UNIT 1 AP PSYCH

Unit 1 Flashcards

Evolutionary Perspective

the study of how psychological traits and behaviors have evolved over time to enhance survival and reproductive success

Natural Selection

process where organisms better suited to their environments survive to reproduce, passing traits onto future generations

Heredity

transmission of genetic information from biological parents to offsprring

Genetic Predisposition

the increased likelihood of developing specific traits to conditions due to genetic factors from heretics

Eugenics

The belief in improving genetic quality of human population by controlling reproduction in order to increase desirable traits

Cerebral Cortex

the outer layer of the brain, responsible for higher-level cognitive functioning including thinking, perceiving, and decision making

Corpus Callosum

bundle of nerve fibers that connects the left hemisphere to the right, messages move from one side of the brain to the other

Lobes of the Brain

refers to the four main regions in which the cerebral cortex is divided: frontal, parietal, temporal, occupital

Association Areas

parts of the brain that take information from all over the place and put it together to understand the world around us

Frontal Lobe

Involved in higher level cognitive functions, including decisions, problem solving, planning, and personality

if damaged can lead to major changes in personality and behavior

Prefrontal Cortex

responsible for higher-level cognitive and executive functions

if damaged can lead to a loss of moral compass and display violent or offensive behaviors

Executive Functions

daily life cognitive processes that enable individuals to plan, organize, stratagize, focus, regulate, and manage time

Motor Complex

located in the frontal lobe, responsible for planning, executing, and controlling voluntary movements

if damaged can lead to loss of movement, if damaged on left side of the brain will lose movement in the right side of the body, and vise versa

Broca’s Areas

responsible for speech production and language processing

Broca’s Aphasia

language disorder caused by damage to Broca’s Area, having difficulty producing fluent speech and forming grammatically correct sentences

Parietal Lobe

located at the top of the brain, primarily responsible for processing sensory information

if damaged can lead to loss of touch and feeling

Somatosensory Cortex

located in parietal lobe, responsible for processing sensations from the skin, muscles, and joints

if damaged can lead to loss of feeling WITHOUT damage to actual nerves or spinal chord

Occipital Lobe

located at the back of the brain, its primarily responsible for processing visual information received from the eyes

Temporal Lobe

processing auditory information, language comprehension, and memory formation

if damaged can lead to difficulties hearing and recognizing faces and hearing ringing noises

Wernicke’s Area

located in left side of the brain, involved in language comprehension and understanding spoken and written language

Wernicke’s Aphasia

language disorder caused by damage to Wernicke’s Area, people cannot create sentences that make sense or understand what other people say

Limbic System and Reward Center

located beneath cerebral cortex, involved in emotions, memory, and motivation.

processes pleasurable experiences and reinforces behaviors associated with them

Reticular Activating System

network of neurons that regulate arousal, attention, and consciousness

if damaged, disrupts ability to control wakefulness, attention, and sleep

Hypothalamus

regulates various essential bodily functions, maintains homeostasis

damage could lead to excessive thirst or struggle regulating body temperature

Lateral Hypothalamus

regulates feelings of hunger

Ventromedial Hypothalamus

regulates feelings of fullness

Pituitary Gland

regulates hormone production and secretion throughout the body

Amygdala

processes emotions, specifically fear and aggression

if damaged could make you lose sense of fear or fear of everything

Hippocampus

responsible for forming and consolidating new memories

The Brainstem

responsible to basic life sustaining functions such as breathing, heart rate, and sleep-wake cycles

Thalamus

processes and relays sensory information, if damaged loss of sense to everything except smell

Pons

stimulated breathing and controls breathing cycles

Medulla

regulated essential autonomic functions such as heartbeat, breathing, and blood pressure

if damaged can cause problems with swallowing, sneezing, breathing, or heart rate

Cerebellum

responsible for coordinating movement, balance, and posture

Nervous System

the body’s communication network, consisting of a complex system of nerves, neurons, and specialized cells

Central Nervous System

serves as the command center of the body, responsible for processing information, coordinating, and regulating bodily functions

Peripheral Nervous System

consists of all the nerves and ganglia outside the brain and spinal chord, communication network for sensory information

Autonomic Nervous System

division of the peripheral nervous system that regulated involuntary bodily functions without conscious control

Sympathetic Nervous System

responsible for activating the body’s “fight or flight” response in times of stress or danger

Parasympathetic Nervous System

responsible for promoting relaxation and restoring the body to a calm state after experiencing stress or danger

Somatic Nervous System

division of the peripheral nervous system responsible for controlling voluntary movements and relaying sensory information

Neurons

specialized cell that serves as the building block of the nervous system, transmits electrical and chemical signals throughout the body

Sensory Neurons (Affluent)

transmits sensory information from sensory receptors to central nervous system

Motor Neurons (Efferent)

transmits signals from central nervous system to muscles, glands, and organs, initiating and controlling movements

Interneurons

serves as connectors within the central nervous system

Reflex Arc

neural pathways that controls reflex actions, allowing for rapid and automatic responses to sensory stimuli without conscious thought

Neural Transmission

the process by which neurons communicate with each other through electrical and chemical signs

Threshold

the level of stimulation required to trigger an action potential in a neuron

Action Potential

brief electrical impulse that travels along the axon of a neuron

All-or-Nothing Principle

states that once a neuron reaches its threshold of excitation, it will fire at full action potential state

Depolarization

phase of potential where the inside of the neuron becomes less negative than the outside, triggers neuron to fire an action potential

Refractory Period

brief period following an action potential during which a neuron is unable to generate another action potential

Resting Potential

the stable, negative charge that exists across the cell membrane when it is not actually transmitting signals

Reuptake

process where neurotransmitters that have been released into the synapse are reabsorbed by the presynaptic neuron from which they were originally released

Multiple Sclerosis

chronic autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system, including brain and spinal chord, caused by damage to the myelin sheath

Myasthenia Gravis

chronic autoimmune disease that affects neuromuscular junctions, where never impulses are transmitted to muscles, antibodies, and destroy receptors

Excitatory Neurotransmitters

chemicals in the brain that carry messages from one neuron to another

Glutamate Memory

involved in various brain functions, including learning, memory, and neural plasticity

(+)= overstimulating the brain (-)= insomnia and concentration problems

GABA

promotes relaxation and reduces energy

(=) too calm (-) too little

Dopamine

regulates mood, reward, motivation, and movement, experiencing pleasure

(+) addiction, schizophrenia

(-) depression, Parkinson’s disease

Serotonin

plays a vital role in regulating mood, sleep, appetite, and stress

(+) mania, serotonin syndrome (-) depression

Norepinephrine

functions as both a hormone and neurotransmitter, involved in “fight or flight” response, regulates arousal, attention, and stress

Endorphins

act as a natural pain reliever and mood enhancer, released in response to stress, pain, or intense physical activity

(=) no warnings of pain (-) experiences surplus in pain

Substance P

transmits pain signals in the nervous system and contributed to perception of pain

Acetylcholine

plays a fundamental role in both central and peripheral nervous system, involved in muscle contraction, memory, and learning

(+) muscle spasms (-) dementia

Hormones

chemical messengers that travel through the bloodstream to target cells or organs, they regulate various physiological processes and behaviors

Ghrelin

produced to stomach and small intestine, stimulates appetite and hunger

Leptin

regulates energy balance and appetite, acts on hypothalamus to suppress appetite and increase energy expenditure

Melatonin

regulates the sleep-wake cycle and circadian rhythms in the body

Oxytonic

social bonding, the love hormone

Adrenaline

plays key role in body’s stress response

plasticity

the brains ability to reorganize and adapt throughout life in response to experiences, learning, and environmental challenges

Split Brain Research

studies individuals who have undergone surgical procedure called Corpus Callostomy, which disconnects the two hemispheres of the brain, usually used as treatment for seizures

Contralateral Hemispheric Organization / Hemispheric Specialization

explored through spit brain research, the phenomenon that each hemisphere of the brain controls the opposite side of the body

Linguistic Processing

the complex cognitive process involved in understanding and producing language

Electroencephalogram

non-invasive neuro-imaging technique used to record the electrical activity in the brain

Functional magnetic Resonance Imaging

neuroimaging technique used to measure brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow and oxygen levels, used to observe which areas are active during stimuli

Lesioning

research technique used to study brain functions by intentionally damaging areas in the brains of experimental animals