution of the behavior and mind using the principles of natural selection

Behavior genetics

The study of the limits and relative power if genetic and environmental influences on power

Mutation

a random error in gene replication that leads to a change

Genome

an organism's complete set of genetic instructions, made up of all the DNA found in its cell

Heredity

the genetic transfer of characteristics from parent to offspring

Interact

the interplay that occurs when the effect of one factor (example environment) depends on another factor (example heredity)

Epigenetics

the study of the molecular mechanism in which environments can influence genetic expression without altering DNA, like poverty, malnutrition, and trauma

(example: environmental events/triggers that ‘turn on and off’ genes slowly ‘sustained environmental pressures’)