AP Psychology Flashcards - Biological Bases of Behavior, Cognition, Development and Learning, Social and Personality, Mental and Physical Health

Flashcards covering key concepts from Units 1-5 of AP Psychology, including Biological Bases of Behavior, Cognition, Development and Learning, Social and Personality, and Mental and Physical Health.

Heredity (nature)

Genetic or predisposed characteristics that influence physical, behavioral, and mental traits and processes

Environmental factors (nurture)

External factors that one experiences, such as family interactions or education

Evolutionary perspective

Explores how natural selection affects the expression of behavior and mental processes to increase survival and reproductive success

Twin studies

Research method often used to study the effects of genes on individual behavior and mental processes

Family studies

Research method often used to study the effects of genes on individual behavior and mental processes by examining hereditary influence

Adoption studies

Research method often used to study the effects of genes on individual behavior and mental processes by examining environmental influence

Central nervous system

Includes the brain and the spinal cord; interacts with all processes in the body

Peripheral nervous system

Relays messages from the central nervous system to the rest of the body

Autonomic nervous system

Governs processes that are involuntary

Somatic nervous system

Governs processes that are voluntary

Parasympathetic nervous system

Part of the autonomic nervous system that controls involuntary processes

Sympathetic nervous system

Part of the autonomic nervous system that controls involuntary processes

Neurons

Neural cells that transmit information

Glial cells

Cells that provide structure, insulation, communication, and waste transport in the brain

Reflex arc

Demonstrates how neurons within the central and peripheral nervous systems work together to respond to stimuli in the spinal cord

Sensory neurons

Neurons that carry incoming information from the 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 that communicate internally and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs

All-or-nothing principle

States that a neuron either fires or does not fire

Depolarization

The process during the action potential when sodium is rushing into the cell causing the interior to become more positive

Refractory period

A period of inactivity after a neuron has fired

Resting potential

The state of the neuron when not firing a neural impulse

Reuptake

A neurotransmitter's reabsorption by the sending neuron

Threshold

The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse

Neurotransmitters

Chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons

Excitatory messages

Neurotransmitters that communicate messages making an action potential more likely

Inhibitory messages

Neurotransmitters that communicate messages making an action potential less likely

Dopamine

A neurotransmitter associated with movement, attention, and learning and the brain's pleasure and reward system.

Serotonin

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

Norepinephrine

A neurotransmitter involved in arousal, as well as in learning and mood regulation

Glutamate

A major excitatory neurotransmitter; involved in memory

GABA

A major inhibitory neurotransmitter

Endorphins

Neurotransmitters that act as natural pain killers

Substance P

A neurotransmitter that is released from sensory nerve endings; involved in pain perception

Acetylcholine

A neurotransmitter that enables learning and memory and also triggers muscle contraction

Hormones

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

Adrenaline

A hormone released during stress

Leptin

A hormone produced by fat cells that decreases appetite

Ghrelin

A hormone produced by the stomach that increases appetite

Melatonin

A hormone produced by the pineal gland that is involved in regulating sleep

Oxytocin

A hormone released by the pituitary gland that causes increased contraction of the uterus during labor and stimulates the ejection of milk into the ducts of the breasts

Psychoactive drugs

Drugs that can influence neurotransmitter function in various ways throughout the neural communication process

Agonists

Psychoactive drugs that encourage neural firing

Antagonists

Psychoactive drugs that discourage neural firing

Reuptake inhibitors

Psychoactive drugs that block the reabsorption of neurotransmitters back into the cell

Stimulants

Drugs that typically cause increased neural activity

Depressants

Drugs that typically cause decreased neural activity

Hallucinogens

Drugs that typically cause distortions in perception and/or cognition

Opioids

Drugs that typically act as pain relievers

Brain stem

Controls basic functioning such as breathing and heart rate

Reticular activating system and the brain's reward center

Generally controls some voluntary movement, eye movement, and some types of learning, cognition, and emotion

Cerebellum

Generally controls coordination of muscle movement, balance, and some forms of procedural learning

Cerebral cortex

Divided into two hemispheres and includes the limbic system, corpus callosum, and the lobes of the cortex

Occipital lobes

Generally control visual information processing and are located in the rear of the brain

Temporal lobes

Generally control auditory and linguistic processing and are located on the sides of the brain

Parietal lobes

Generally control association areas, which process and organize information, and the somatosensory cortex, which processes touch sensitivity. These lobes are located near the back crown of the brain

Frontal lobes

Generally control linguistic processing, higher-order thinking, and executive functioning, especially in the prefrontal cortex. The motor cortex is located at the rear of the frontal lobes and controls most types of skeletal movement

Language centers

Areas of the brain that affect language are typically located in the left hemisphere and include Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area

Broca's area

Responsible for speech production

Wernicke's area

Responsible for speech comprehension

Brain plasticity

The ability of the brain to rewire itself or modify or create new connections throughout development

Consciousness

Has varying levels of awareness of thoughts, feelings, behavior, and events in individuals’ internal and external worlds.

Sleep/wake cycle

A circadian rhythm, which in humans is about a 24-hour cycle

NREM sleep

Occurs in Stages 1 through 3 of sleep and decreases in duration throughout the cycle

REM sleep

Considered paradoxical because it produces waves similar to wakefulness, but the body is at its most relaxed.

REM rebound

Occurs when deprived of REM sleep

Sensation

The process of detecting information from the environment that meets a certain threshold and transducing stimuli into neurochemical messages for processing (perception) in the brain

Absolute threshold

Occurs when a stimulus can be detected at least 50% of the time

Weber's law

Describes the degree to which stimuli need to be different for the difference to be detected

Synesthesia

An experience of sensation in which one system of sensation is experienced through another

Retina

The photosensitive surface at the back of the eye

Accommodation

Visual stimuli are focused onto the retina by the lens via this process

Rods

Cells that lie in the periphery of the eye and detect shapes and movement, but not color

Cones

Photoreceptor cells located in the fovea of the eye that process color and detail

Sound

Movement of air molecules at different wavelengths.

Sound localization

Describes how we identify where sounds in our environment are coming from.

Gustation

Sense of taste.

Vestibular sense

Controls balance and is primarily detected by the semicircular canals and structures in the brain

Kinesthesis

The sense of one’s body movement.

Perception

Influenced by whether one primarily relies on external sensory information (bottom-up processing) or internal prior expectations (top-down processing).

Schemas and perceptual sets

Internal factors that filter perceptions of the world

Contexts, experiences, and cultural experiences and expectations

External factors that filter perceptions of the world

Gestalt psychology

Proposes to explain how humans organize their perceptual world.

Attention

An interaction of sensation and perception that is affected by internal and external processes