use a radioactive sugar injected into the bloodstream to track the activity of brain cells, which is enhanced and color- coded by a computer
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Aerial perspective
the haziness that surrounds objects that are farther away from the viewer, causing the distance to be perceived as greater
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Acetylcholine
is cleared out of the synapse by enzymes that break up the molecules
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Serotonin
is associated with sleep, mood, and appetite
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Myelin
insulates and protects the axons of neurons that travel in the body
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Overlap (interposition):
the assumption that an object that appears to be blocking part of another object is in front of the second object and closer to the viewer
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Dopamine
is associated with Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia
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Contiguity
the tendency to perceive two things that happen close together in time as being related
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Habituation
tendency of the brain to stop attending to constant, unchanging information sensory
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Cochlea
snail- shaped structure of the inner ear that is filled with fluid.
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Endorphins
are neural regulators that control our pain response Most neurotransmitters are taken back into the synaptic vesicles in a process called reuptake
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Curare
is a poison that blocks its effect
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Accommodation
as a monocular clue, the brain's use of information about the changing thickness of the lens of the eye in response to looking at objects that are close or far away
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Synesthesia
disorder in which the signals from the various sensory organs are processed in the wrong cortical areas, resulting in the sense information being interpreted as more than one sensation
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Parapsychology
the study of ESP, ghosts, and other subjects that do not normally fall into the realm of ordinary psychology
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Adaptation
tendency of sensory receptor cells to become less responsive to a stimulus that is unchanging
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thyroid gland
The is located inside the neck
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EEG
The allows researchers to measure the electrical activity of the surface of the brain through the use of electrodes placed on the scalp
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Afterimages
images that occur when a visual sensation persists for a brief time even after the original stimulus is removed
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thalamus
The ________ is the relay station that sends sensory information to the proper areas of the cortex
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Auditory canal
a short tunnel that runs from the pinna to the eardrum
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reticular formation
The ________ runs through the medulla and the pons and controls our wakefulness and arousal
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limbic system
The ________ consists of the thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala, and the fornix
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pancreas
The ________ controls the level of sugar in the blood by secreting insulin and glucagons
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cortex
The ________ is the outer covering of the cerebrum and consists of a tightly packed layer of neurons about one- tenth of an inch in thickness
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special receptors
Sensation: the process that occurs when ________ in the sense organs are activated, allowing various forms of outside stimuli to become neural signals in the brain
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optic nerve
Blind spot: area in the retina where the axons of the three layers of retinal cells exit the eye to form the ________, insensitive to light
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sexual growth
They secrete hormones to regulate ________, activity, and reproduction
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gonads
The ________ are the ovaries in women and testes in men
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sleep wake
It secretes melatonin, a hormone that influences the ________ cycle in humans and some animals in response to changes in light
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metabolism
It controls ________ (the burning of energy) by secreting thyroxin
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Great strides
________ are being made in spinal cord repair and the growth of new neurons in the central nervous system.
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sexual behavior
The hypothalamus controls hunger, thirst, sleep, ________, sleeping and waking, and emotions
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Binocular disparity
________: the difference in images between the two eyes, which is greater for objects that are close and smaller for distant objects
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Transduction
________: the process of converting outside stimuli, such as light, into neural activity
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Rods
________: visual sensory receptors found at the back of the retina, responsible for noncolor sensitivity to low
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neuron
A(n) ________ contains charged particles called ions
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Gustation
the sensation of a taste
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Hertz (Hz)
cycles or waves per second, a measurement of frequency
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Proximity
the tendency to perceive objects that are close to each other as part of the same grouping
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Neurotransmitters
may be either excitatory or inhibitory
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left temporal lobe
An area called Wernicke's area in the ________ is responsible for the understanding of language.
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Olfaction (olfactory sense)
the sensation of smell
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Auditory nerve
bundle of axons from the hair cells in the inner ear
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attention
It stimulates muscles, is involved in arousal and ________, and helps in memory formation.
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left frontal lobe
An area called Broca's area in the ________ is responsible for producing fluent, understandable speech.
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MRI scans--->
use a magnetic field and a computer to give researchers an even more detailed look at the structure of the brain
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GABA
is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter; high amounts of GABA are released when drinking alcohol
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CT scans
are computer-aided X- rays of the brain and show a great deal of brain structure
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spinal column
The medulla is at the very bottom of the brain and top of the ________